Stop it already

with the gratuitous Kerry bashing.

I just read one more off-the-cuff putdown of John Kerry from a lefty blogger and I've had it with those who mouth the criticisms without bothering to find out what the truth of the matter is.

Senator Kerry been very eloquent on Obama's behalf.  His appearance on MTP on 11-2-2008 pulled no punches.  He was extremely clear.   His early and enthusiastic endorsement of Obama in South Carolina brought him much grief from supporters of other candidates. He did what he thought was right.

His speech at the DNC Convention was one of the 3 best given there.  From my blog:

Josh Marshall called it The Golden Speechand said "in its own way I think the speech I just saw John Kerry give is the best one I've heard at this convention.  And I do not have any doubt that it's the best I've ever heard from him."  Emphasis is his.  

It got rave reviews at/by Daily Kos, Steve Benen, Andrew Sullivan,  Ta-Nahisi Coates, BalloonJuice, The Jed Report, Al Giordano, Karen Tumulty, Jack & Jill Politics, OpenLeft, mydd, Huffington Post,  Crooks and Liars, Rod Dreher, Daily Intel, Reason Online, MalContends, and Democratic Underground.  This list coud be 5 times as long but you get the idea.  

Here's the video if you haven't seen it yet.  It's worth your time.

JK did what those of us who follow him closely know he can do and has done before.  Just watch his Dissent speech.  And as he has before, JK gave us a masterfully delivered speech yesterday.  It's hard for me to pick out my favorite excerpts.  I'd end up excerpting most of it so go see the full transcript of his remarks as delivered below the fold, courtesy of Lynn Sweet at the Sun Times, if you can't watch the video.  

A little more background: he also did a session for the New American Foundation in the morning which got rave reviews from publius.  

He didn't mince any words the other day when he said we should ignore the Republicans and do what we think we'll work in the stimulus package.

He was on Meet The Press Sunday morning pushing for the stimulus package.  

He declared climate change a central foreign policy focus and pulled Al Gore in to testify in his first full session as SFRC chair. From The Vine at TNR:

Right now, C-SPAN is showing Al Gore testify on climate change before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Significantly, committee chair John Kerry just declared that "climate change will be increasingly central to our foreign policy," citing warnings from top U.S. military leaders that a warming planet will put pressure on the earth's resources and lead to more conflicts and more security risks around the world.

Nor has he forgotten items like Blackwater and its criminal culpability in Iraq. Or items like high-speed rail which are so important to our public transportation network.  

As I said above, enough with the gratuitous Kerry-bashing. He's out there speaking out and doing it well. Just because a lefty blogger didn't happen to notice it doesn't mean it didn't happen.