Tag Archives: Bob Kerrey

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The latest in the “funny if it weren’t so sad” department:

The latest issue of Mother Jones Magazine, at the top of page twenty (for those of you following along at home), has an ad for The New School with an image of the statue of liberty with a flag covering her mouth and the question, “Must we dismantle democracy at home in order to export it overseas?” The New School, accordng to the ad, “helps you find answers.” That’s right – this is the same New School that, in defiance of its liberal reputation and the principles of liberal democracy, refused to recognize a vote by its graduate students for a union on the grounds that the percentage turnout – while higher than that which elected its President to the Senate – was too low.

Many alternative ads come to mind, perhaps involving a grad student with their mouth covered by Bob Kerrey and the question “Must we dismantle democracy in our schools in order to teach it?” Readers are encouraged to send more ideas, or to lay their own ads out if they’re more artistic than myself.

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The New York Post has Kerry announcing a running mate by the end of May and offers its “sources'” top picks:

Rep. Dick Gephardt (D-Mo.), Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.), Sen. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.), Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, former Sen. Bob Kerrey (D-Neb.), Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsak and Sen. Bob Graham (D-Fla.)

Memo to John Kerry:

Do not tap Bob Kerrey, who besides creating an awkward “Kerry-Kerrey” ticket just made it into the news flouting democracy, the right to organize, and the values of The New School of which he’s President by refusing to recognize the results of its graduate student election.

Do not tap Evan Bayh, who voted for the Bush tax-cut, one of a select group of awful Bush ideas which you actually voted against, and whose presence on the ticket would critically undercut your message on the issue.

Do not tap Ed Rendell, who gave the god-forsaken Democratic Leadership Council an inspiration to hold their conference back home in Philly this summer to celebrate his not being much of a leftist, about a month before he backed down in the face of resistance from a plan to equalize school funding in the state.

You can do better.

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Bob Kerrey writes an panegyric to the median voter theorem disguised as a call to political courage:

So, show me the person, like Mr. Lieberman, who has angered a partisan Democratic audience with an unpopular idea and you have someone with what it takes to be our next president. And the next time you jump to your feet with applause for a candidate who says what you want to hear, remember that you may be leading them — rather than the other way around.

God forbid the agenda of a Democratic Presidential candidate should be influenced by Black people, poor people, the labor movement, and those other “special interests.”

Good thing after Kerrey lost the primary in 1992 we were saved from having the standard bearer of the Democratic party be someone who dismantles the values and institutions of the New Deal in the name of political maturity and sees leadership in turning away from the constituencies which represent the base of the party and its moral compass – oh, wait…