# With friends like this... John Kerry opens mouth, repeatedly chews up to the ankle (likely untrue) **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [September 30, 2024, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-friends-like-this-john-kerry-opens-mouth-repeatedly-chews-up-to-the-ankle-likely-untrue/1008293 "2024-09-30T16:41:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2024, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-friends-like-this-john-kerry-opens-mouth-repeatedly-chews-up-to-the-ankle-likely-untrue/1008293/1 "2024-09-30T16:41:52Z")
Disclaimer: I can only find this reported on right-wing sources, no centrist or left-oriented sources. Does that mean it didn’t happen? From something called [The Independent Sentinel](https://www.independentsentinel.com/john-kerry-1st-amendment-is-a-major-block-we-need-to-win/), because I couldn’t find anything better. > Kerry recently told the globalist World Economic Forum that the First Amendment is a “major block to the ability to be able to just, you know, hammer” disinformation “out of existence.” The rest of the article displays a word salad that only marginally continues to make this point. I don’t think any of this contains misquotes. Now I realize Kerry has no more influence than any other failed Presidential candidate who should have won, but he’s 80 now and, never renowned for intellectual prowess, has now descended into nutbar territory, or senescence, or something. He needs to stop talking and sink back into well-earned obscurity. ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2024, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-friends-like-this-john-kerry-opens-mouth-repeatedly-chews-up-to-the-ankle-likely-untrue/1008293/2 "2024-09-30T16:58:47Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > never renowned for intellectual prowess Thats just right wing revisionist bullshit. Really!?! The takeaway from the Bush-v-Kerry era is that _Kerry_ lacks intellectual prowess LOL! Kerry was always a perfectly intelligent skilled politician, who would have made a far far better president than Bush. He was however completely lacking in charisma and couldn’t inspire his way out of a paper bag. He is the kind of doomed candidate who the democrats loved to nominate, and stands in stark contrast to the current ticket. This is a complete non story, a 80 year old private citizen who is not running for office, makes a poorly worded statement about the 1st amendment ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2024, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-friends-like-this-john-kerry-opens-mouth-repeatedly-chews-up-to-the-ankle-likely-untrue/1008293/3 "2024-09-30T17:12:09Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > > Kerry recently told the globalist World Economic Forum that the First Amendment is a “major block to the ability to be able to just, you know, hammer” disinformation “out of existence.” If someone outside the United States asked you, “Why can’t the American government ban disinformation?” you might reply that the First Amendment means that people can, within limits, say what they want, even if they’re spreading disinformation. That _may_ be the kind of context in which he made his statement. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2024, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-friends-like-this-john-kerry-opens-mouth-repeatedly-chews-up-to-the-ankle-likely-untrue/1008293/4 "2024-09-30T17:24:52Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > Kerry recently told the globalist World Economic Forum that the First Amendment is a “major block to the ability to be able to just, you know, hammer” disinformation “out of existence.” What about this sentence is incorrect? ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2024, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-friends-like-this-john-kerry-opens-mouth-repeatedly-chews-up-to-the-ankle-likely-untrue/1008293/5 "2024-09-30T17:26:15Z")
Since the words First Amendment were not within the quote marks, I assumed someone was paraphrasing him to make him appear to say something he didn’t Nope. [He said it.](https://www.foxnews.com/video/6362645263112) I honestly thought after he said that, that he would follow it up with, “We need to educate voters.” or “That is why a person needs a variety of sources.” or “People need to critically examine their resources and the agendas involved.” Nope. At best he went off topic but you could, if you wanted to, interpret his follow up as the Democrats need to win to change the 1st Amendment to get rid of disinformation. > [@Babale](#): > > What about this sentence is incorrect? Nothing, but the followup was the killer IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2024, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-friends-like-this-john-kerry-opens-mouth-repeatedly-chews-up-to-the-ankle-likely-untrue/1008293/6 "2024-09-30T17:35:03Z")
