• Menu
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Before Header

  • About Us
  • Lexicon
  • Contact Us
  • Our Store
  • ↑
  • ↓
  • ←
  • →

Balloon Juice

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

The choice is between normal and crazy.

Republicans don’t trust women.

It is possible to do the right thing without the promise of a cookie.

When do we start airlifting the women and children out of Texas?

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

I’d hate to be the candidate who lost to this guy.

There are some who say that there are too many strawmen arguments on this blog.

Too often we confuse noise with substance. too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

Jesus, Mary, & Joseph how is that election even close?

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

Ah, the different things are different argument.

Today’s gop: why go just far enough when too far is right there?

There are consequences to being an arrogant, sullen prick.

Reality always lies in wait for … Democrats.

Let there be snark.

Hi god, it’s us. Thanks a heap, you’re having a great week and it’s only Thursday!

Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.

Republicans choose power over democracy, every day.

It may be funny to you motherfucker, but it’s not funny to me.

We’re not going back!

Republicans in disarray!

Prediction: the gop will rethink its strategy of boycotting future committees.

The new republican ‘Pastor’ of the House is an odious authoritarian little creep.

Mobile Menu

  • Four Directions Montana
  • Donate with Venmo, Zelle & PayPal
  • Site Feedback
  • War in Ukraine
  • Submit Photos to On the Road
  • Politics
  • On The Road
  • Open Threads
  • Topics
  • COVID-19 Coronavirus
  • Authors
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Lexicon
  • Our Store
  • Politics
  • Open Threads
  • 2024 Elections
  • Garden Chats
  • On The Road
  • Targeted Fundraising!
You are here: Home / Politics / Really- He Isn’t Wishy-Washy

Really- He Isn’t Wishy-Washy

by John Cole|  June 30, 20059:58 pm| 18 Comments

This post is in: Politics

FacebookTweetEmail

More nuance from John Kerry:

COSTAS: If you had been elected president last November, by this point what would President John Kerry have done in Iraq?

KERRY: Well, I laid out — you know, I don’t want to get in — I mean, I think that’s not quite the way to go at it.

He still doesn’t get it, does he? He goes on to list a number of things he says should be done, but he can’t commit to saying he would have done it. Calling John Kerry wishy-washy was not unfair. It was one the only truly honest things that Republicans said in the 2004 campaign.

FacebookTweetEmail
Previous Post: « Damned Liberal Media
Next Post: Citizen Journalists »

Reader Interactions

18Comments

  1. 1.

    albedo

    June 30, 2005 at 10:02 pm

    IMO, if the Dems had fielded someone who took a position and stood by it, whoever it was probably would have won. Bush was eminently defeatable. Kerry just turned people off.

  2. 2.

    NYCmoderate

    June 30, 2005 at 10:23 pm

    I concur completely. I’m an independent leaning towards Democrats for the time being. When the Dem field was first shaping up, the two people I most didn’t want to be the nominee were Kerry and Lieberman. I registered as a Democrat specifically to vote against Kerry in the primary (tho by that time it made no difference, but I did it anyway).

    Every time I hear talk about his potential run in ’08, a pain starts to build behind my eyes.

  3. 3.

    Jimmy Jazz

    June 30, 2005 at 10:24 pm

    John: you’re right. When he talks, you can almost see Kerry’s beak sniffing the wind to see which way it’s blowing. I’m sorry he didn’t win, but I’m also sorry we (and when I say we I mean that hotbed of representative democracy Iowa) nominated him.

  4. 4.

    rilkefan

    June 30, 2005 at 10:54 pm

    The other day Kerry suggested what Bush should say to the nation and you had a hissy-cow. Today he’s a little incoherent and you say he’s wishy-washy. Tomorrow Bush will read a telepromptered speech about as well as a 5th grader or answer questions at a news conference in irrelevant platitudes and the Kerry bashers will cheer.

    Phaugh.

  5. 5.

    John Cole

    June 30, 2005 at 10:58 pm

    Here is Kerry’s ‘speech:’ it is little more than calling Bush a fraud and telling him that what he needs to do is come forward, say he was wrong about everything, promise no permanent bases in Iraq, demand an ‘inclusive’ political process, and, oh yeah- that training of security forces should be put on a wartime footing.

    Which is precisely what he can’t committ to saying he would have done had he been President.

    The word, again, Rilke, is wishy-washy. it is not an unearned title.

  6. 6.

    rilkefan

    June 30, 2005 at 11:20 pm

    Yes, John, but it’s the wrong word.

    So Kerry’s plan for dealing with Iraq is leveling with the American people about the situation, owning up to mistakes as they occur, promising to the occupied people and to the skeptical world that we’re not planning on having a permanent ownership state there, and actually doing the one thing that’s possible given the Cheney/Bush/Rumsfeld clusterf***s: training the Iraqi forces as if there’s a war going on which we’re not going to sustain ourselves indefinitely.

    Ok, so that sounds pretty good to me, but what do you think Kerry should say? Remember that whatever you suggest is going to be critiqued by the Senate Republicans you posted about below as “the propaganda of U.S. enemies’.

  7. 7.

    Otto

    July 1, 2005 at 12:05 am

    You could see it in the primaries, with his squeemishness on coming out for or against the Iraq War. I believe he changed his position 3 or 4 times. Whichever way the wind blew. It drove me nuts. So when Kerry won the nomination it made me a bit sick. But i got over it for the general. And then was sick again when he lost.

