Frankly, I have always been less than impressed by her, but today this is really ridiculous:
http://tv.msnbc.com/2012/12/18/john-kerry-now-the-republicans-favorite-democrat/
Of course the platitude about needing a woman or a minority. While I agree that women should be represented largely in the cabinet and not only in subsidiary positions, why does it have to be in State (and frankly why are they not criticizing Hagel, who after all is a Republican).
John Kerry, now the Republicans’ favorite Democrat
Matthew Alexander
5:59 pm on 12/18/2012
On Tuesday’s show, Alex and her panel discussed a Washington Post report suggesting President Obama will on Friday nominate Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) and former Senator Chuck Hagel (R-NE) to be his next Secretary of State and Secretary of Defense, respectively.
Kerry is an “honorable” and “qualified” choice to be the nation’s top diplomat, the panel agreed, they couldn’t help weighing his good fortune against the GOP’s harsh treatment of the president’s apparent first choice, U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice, who withdrew her name from consideration last week.
“I do think the White House has to be a little bit careful,” said panelist and former DNC Communications Director Karen Finney. “I think naming two white men in the same week when you just saw an African-American woman who was overly qualified get treated the way she did, and in a cabinet that–let’s face it–could probably use some more diversity anyway, probably not a smart strategic decision.”
...
Then the idea that this was what the GOP wanted. Frankly, I think that, even if true, Kerry was probably also the Democrats favorite, though they knew better than saying it.
The panel saw another irony in Kerry–a decorated veteran whose Vietnam military record was attacked by many on the right eight years ago–now being the No. 1 choice of Senate Republicans.
But the funniest comes from Ben Smith, formerly from Politico (frankly, that would be enough to sound funny that he is taken seriously). But basically, his point is that Rice is "extremely close to the president". Aside from the fact that it is an awkward formulation, while I can believe that she is closer to Obama than Kerry, what exactly allows this person to say that Kerry does not have the ear of the president (he was sent in missions, he was part of the prep team for the debates, so may be he is not a pal who has dinner with the president all the time, but aside from repeating talking points, what justifies this statement?).
“Kerry looks like the right kind of guy to be Secretary of State in terms of central casting,” Buzzfeed Editor-In-Chief Ben Smith said. But “Susan Rice had something which Kerry doesn’t, which is being extremely close to the president.”
Smith noted that secretaries of state usually fall into one of two categories: “Rock Stars” like Hillary Clinton, who impress foreign diplomats with their elevated status, and those who wield great influence because they clearly have the ear of the president. Smith cited President George H.W. Bush’s Secretary of State, Jim Baker, as a good example of the latter.
“Kerry seems to fall in between those two things,” Smith said. “I think that’s not necessarily an ideal profile.”
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