Cindy Sheehan just mentioned JK

on Franken's show - in a good context. Just FYI.

She said she didn't agree with him on everything, but that he genuinely "gets it" about the people who have to fight, and about Iraq.

I get the feeling that, whenever he gets to spend time and really talk to people, they invariably like him and feel like he "gets it" even if they don't 100% agree on everything.

For two reasons, it shows Sheehan is less rigid than she once appeared and it's nice when a heroine of the far left says he "gets it".

There isn't anyone in Congress who is stronger on veterans issues. And they agree on probably 95% of the policy toward this Admin and their ongoing handling of Iraq. (Maybe more than 95%)

Kerry was, to my kmowledge, the first to make a very public case for changing the mission of the soldiers. He took a huge risk in doing this, but it probably moved the discussion of this. Kerry said it was the advice of the Generals fighting the war, but that issue wasn't heard or spoken about. Kerry is not in the position of pulling the troops out or changing strategy, but he at least used his eloquence and persuasiveness to be a very strong advocate of transfering these actions to the Iraqis.

That is one of the main functions of a party in the minority: point out that there is another way and that the ones in power now have options. I think Sen. Kerry does this rather well. He had an excellent plan for both helping to get the US troops out of Iraq and for helping the US come to terms with the overall conditions in the Middle East (and the greater Islamic world.)

Everyone knows the Dems don't have the power to do much right now. But they do have the power to challenge the prevailing argument. It is never listened to all at once, this sort of 'there is a better way' argument seeps in slowly. We shall see.

I am constantly amazed that DU wants to argue the particulars of any one Dem's plans for IRaq. They consistently miss the point. The Dems are relatively united on Iraq, they want change, they want the troops to get out and they want defined plans for the area. That is different from the present course of action.

who quoted Kerry's Brown speech:

As John Kerry had the temerity to say this week in Rhode Island: ''Today more than ever, when the path taken last year and four years earlier takes us into a wilderness of missed opportunities, we need to keep defining the critical choices over and over, offering a direction not taken but still open in the future."

Oliphant listed many roads that Kerry suggested in his column (which Kerry clearly liked given the url):
http://www.johnkerry.com/pressroom/news/news_2005_0922.html

So he clearly sees his job as suggesting other ways - more than any single other person.

Take that, lefty freepers.