Boston Globe report about the appearance of Sen. John Kerry (D-Am I Part of the Obama Administration Yet?) on last Sunday’s Meet the Press:
Kerry faults Tea Party in US credit rating drop
WASHINGTON – Senator John F. Kerry of Massachusetts called Friday’s lowering of the US credit rating a “Tea Party downgrade’’ as finger-pointing continued about the decision from a top credit rating agency.
“This is the Tea Party downgrade because a minority of people in the House of Representatives countered even the will of many Republicans in the United States Senate who were prepared to do a bigger deal,’’ Kerry said yesterday on NBC’s “Meet the Press.’’
Later on, the Globe piece says this:
Obama political adviser David Axelrod also blamed the downgrade of the credit rating on Tea Party Republicans, whom he said were unwilling to compromise on reducing the debt.
Axelrod said on CBS’s “Face the Nation’’ yesterday that the decision by Standard & Poor’s was strongly influenced by weeks of standoff between Democrats and Republicans concerning the debt.
Not to get technical about it, but Axelrod actually used the phrase “Tea Party downgrade” on Sunday’s “Face the Nation,” which airs an hour and a half before “Meet the Press.”
So maybe Kerry isn’t the chicken or the egg. Maybe he’s just Obama’s Secretary of Sock Puppet.
Campaign Outsider 
I don’t think that word means what you think it means.
A “sockpuppet” is a fake identity created for the purpose of bolstering one’s own opinion online, making it appear that your opinion has support from others. Like, say, 92% of Newt Gingrich’s Twitter followers.
John Kerry and David Axelrod are actual real people. You might call one a “parrot” or praise their party message discipline (but that usage in the press seems reserved for Republicans), but the usage of “sockpuppet” is completely inaccurate.
Not to get technical about it, Steve, but I didn’t say he was a sock puppet. The Secretary of Agriculture isn’t a farm, is he?
Kerry has has so many identities that he could well be a sock puppet…or a flip-flop.
Did Kerry claim that he was being original when he used the phrase “Tea Party downgrade” ? He may have heard Axelrod use it earlier, or he may have heard it used well before in discussions, and decided it would sound good in this interview. In any case, so what? When Republicans do things like this, the media just repeats the phrase over and over in its reporting, and liberal bloggers and posters complain about the right wing echo chamber, as Republicans use their chosen lexicon to drive home a point of view. Now, “Tea Party downgrade” has been heard twice in one day, and it’s used as an opportunity to mock Kerry.
It was just a joke, Al.
I don’t want to accuse you of putting on airs, but I believe you made a mistake by writing that “Face the Nation” AIRS an hour-and-a-half before “Meet the Press”. I believe that no matter when “FtN” and MtP” are recorded (unless they are done live…”I’ll do it LIVE”), most affiliates AIR them at about the same time. Here in Boston, channel 30 (WBZ-TV’s ACTUAL channel assignment) runs “FtN” like most CBS affiliates, after Charles Osgood’s washed-up-recording artist show at 10:30 am. Channel 42 (WHDH-TV’s ACTUAL channel number) airs “MtP” at the same time, as do most NBC affiliates. I even checked the Washington, DC television stations’ schedules, and THEY do the same thing. Even if either show is recorded in advance, it would be difficult for a guest to have seen it already, unless CBS’s or NBC’s iPad app makes it available. The question is: is there some entity that provides a day’s talking points the way the Fox Right-wing Propaganda Network does for Republicans?
It was just a joke, Laurence.
This just in, and it’s no joke:
John Kerry will be one of the “Super Senators”.
Formerly, only in his own mind.
Gee, you really don’t like this guy, do you?
I don’t dislike him, Steve, (I can’t afford to dislike anyone – I’m a freelancer) but I do think he’s a fraud or a fake or a phony – haven’t settled on which yet.