SUBSCRIBE NOW WELCOME BACK. Do you want to continue reading where you left off? New Republic subscribers can pick up where they left off no matter which device they were previously using. SUBSCRIBE NOW

Go Home Just When You Thought It Was Safe....

THE PLANK JANUARY 9, 2007

Just When You Thought It Was Safe....

BY TNR STAFF

The Post's Chris Cillizza says John Kerry will run in '08 after all.

--Michael Crowley

SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS

Show all 24 comments

You must be a subscriber to post comments. Subscribe today.

24 comments

Cindy Sheehan's candidate?

- teplukhin

January 9, 2007 at 4:01pm

You must be a subscriber to post comments. Subscribe today.

oh no!

- brian@xao.com

January 9, 2007 at 4:02pm

You must be a subscriber to post comments. Subscribe today.

All across America comedians are thanking the comedy gods. Kerry just made the next 18 months easier for them. The jokes write themselves. A gaffe-prone has-been with $10 million? Sounds like a perfect candidate. It'll be an expensive and drawn out train wreck. Some young, hip documentarian should get on board now and start filming. You can't make this stuff up. The only question left I guess is: who will Kerry take down with him?

- tdneeley

January 9, 2007 at 4:11pm

You must be a subscriber to post comments. Subscribe today.

On the Fiesta Bowl's penultimate play, three Boise State wide receivers went right, the entire state of Oklahoma went to cover them, and the BSU tailback calmly snatched the ball from behind his secretive QB's back and sprinted left into history. Think of John Kerry as one of the BSU wideouts drawing a crowd. Even better: he's clueless of the impending election's plot, which allows the crafty, rather than the conventional, to snatch the nomination and take it to paydirt.

- williamyard

January 9, 2007 at 4:23pm

You must be a subscriber to post comments. Subscribe today.

It looks like there's already a handful of gaffe-prone has-beens lining up for the primaries so far, with no chance whatsoever to win but with huge chances to worsen the fragmentation of the Democrat vote we had four years ago. Kerry would only make this pie look more stale. All we need is to watch the same four or five faces from 2004 setting up the most mind-numbingly annoying, self-defeating primaries in history. When will this platoon of wannabe Democrat candidates realize that their futile ego-shows will only hand over the next Presidency to another Republican?

- involution

January 9, 2007 at 4:32pm

You must be a subscriber to post comments. Subscribe today.

John Kerry's Senate term expires in 2008. Shouldn't he be worried about running for re-election? Or is he tired of being a Senator? Alternatively, the deadline for declaring as a Senate candidate may be late enough so that he can still run after losing badly in the Presidential primaries. I actually think Kerry could have been a halfway-decent President. However, he is now a has-been and probably doesn't stand a chance in the primaries, let alone in the general election.

- davidsmith192

January 9, 2007 at 4:32pm

You must be a subscriber to post comments. Subscribe today.

No, really, I do. He doesn't get that he'll never be President, one of the few things on which I agree with Marty Peretz. If he really wanted to serve the country best, he should retire in 2008 and influence public affairs as a private citizen. Kerry's 2008 campaign is almost sure to end in disaster, and I doubt he'll make it beyond Iowa.

- armadorsky

January 9, 2007 at 4:48pm

You must be a subscriber to post comments. Subscribe today.

I particularly loved the image invoked way back when TNR was doing those straw polls, and they posted the results of the "Kerry in 08?" poll. It was something about tossing a bunny to a pack of ravening pit bulls. Priceless. Do I think JK would have been a decent president? Sure. Certainly better than the bumbling simpleton rammed into the White House with a silver shoehorn. But my GOD he was a terrible candidate, and there's just no way he will ever be taken seriously as a national candidate again. I don't know if it's sad or infuriating that he just doesn't get that.

- drdannyu

January 9, 2007 at 5:03pm

You must be a subscriber to post comments. Subscribe today.

Kerry with Obama as running mate, perhaps? But I agree he wouldn't get beyond Iowa.

- ironyroad

January 9, 2007 at 5:13pm

You must be a subscriber to post comments. Subscribe today.

Is the sound of dozens of people applauding thoughout the country. (Of course they are mostly comedy writers and the Kerry family.) Gonna be funny watching Edwards and Kerry run against each other.

- adamvaught

January 9, 2007 at 5:21pm

You must be a subscriber to post comments. Subscribe today.

Because he can.

- jm_rice

January 9, 2007 at 5:55pm

You must be a subscriber to post comments. Subscribe today.

he can ONLY make the other candidates look better! He could be a blessing in disguise...

- acgraves

January 9, 2007 at 6:00pm

You must be a subscriber to post comments. Subscribe today.

Because L.L. Bean is providing him with a complimentary barn coat.

- williamyard

January 9, 2007 at 6:09pm

You must be a subscriber to post comments. Subscribe today.

I say, let him run, just to get this thing out the system. If you believe you have anything to contribute to the political discourse and have the money to keep going for a while, why not. Obviously, Kerry's got his own ascent in early 2004 as proof that anything can happen in a primary season. On the other hand, that primary-season didn't include Hillary, Obama and a far more visible Edwards. But if he decides to run, then why not..

- hustveit

January 9, 2007 at 6:19pm

You must be a subscriber to post comments. Subscribe today.

Oh Dear, God! WHY!?!

- adamvaught

January 9, 2007 at 6:20pm

You must be a subscriber to post comments. Subscribe today.

Because we like you. Oh, wait. No, we don't.

- drdannyu

January 9, 2007 at 6:32pm

You must be a subscriber to post comments. Subscribe today.

...John Kerry wins the primaries. All members of and sympathisers with the GOP, that is. All I can say is, neoJFK is shooting up too much ketchup.

- ChanRobt

January 9, 2007 at 6:32pm

You must be a subscriber to post comments. Subscribe today.

Because when those legs get into lycra they just gotta run

- teplukhin

January 9, 2007 at 7:12pm

You must be a subscriber to post comments. Subscribe today.

Because of the unseasonably warm winter he ben able to get in enough wind surfing to last two years. So what's a guy with free time to do?

- adamvaught

January 9, 2007 at 7:39pm

You must be a subscriber to post comments. Subscribe today.

"Because when those legs get into lycra they just gotta run" Eeeww. The friction. The leg hairs. That's gross. (That's the problem with TalkBack; people post all sorts of disgusting trash on here.)

- williamyard

January 9, 2007 at 7:47pm

You must be a subscriber to post comments. Subscribe today.

The Nair does double duty in Maria Tereza's household. For racing purposes, of course.

- teplukhin

January 9, 2007 at 8:27pm

You must be a subscriber to post comments. Subscribe today.

The more people that dogpile on Hillary the better I feel. At best Kerry siphons some of that DLC support Hillary needs to win.

- Yminale

January 9, 2007 at 9:10pm

You must be a subscriber to post comments. Subscribe today.

Gore/Obama in '08. That's what I want.

- rishy

January 10, 2007 at 11:41am

You must be a subscriber to post comments. Subscribe today.

is that just because a phone rings, it doesn't mean you have to answer. Just because 'JFK2' x 2 decides to run, doesn't mean I have to pay attention to him. I don't know what the poltiical observer's equivalent of dump-to-voicemail is, but believe me, Kerry will never get me on the phone.

- wbc5

January 11, 2007 at 2:13am

You must be a subscriber to post comments. Subscribe today.

SHARE HIGHLIGHT

0 CHARACTERS SELECTED

TWEET THIS

POST TO TUMBLR

SHARE ON FACEBOOK

Close