July 5, 2013

"U.S. Secretary of State John F. Kerry — who spent the Fourth of July on sun-splashed Nantucket even as the chaos from a military takeover rocked Egypt..."

"... drew fire from Republican critics who said it’s a bad time for the nation’s top diplomat to be seen cavorting on an island getaway."
... Kerry, who owns a house and a yacht on the ritzy retreat, was seen yesterday strolling down Federal Street away from July Fourth festivities on Main Street in jeans and a light-colored polo shirt.  Later in the afternoon, Kerry was seen offloading bags from a single-person kayak to a boat in Nantucket Sound after launching from the beach behind his home at 5 Hulbert Ave....
Thanks for the address... I guess. Here:


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Kerry’s staff yesterday insisted he’s fully engaged and has been logging long hours and high miles, including a recent 12-day, 25,000-mile trip to the Middle East and Asia.
This reminds me of the way Hillary Clinton's people argued for her success as Secretary of State — all the many miles flown. I don't really care about the number of days spent traveling as opposed to the effectiveness handling specific matters in the right places and times.
Yesterday he dialed into a meeting with President Obama and members of his national security team in the Situation Room, according to the State Department. Kerry also called foreign dignitaries from Egypt, Israel, Norway, Qatar, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates.
He phones it in. How's the cellphone service out in Nantucket Sound? What's it like phoning on a single-man kayak?
“Secretary Kerry has been working tirelessly around the clock since he returned from his 10-day trip and there has not been a moment where he has not been focused on doing everything possible to communicate with his team in Washington and in Egypt, within the administration and with his counterparts around the world,” Kerry spokeswoman Jen Psaki told the Herald last night.
Then he wasn't kayaking properly. Also, you see the message? He needs his vacation. He's earned it.  Not acceptable in a time of emergency in a position of high responsibility. We don't care how hard you worked or whether you're due for a rest. You shouldn't be in the job if you aren't ready to work nonstop. I wrote those sentences before reading this next part:
Former state Democratic Party chairman Phil Johnston said these days the secretary of state can effectively work out of anywhere in the world. “The man’s been working 24/7 for weeks to create peace in the Middle East — I think he’s entitled to a day on Nantucket,” said Johnston. “If there’s anything we know about John Kerry, it’s that he’s a very hard worker. The American people don’t need to worry about that.”
Entitled?  Hard worker? We don't need to worry? #!&* We're entitled to worry.

ADDED: I don't like "The man’s been working 24/7 for weeks to create peace in the Middle East" as a premise for the argument that Kerry's entitle to a vacation, but I could see using it to argue that his work is something we're better off without it.

AND: Meade asked what I meant by "#!&*." Rhymes with Nantucket.

79 comments:

edutcher said...

Sad to say, Lurch has been an even bigger laughingstock that Hillary! and ranks right up there with Choom.

Whether the charge is justified is up for grabs, but, given the Choom Gang's history WRT Benghazi, the optics are lousy.

Problem is, he can't say this caught him by surprise. this has been building for a while.

Sinnamon Buns said...

There once was a man from Nantucket. I wonder if it's the same guy.

traditionalguy said...

The Egyptians are happy to see an inept person trying to carry out Obama's crafty plans for their destruction. They are smart enough to figure out Obama, Jarrett and the current Ambassador who love and protect all Muslim fanatics all of the time in hopes that Israel will be destroyed in the end.

ricpic said...

I hope it was a no logo pink polo shirt. Even with Kennedy hair and a horrible horse face, break the code and you're still Ralph Lauren wannabe riff raff.

Skeptical Voter said...

Crises and responding to them are for the little people.

Lurch couldn't be bothered, nor could he care less about what happens in the Middle East.

In this Potemkin Presidency, Dear Leader and his pawns are always "relentlessly focused 24/7" on every issue. How many times has Obama "focused like a laser on jobs, jobs, jobs"? And when he's not focused like a laser on "whatever" then he's "pivoting to whatever".

Lurch is the perfect Secretary of State for such a regime.

Hari said...

Focus on the big picture: Obama is going to want to vacation and vacation and vacation.

How would it look if his Secretary of State were too busy to vacation too?

If John Kerry can run the State Department from his kayak, then surely Obama can run the country from the golf course.

Matt Sablan said...

