March 31, 2004

John F'Shizzle Kerry
Posted by Jon Henke

Well, John Kerry has heard of Clinton's Sista Soulja moment...but he wants no truck with it.

Yago: ... Are there any trends out there in music, or even in popular culture in general, that have piqued your interest?

Kerry: ... I'm fascinated by rap and by hip-hop. I think there's a lot of poetry in it. There's a lot of anger, a lot of social energy in it. And I think you'd better listen to it pretty carefully, 'cause it's important.

I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess that John Kerry wouldn't know, say, DMX from a hole in the ground.

But, that bit of pandering aside, this part struck me as I watched a bit of the show last night. Follow John Kerry. If you can....

Yago: I think that a lot of people are wondering whether you would be the kind of president who is going to get involved in our entertainment. We have heard politicians before, from even the floor of the Senate, campaign against video games, movies, records. Would you do that as president?
Ooh, a direct question. John Kerry...is he for censorship or against it? Let's go to the tape....
Kerry: I think that there is a line you draw between government intervention and the right of speech and the right for people to express themselves....
Got it. He's against it.
...but do I think there are standards of decency in that? Yes, I do. Do I think that sometimes some lyrics in some songs have stepped over what I consider to be a reasonable line? Yeah, I do. I think when you start talking about killing cops or something like that, it bothers me.
Woop! He's for it. I mean, there's a line you draw, and you ONLY cross that line when....well, when it bothers him.
I understand, I'm still listening because I know that it's a reflection of the street and it's a reflection of life, and I understand all that. I'm not for the government censoring or stepping in.
Wait! The tide has turned! He's actually against censorship!

Unless, I suppose, it's censorship of speech that has "stepped over a reasonable line". Glad we got that cleared up.

And John Kerry wonders where he got a reputation for flip-flopping?

NOTE: Hey, is it just me, or is MTV's Rock the Vote not even pretending to be non-partisan anymore?

TrackBack

Comments

In reference to your "Note", I agree completely with you. As a young adult, I am worried about the younger generation whose views will be severley skewed and warped not only by non-partisanship of MTV but also by their programming. It should be noted that MTV did a similar thing to the Kerry Q&A in 2000 by allowing Al Gore to have a Q&A and then, at the end of the program saying they will "try" to get GW to do the same, needless to say, it never happened. Being in my early 20's I am embarrassed when people refer to my generation as the MTV generation and hate the fact that people my age and younger are influenced by such a piece of sh*t tv station.

Posted by: The dude at March 31, 2004 05:38 PM

Cute, but that's not flip-flopping, technically. It's telling us that JFK is on both (or neither) sides of the issue. Thus he can lead us in two (or more) directions at once.

Posted by: Alene at March 31, 2004 06:07 PM

"I think there's a lot of poetry in it."

So that's his level is it?

sing Johnny...

"John Kerry's ketchup jingle mind
Rap’s his fave too.
Whenever he goes out
The people have to shout
There goes John Kerry’s ketchup jingle mind
Caca Caca ca ca ca....."

(repeat until nauseous)

Posted by: Stephen at March 31, 2004 07:17 PM

If anyone thinks voting against Bush is going to magically wipe away censorship, then they are sorely mistaken.

The historical record shows that John Kerry and other Democrats should be expected to practice censorship at multiple levels.

Democrats are far more prone to play the censorship card because they like to broaden their “crossover appeal” among voters.

They are willing to sell out the First Amendment at the drop of a hat for a few votes. Congressional Democrats probably figure that a substantial amount of people who oppose censorship are not going to vote Republican anyway, so what is there to lose?

A prime example is the Telecommunications Act of 1996. This bill included the “Communications Decency Act” sponsored by Democrat Jim Exon of Nebraska. Just look at how many Democrat Senators were chomping at the bit to vote for this and get their names on it as sponsors of amendments!

The Republican-appointed Supreme Court ruled in Reno v. ACLU, that the federal Communications Decency Act, as signed by Bill Clinton, was an unconstitutional restriction on free speech, affirming a lower court decision. Yes, these are the same Supreme Court Justices that serve through present day.

Here you can see how the Democrats clamored to pass this bill:



Telecommunications Act of 1996 (S. 652)



S.AMDT.1269
Amendment sponsored by Dianne Feinstein, Democrat of California
Purpose: To provide for the full scrambling on multichannel video services of sexually explicit adult programming.

Senator John Kerry Voted Yes.


S.AMDT.1275
Amendment sponsored by Kent Conrad, Democrat of North Dakota
Purpose: To provide means of limiting the exposure of children to violent programming on television, and for other purposes (V-Chip).

Senator John Kerry voted against a motion to table this amendment.

Conrad Amendment passed as modified by the Lieberman Amendment on a voice vote of the Senate.




S.AMDT.1347

Amendment to Conrad Amendment sponsored by Joe Lieberman, Democrat of Connecticut
Purpose: To revise the provisions relating to the establishment of a system for rating violence and other objectionable content on television.
Lieberman Amendment to the Conrad Amendment passed on a voice vote of the Senate.




S.AMDT.1288
Amendment sponsored by Patrick Leahy, Democrat of Vermont
Purpose: To revise title IV of the bill and provide for a study of the legal and technical means of restricting access to obscenity on interactive telecommunications systems.
Leahy Amendment passed as modified by the Exon Amendment (Communications Decency Act) on a voice vote of the Senate.


S.AMDT.1362
Communications Decency Act
Amendment to Leahy Amendment sponsored by James Exon, Democrat of Nebraska
Purpose: To provide protections against harassment, obscenity and indecency to minors by means of telecommunications devices.
Senator John Kerry voted yes.


Telecommunications Act of 1996 (S. 652) passed Senate with amendments.
Senator John Kerry voted yes.


Senate agreed to conference report for the Telecommunications Act of 1996 (S. 652)
Senator John Kerry voted yes.

The Telecommunications Act of 1996 (S. 652), which includes the Communications Decency Act was signed by President Bill Clinton on February 8, 1996.


Again, the Republican-appointed Supreme Court ruled in Reno v. ACLU, that the federal Communications Decency Act was an unconstitutional restriction on free speech.

Posted by: highway1pch at June 1, 2004 06:01 PM