The Dems Botched the Joke, NOT John Kerry

posted at dKos
——————
Let’s try to dispatch this now. John Kerry did not make a gaffe. He said something with which many Dems agreed. And yet when the press started to say it was a gaffe, what did we do? We turned tail and ran from John Kerry. We did the same four years before to Howard Dean with his scream.

It isn’t the press. It’s our willingness to let the press define us. Aren’t you tired of it? I am. Exceedingly tired of it. And you knnow something else. I’m beginning to think this: we are weak. We don’t have enough guts or smarts to stop playing a game dictated by the other-fucking-side.

Do you get what i’m telling you???? Because you should. It’s time to stop this behavior of children. One of the few real men on the political stage, John Kerry, was pushed off by what my friend ek calls whiny ASS titty babies…

You want to win? Is that all you want? If you want to make the world better, then forget about winning. Winning has very little to do with making a better, more equitable world.

Here is kos’s headline from the front page today: Kerry’s botched joke versus Boehner’s small price. It’s about Greg Sargent’s piece in the Horse’s Mouth. And Greg lays it out for us (but he misses it entirely imho):

The answer is simple: Kerry is a Democrat, and Boehner is a Republican.

I don’t mean that to sound cavalier. But if you unpack it, it really is pretty much the case. Judging by the news product we see on a daily basis, the way the press approaches Dems and the military is two-fold. Dems are either presumed to be genuinely anti-military by instinct, or, more likely, they’re presumed to be vulnerable to Republican charges that they’re anti-military. Sure, this is a generalization, and there are plenty of exceptions. But those are the basics.

Well, Greg, you do sound cavalier. And no, it’s not simple. And you know why? Because, for one thing, neither you or kos cite Boehner’s or Kerry’s remarks. So how do I know what you’re talking about. You want to get me riled, and yet i don’t even know what is supposed to piss me off… because i didn’t catch Boehner’s statement in the news. i’ve been busy and I think if you run the story, then you better be complete. Number One.

Number Two. We give the power to the press. We being those Dems who create our image in this country. Let me make this comparison between Dems creating our image and the rest of Americans. When the press went after Clinton, the American people DID NOT BUY IT. Remember? The Dems speaking for the rest of us would have sold him down the river, except the rest of us Americans stopped them, the Republicans, and the press.

Now. What do we have here. Left on their own, the James Carvilles and Donna Shalalas and who’s the guy who lost Gore’s campaign (he looks like he escaped from Lord of the Rings)… they will jump ship in an instant. They stand on nothing more than quicksand. They don’t operate out of principle. Or what is best for the country. They operate out of only one thing: WINNING.

Are any of you serious about restoring our country. Any one of you??? Then stop buying into this bullshit. John Kerry is one of a very few limited number of adults in politics. Howard Dean almost changed politics. But we didn’t let him did we? Because he screamed and we couldn’t stand up and tell the press: sorry, not buying it. We’re too worried about winning. But we didn’t win, did we.

Who do you think is reading these newspapers??? It’s you. The decisions here are yours.

You want to play to win? Then we’ll lose… even if the Dems retake the White House.

But if you want to restore our country, then you start now. Forget winning. Start standing on principle and be willing to lose. Be that fearsome. Because what we lack here is respect. Get some respect. Then you might have something. Something big.

——————-
here’s John Kerry’s take on Boehner’s remarks

and in case you don’t remember, here’s Kerry’s comment

——————-
here i am ::: docuDharma