He's been working so hard on peace, Egypt happened! Do we REALLY want him back?

Guildofcannonballs said...

http://www.obamafordummies.com/i-will-not-rest.html

Kerry learned how to lie-by-rhetoric from the best.

jacksonjay said...


Obama golf, Kerry kayaks, and Journ-o-listers work overtime!

Eric the Fruit Bat said...

The only hard part about the job is getting the job in the first place.

All the rest of the work is done by subordinates, the way God intended.

Anonymous said...

Aloof, arrogant, entitled, smug, heartless, intellectually lazy, shallow....

In other words, a true leftist baby boomer in his fully matured stated.

Another word for "fully matured" is rotten.

Nonapod said...

working tirelessly

I always found that a strange construction. I guess it means working without being tired, but that always seemed a little inhuman to me.

Tank said...

Defense of Kerry.

He's doing the right thing.

Nothing.

This is Egypt's problem. Same as Syria. Let them work it out with Allah.

Meanwhile, the 4th is a good time for sun and fun. He accomplished exactly the same amount of good on Nantucket as anywhere else.

Leave my Kerry alone.


Really. We need more of this nothing stuff.

Joe Schmoe said...

Former state Democratic Party chairman Phil Johnston said these days the secretary of state can effectively work out of anywhere in the world.

Thus obviating your need to brag about how many miles he's flown.

“The man’s been working 24/7 for weeks to create peace in the Middle East

Another patently false, bald-faced lie. 24/7? Even if he is so sleep-deprived, are we to believe peace in the Mideast wasn't so intractable a problem; that it was all due to a labor shortage by American diplomats?

I think he’s entitled to a day on Nantucket,” said Johnston.

You mean where he tried to fleece the MA state gummint of tens of thousands of dollars by registering his New Zealand-made yacht in Rhode Island?

“If there’s anything we know about John Kerry, it’s that he’s a very hard worker."

Those are three words I've never heard used to describe John Kerry. He seems to work hard at enjoying the wealth he married into; he's always mountain biking, skiing, and kayaking. As for real work, eh, not so much. He worked so hard for decades as a Senator that he has virtually no legislative achievements to show for it.

"The American people don’t need to worry about that.”

Coming from a Democrat publicist and handler, I feel much better now, thanks. Kerry is on it!

Sydney said...

Our town had a mayor once who lost her job because she went on her long-planned vacation the day after we had a terrible flood. Same should happen to Mr. Kerry.

Joe Schmoe said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Icepick said...

So, are they saying that Kerry is too old or too lazy to get his ass back to Washington and do his fucking job? I couldn't really tell....

MadisonMan said...

What would have happened differently if he'd been toiling in DC?

You can argue that the US is so powerful that Peace would have broken out in the Mideast just 'cause Kerry willed it while working tirelessly from the swamps of DC. But I won't believe it.

Darleen said...

"But I'm a really HARD worker!"

Oh gawd .. how many times have I heard that phrase when I've been forced to pull in a person to counsel them on their below-expectations work product.

I want to see smart work, I want to see good results. I want productivity.

I don't care the miles Kerry has logged or the phone time or the Skype time ... working remote can be just as effective as "being there" for most things.

But the key word is "effective."

Ain't seeing it from Kerry.

He's just another convenient card-board fallguy for The Won, who will feign surprise and say he just learned about [crises du jour] via the media.

Nonapod said...

Really. We need more of this nothing stuff.

I tend to agree, and I'm no fan of Kerry either.

I mean... what exactly could we be doing about the situation in Egypt that would be better than doing nothing? Maybe it was a poor PR move for him to be seen participating in frivolous recreational activities, but I just can't get that upset about it.

Anonymous said...

A 'Republican strategist' and a 'Kerry handler' walk into a bar...

Anonymous said...

The one Presidential election I didn't vote at all. When Kerry ran.

Bart Hall (Kansas, USA) said...

This is quite simply a government-level effort to reward *kids* for effort, rather than accomplishment. "He tried so hard."

The Obama administration is full of such kids, overseen by a bunch of otherwise incompetent thugs. We will be a long time recovering from the Obama administration, most especially in foreign affairs.

Icepick said...

A friend of my pointed out something to me Wednesday night: Even among the lefties he knows, he never hears anyone talk about how things would have been better if only Kerry were elected President in 2004.

