With the Senate in recess and Sen. Kerry in the Middle East most of the week, there's not a whole lot of news to share. I understand he was in Egypt, Israel and Saudi Arabia meeting with heads of state, but he's not saying much yet about what he learned, except to note the outrage he heard from Middle East leaders that America has 'served up to Iran, Iraq on a platter' with the Bush administration's dangerous policies. I think he's going to make us watch the SFRC to find out the rest, which works for me, I try to catch all the hearings anyway. There's one on Tuesday on "Meeting the Iranian Challenge", and I expect he'll have a lot to say on the subject.
There was the news about McCain using a SBL Bud Day in his 'truth squad' and taking SBL money for his campaign. JK responded to that pretty quickly. Sounds like he was none too happy about McCain using people in his campaign that he had condemned just a few years ago as 'dishonest and dishonorable'. But as the Senator said on Face the Nation, this isn't the John McCain he knew. This isn't Senator John McCain, it's 'Wanna-be-President John McCain'. Different guy.
There was a related story in the NYT about the men who served in Vietnam on Swift Boats and their dismay at having their service demeaned by the use of the term 'swiftboating'. As Kate Zernike notes in her piece, the men who served on these boats are proud of their service, and object to the use of the term to mean a political hatchet job. From now on, I think we'll just call the the SBLs 'The Liars', out of respect for the men who served on PCFs in Vietnam and have suffered the use of the word 'swiftboating' these past four years. You'll know who we mean.
The Senator made it to Plymouth for the 4th of July parade upon returning home, and trounced Lindsey Graham (again) on Face the Nation yesterday, which we live blogged here at KV. He's also continuing to work preemptively on the heating oil crisis that's likely to hit this winter, and he sent out an email to support Democratic candidates. Also, his website notes that he's riding in the Pan-Mass Challenge again this year, this time for Teddy, so you'll want to send him some cash for a great cause.
Not a bad week's work. Enjoy the news.