  8. 8.

    foolishmortal

    July 1, 2005 at 12:38 am

    John: point taken, and granted.
    However, if I may be allowed to quote fafblog:
    “Well we agree to disagree”,; says me. “Like we do whenever we talk about Coke

  9. 9.

    The Disenfranchised Voter

    July 1, 2005 at 12:48 am

    “Calling John Kerry wishy-washy was not unfair. It was one the only truly honest things that Republicans said in the 2004 campaign.”

    Agreed, but however, the Republicans didn’t call him wishy-washy. They called him a flip-flopper. John Kerry may have been vague about his position on Iraq but he had the same position throughout the campaign. Too bad he was wishy-washy though.

  10. 10.

    KC

    July 1, 2005 at 1:28 am

    Kerry lost the election and he needs to focus now on being a Senator. I’m pretty sure his fellow Senators feel the same way.

  11. 11.

    Kimmitt

    July 1, 2005 at 1:42 am

    The important thing is that he didn’t go hoarse during a speech. That’ll kill your career.

  12. 12.

    carot

    July 1, 2005 at 4:09 am

    Kerry is like the back seat driver yelling out criticism about your driving. Finally you pull up and ask them were would they go if they were driving and they don’t even know how to drive.

  13. 13.

    Otto

    July 1, 2005 at 5:18 am

    And Bush is like a drunk driver. Look at me Ma i can make stupid analogies!

  14. 14.

    eileen from OH

    July 1, 2005 at 7:57 am

    You can thank the stoopid primary system for the candidate choices. A caucus in Iowa (that looked and operated an awful lot like a combo swap meet/church supper) and a teeny tiny state (NH) that’s not only not a Dem stronghold but not representative of the diversity of the country, have a virtual lock on who gets the nod. Meanwhile, Ohio, the state everybody falls all over in the general, gets NO say in the choice because of its late (March) primary. So while the Dem candidates were running around spending time and money in states that wouldn’t matter in the general, Bush and Cheney were here so often they were passing buckeyes.

    Not to knock IA or NH (great states, blah, blah, blah) or Kerry (good guy, great Senator, he wuz robbed, blah, blah, blah) but it seems to me kinda basic to find out who plays best in the states that actually determine the election. (And not just Ohio – PA, FL, MI. . .)

    eileen from (you guessed it) OH

  15. 15.

    Mark Borok

    July 1, 2005 at 9:03 am

    Kerry was wishy-washy, but for the life of me I can’t think of a way he could have taken a position without alienating an important part of his voter base.

  16. 16.

    DecidedFenceSitter

    July 1, 2005 at 9:06 am

    Now here’s an idea that would never fly. But what if we had primaries 6 months before the November elections. Then from May till November we’d know who the two candidates are. It’d probably mean more than a year of election cycle, but then we would have any worry about which candidate took which tiny, but early voting state.

  17. 17.

    neil

    July 1, 2005 at 9:17 am

    And saying that someone can’t be president because they’re wishy-washy was the most vicious, harmful lie the Republicans told in the 2004 campaign.

  18. 18.

    bushkerry

    July 1, 2005 at 10:20 am

    “I know you are, but what am i?”

    Sheesh.

Comments are closed.

Primary Sidebar

Recent Comments

  • cain on Righteous Rant Open Thread (Apr 15, 2024 @ 4:29pm)
  • WaterGirl on Righteous Rant Open Thread (Apr 15, 2024 @ 4:27pm)
  • Brachiator on Henry Would Like His Lunch Right Now, Please (Open Thread) (Apr 15, 2024 @ 4:27pm)
  • gvg on Take the Fucking Win (Apr 15, 2024 @ 4:26pm)
  • Dorothy A. Winsor on Henry Would Like His Lunch Right Now, Please (Open Thread) (Apr 15, 2024 @ 4:26pm)

🎈Keep Balloon Juice Ad Free

Become a Balloon Juice Patreon
Donate with Venmo, Zelle or PayPal

Balloon Juice Posts

View by Topic
View by Author
View by Month & Year
View by Past Author

Balloon Juice Meetups!

All Meetups
Talk of Meetups – Meetup Planning
Proposed BJ meetups list from frosty

Fundraising 2023-24

Wis*Dems Supreme Court + SD-8
Virginia House Races
Four Directions – Montana
Worker Power AZ
Four Directions – Arizona
Four Directions – Nevada

Featuring

Medium Cool
Artists in Our Midst
Authors in Our Midst
Positive Climate News
War in Ukraine
Cole’s “Stories from the Road”
Classified Documents Primer

Calling All Jackals

Site Feedback
Nominate a Rotating Tag
Submit Photos to On the Road
Balloon Juice Mailing List Signup
Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Links)
Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Posts)

Fix Nyms with Apostrophes

Balloon Juice for Ukraine

Donate

Twitter / Spoutible

Balloon Juice (Spoutible)
WaterGirl (Spoutible)
TaMara (Spoutible)
John Cole
DougJ (aka NYT Pitchbot)
Betty Cracker
Tom Levenson
David Anderson
Major Major Major Major
ActualCitizensUnited

Political Action 2024

Postcard Writing Information

Balloon Juice for Four Directions AZ

Donate

Balloon Juice for Four Directions NV

Donate

Site Footer

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Comment Policy
  • Our Authors
  • Blogroll
  • Our Artists
  • Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2024 Dev Balloon Juice · All Rights Reserved · Powered by BizBudding Inc

Share this ArticleLike this article? Email it to a friend!

Email sent!