And Kerry turns 70 later this year. He apparently lacks the vigor for the job.

cold pizza said...

In the history of this Republic, has there EVER been a more incompetant and corrupt administration? We've got the worst elements of Harding, Wilson AND Carter riding the tiger.

John F'n Kerry as SOS. More like POS! *spit* Another "Lead From Behind!(tm)" Dem lick-spittle.

Traitor, poseur, toad, worm, looter, tax-evader. ESAD. -CP

Icepick said...

MadisonMan, maybe nothing changes on the ground if Kerry is in DC, but he is still the Secretary of State, Egypt is still an important country, and it is his fucking JOB. If he lacks the vigor to do the job, he should resign. Or he should be fired.

This is a crisis and he needs to get his ass back to Washington to work, unless he needs to go somewhere else for emergency diplomatic action. Taking time off for water sports is dereliction of duty.

Icepick said...

Cold Pizza, you are not being fair to the Harding Administration - they actually got a lot of good work done.

Also, you left out the LBJ and Nixon Administrations, as Obama is incorporating the worst aspects of those worthies, too.

Methadras said...

I hate it when the descriptors for how these autocrat douchebags like carry are said to be "working tirelessly" as if every one of their waking and non-waking moment is totally and utterly dedicated to the promotion of American ideals the world over. That's what the SoS is supposed to do. John Kerry working tirelessly is like Winston Howell III kicking back on a deserted isle.

Scott M said...

If you get the chance, I would highly recommend a long weekend trip to Nantucket. Go in September, though, after the koofs have left for the season.

Do what you need to secure transportation on island. Not everything is within walking distance. At all.

Icepick said...

Oh, I should point out that my wife has been working very hard at her job lately. She has a lot of accomplishments to point to in her recent work history, many of which are outside the scope of her job description.

But because of a bunch of that work and other work that is outside the scope of her job, she is working today instead of taking the day off. In fact, she may work until midnight and have to work more this weekend. She will not get any extra pay for this work, being salaried.

Why is she doing this instead of enjoying a long weekend with her family? Because that's her JOB. So Kerry can get his ass back to DC and get to work, or quit. No sympathy for that gasbag, he's just another shit getting rich off government work.

Henry said...

“The man’s been working 24/7 for weeks to create peace in the Middle East — and I think it's time to give the Middle East a day off.

cold pizza said...

Serious question folks, can anyone here name a single competent or trustworthy member of this administration? -CP

The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...

The phrase "Kerry/Edwards" makes me giggle everytime.

Henry said...

I do wish we could be honest about what events these executives can actually influence.

How about "Secretary Kerry has communicated the administration's goals to career diplomats with far more expertise than himself. If they can figure out how to advance the administration's goals, they will, but frankly, the Middle East is a huge cockup and nobody has a clue and nobody ever has."

Anonymous said...

Aside from being impossible, working 24/7 for weeks must mean something different to democrats like Obama and Kerry than it does to the rest of the world.

I think to them it means 24 minutes, 7 days a month.

Michael said...

Entire lives spent in government insulate people from the real world of hard work where vacations are interrupted or cancelled, where people jump back on airplanes back to the far away places they have just been to repair something, again. Something important gets attention in the real world that is not populated completely by jackasses. And this goes for politicians of all stripes who make their careers off the backs of the citizenry, who do nothing but make laws their entire pitiful lives.

Icepick said...

Serious question folks, can anyone here name a single competent or trustworthy member of this administration?

That depends on your perspective. If I'm Obama I love love LOVE Eric Holder. He does all the dirty work without complaint and takes a lot of heat off the President. If I were Obama I would trust him completely.

The rest of us, however.....

SomeoneHasToSayIt said...


Whom among us doesn't love kayaking?

Icepick said...

the real world of hard work where vacations are interrupted or cancelled, where people jump back on airplanes back to the far away places they have just been to repair something, again.

THIS.

Gahrie said...

Come on you guys, give Kerry a break...it's not like he wanted the job....

cold pizza said...

Icepick, actually I am serious.

Can anyone who frequents this blog or reading these comments identify ANY individual in the current administration that YOU trust to do a good job, put the interests of the citizenry at the forefront, or otherwise demonstrate any acceptable level of competancy in advancing the cause of liberty? -CP

Gahrie said...

NASA seems to be doing OK. The Mars rovers have been an unqualified success, and they seem to have gotten their act together when it comes to the commercialization of space.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Don't worry professor...

Kerry has a cell phone... I dont know that for sure, but I also know he is no Prince.

exhelodrvr1 said...

That explains the problems with the adminstration's policies in the Middle East - SecState hasn't had any sleep for an extended period of time. Of course they are going to make idiotic decisions!!

Hagar said...

The Secreatary of State is the President's Secretary of State, and yeah, at a time like this the SoS should be in Washington keeping on top of developments and advising the President face to face.

Of course, that also requires the President to be in Washington and being interested in what his SoS advice.

exhelodrvr1 said...

Maybe if he had just stayed where he was and yelled for help ...

Pat said...

The only real accomplishment's in John Kerry's life are that he managed to marry not one, but two millionaires. Given that, unless Morsi happened to be a female and had a huge net worth, there's not much he could have gotten done in Egypt.

William said...

Everything happens for the worst in the middle east. Doing nothing is a viable option. Those pricks are just waiting for us to do something so they can claim it's all our fault......While doing nothing is a viable option, doing nothing on a yacht sends the wrong message. I'd recommend Kerry do nothing while skeet shooting.....A Democrat can get away with yachting, but that's totally unacceptable behavior in a Republican. Bush cleared bush and got sweaty while doing nothing. He caught a certain amount of flak for that. God help him if he had ever chosen to go yachting. No Republican should ever go near a yacht or country club. I'd recommend bituminous coal mining as a leisure time activity for Republicans.

Anonymous said...

Any comment using the words,"works 24/7" can be accurately assumed to be the worst kind of bullshit.

Icepick said...

Icepick, actually I am serious.

SO am I. If you are Obama you've got to LOVE Holder. He does all kinds of dirty work, takes most of the blame, and keeps coming back for more.

ndspinelli said...

I guess he gave up windsurfing for kayaking..better photo op. On a related level, Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard are great places to visit. But the BEST time is Sept/Oct.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

John Kerry money = good.

Mitt Romney money = bad.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

When these boobs are off duty (living large off our tax dollars) is this necessarily a bad thing?

Issob Morocco said...

The farther one travels, the less one knows.

Joe Schmoe said...

My favorite bumper sticker from 2004 was "John Kerry for President - of France!" and there was a picture of him with a goofy face...well, let's see what the Googles can find...ahh...Here it is!

Aridog said...

Matthew Sablan said...

..., Egypt happened! Do we REALLY want him back?

No. And Matthew Sablan , early, for the win!

Joe Schmoe said...

In Kerry's defense, Egypt is just as sun-splashed as Nantucket.

Joe Schmoe said...

"You're no frequent flyer until you've got cankles and flight feet like mine!"

-Hillary Clinton

Joseph Blieu said...

Gahrie said...

NASA seems to be doing OK. The Mars rovers have been an unqualified success, and they seem to have gotten their act together when it comes to the commercialization of space.
____________________________

I used to love NASA but now it is a total failure, They did not create any Muslim scientific self admiration as Obama commanded and Manhattan is unfortunately not yet flooded as Hansen assured us it would be.

Joseph Blieu said...

Gahrie said...

NASA seems to be doing OK. The Mars rovers have been an unqualified success, and they seem to have gotten their act together when it comes to the commercialization of space.
____________________________

I used to love NASA but now it is a total failure, They did not create any Muslim scientific self admiration as Obama commanded and Manhattan is unfortunately not yet flooded as Hansen assured us it would be.

Known Unknown said...

What Kerry is doing is inversely proportional to our foreign policy success, I surmise.

Roger J. said...

The United States does not have a foreign policy. It has a blowhard President, and a totally incompetent SecState (and Sec Def as well)--Our foreign policy appears to be one of reaction. Allies and Enemies alike have no idea what the US stands for.

Alas

Gahrie said...

Meade asked what I meant by "#!&*." Rhymes with Nantucket.

Phuket?

Isn't that where Kerry bought his magic hat?

Big Mike said...

As they say, the optics are terrible. If I was an Egyptian, or any Arabic speaker for that matter, I'd take it as a sign of how little the Middle East matters to this administration.

cold pizza said...

Yeah, we're ragging on that well deserved PoS SoS, but still, does anyone know of ANY current political appointee that isn't a tool of the fascist regime?

IRS. HHS. EPA. DHS. FBI. CIA. NSA. FCC. NLRB. DoS. DoD. USDA. DoJ. TSA. DoTreas. DoTrans. BIA.

And yet people are complacent about allowing this same group of elitist fascists have access to and control our medical records?

Kerry is merely a sideshow clown, one of the many freak show faces for this whole inept and venal administration. My God! We could power the world by encasing the founding fathers in copper wire and putting their spining corpses in the centers of massive dynamos! -CP

Scott M said...

So State originally comes out and says, "No, he was never on his boat." and then has to correct that to "Yep, he was on his boat".

Why is it that this administrations first reaction to nearly everything to lie about it? My hunch is that because they are substanceless and concentrate only on the optics of the situation, but what the hell do I know.

Can you work from a boat? Yep. Does everyone need time off? Yep. Do you need to lie about it? Nope.

Joe Schmoe said...

Kerry is being swift-kayaked.

Hammond X. Gritzkofe said...

Tank said: Defense of Kerry.

He's doing the right thing. Nothing.
...
Really. We need more of this nothing stuff.


How can we get Congress to perform that well?

Hammond X. Gritzkofe said...

Tank said: Defense of Kerry.

He's doing the right thing. Nothing.
...
Really. We need more of this nothing stuff.


How can we get Congress to perform that well?

raf said...

Sad to say, Lurch has been an even bigger laughingstock that Hillary! and ranks right up there with Choom

Kerry's purpose in the Democratic party is to make Hillary look good by comparison in preparation for 2016.

raf said...

I'd recommend bituminous coal mining as a leisure time activity for Republicans

Environmentally incorrect. It's gotta be clean burning anthracite.

Left Bank of the Charles said...

There once was a man from Nantucket
Who vacationed so long as to shuck it.
And he said with a sneer
With his cell on his ear,
If I can't do my job you can ...

Petunia said...

Shouldn't the sentence read in part, "Kerry, whose wife owns a house and a yacht on the ritzy retreat..."?

Worst. Administration. Ever.

And how come Kerry, who married money, gets a pass for his wealth, while Mitt Romney, who mostly earned his money (having donated a lot of his inheritance to his alma mater) is considered rapacious?

Yet MORE leftie hypocrisy!

Graham Powell said...

My name is Elmer J. Kerry. I own a mansion and a yacht.

Gene said...

I wonder if Kerry's kayak has a jaw holder, like Jay Leno's cars do.

doustoi said...

If he so deserves a vacation, why lie about it in the first place? Because his people know it sucks to have a guy lazing on a yacht while his president's foreign policy goes to shit. Lying liars. Did anyone yet mention that Kerry is a lying, back-stabbing 2 time gigolo? Oh, I just did.

MD Greene said...

Given the nature of the man, it might be better this way.

Hyphenated American said...

Former state Democratic Party chairman Phil Johnston said these days the secretary of state can effectively work out of anywhere in the world.“The man’s been working 24/7 for weeks to create peace in the Middle East
I think he’s entitled to a day on Nantucket,” said Johnston.

“If there’s anything we know about John Kerry, it’s that he’s a very hard worker."


It's all true, I believe. John Kerry, a dumb monkey has been tirelessly trying to figure out quantum mechanics, working on it very hard 24/7. And now he is tired, and needs a rest. Personally, I think if he stays the rest of obama's term in Nantucket doing nothing, his efficiency won't change a bit. Actually, given Kerry's uncanny ability to say dumb things, I believe us foreign policy will benefit greatly if Kerry just stays on his yacht. I am thinking that Obama should visit him and stay there for a while.

Corky Boyd said...

The reason Kerry went to Nantucket is he knew for the past two days of the foreign policy disaster that was about to unfold. He wanted to be away from it because there was nothing he could do about it..

The problem with this is administration is they invested too heavily in Morsi, and watched him grab more and more power and tilt to Islamist extremism. After a year and $3.5 billion of foreign aid/bribes, they thought they owned him. They didn't. The army knew it. Saudi and the Emirates know it. And the Israelis know it.

Now these 4 entities are our best allies in the middle east, yet the Obama/Kerry axis sees them as the enemy and Morsi their ally. Go figure!