> [@griffin1977](#): > > Really!?! The takeaway from the Bush-v-Kerry era is that _Kerry_ lacks intellectual prowess LOL! Kerry was always a perfectly intelligent skilled politician, who would have made a far far better president than Bush. Being smarter than Bush Jr. isn’t much to brag about, and Kerry’s 2004 loss indicates questionable political skill. The political landscape in 2004 was far simpler than it is today. 20 years later Kerry is no longer capable of handling the current environment, if he ever was at all. I think he spoke out of frustration. After 8 years of this nonsense he should have realized that was the goal of the other side. ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2024, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-friends-like-this-john-kerry-opens-mouth-repeatedly-chews-up-to-the-ankle-likely-untrue/1008293/7 "2024-09-30T17:39:47Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Kerry’s 2004 loss indicates questionable political skill. Political skill in terms of what’s required to govern effectively, not the ability to get elected, which is a completely different set of skills and in common with so many democratic candidates over the years, he was completely lacking. Fortunately they do seem to have come around on that. Harris seems to actually taking the whole “get elected” thing seriously ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2024, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-friends-like-this-john-kerry-opens-mouth-repeatedly-chews-up-to-the-ankle-likely-untrue/1008293/8 "2024-09-30T17:41:33Z")
I googled “John Kerry 1st amendment” and got a bunch of hits from credible sources and journalists like Fox news and Sean Hannity. And that was without the term “globalist”. ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2024, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-friends-like-this-john-kerry-opens-mouth-repeatedly-chews-up-to-the-ankle-likely-untrue/1008293/9 "2024-09-30T17:50:46Z")
I mean if we are gonna talk about the first amendment maybe we should be talking about the views of someone who actually is running for president, rather than some old guy who never going to do any governing ever again Like maybe the fascist who is currently running at about 50-50 in the polls and has said on numerous occasions he’s gonna curtail the first amendment? (And make himself dictator on day one, arrest his political opponents, etc. etc.) > **[Trump Says We 'Gotta' Restrict the First Amendment](https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/trump-restrict-first-amendment-1235088402/)** > > Donald Trump vowed to restrict the First Amendment's protections for flag-burning days after being endorsed as an anti-censorship candidate by RFK Jr. ---
**Author:** ![Jas09](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d07c76/32.png) [@Jas09](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jas09)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2024, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-friends-like-this-john-kerry-opens-mouth-repeatedly-chews-up-to-the-ankle-likely-untrue/1008293/10 "2024-09-30T18:00:54Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > I honestly thought after he said that, that he would follow it up with, “We need to educate voters.” or “That is why a person needs a variety of sources.” or “People need to critically examine their resources and the agendas involved.” That’s exactly what he said in the video you linked to. Here is the entire quote, transcribed as best as I can: > [@](#): > > Look, if people only go to one source and the source they go to is sick, and you know, has an agenda, and they’re putting out disinformation, our First Amendment stands a major block to being able to, you know, hammer it out of existence. > > So, what you need, what we need, is to win the ground, win the right to govern. By hopefully, winning enough votes so that you are free to be able to implement change. I don’t see how much clearer you can be when the question is “how do you battle disinformation in order to implement policies to address climate change?” First you make it clear that you can’t just ban the information in American due to our expansive free speech rights. And then point out that the only way to make effective change is to win enough votes to enact legislation to address the issue of importance. This is the kind of click-baity BS that is infuriating. If you want to watch the entire 1-hour session and then come to the conclusion that John Kerry is an imbecile that want to overturn the First Amendment to combat climate change, you are welcome to watch it here: [https://www.weforum.org/events/sustainable-development-impact-meetings-2024/sessions/it-s-not-easy-trading-green/](https://www.weforum.org/events/sustainable-development-impact-meetings-2024/sessions/it-s-not-easy-trading-green/) ETA: The question being discussed here is at about the 45 minute mark in that video, btw, in case you are looking for it. He is clearly talking about making policy changes in the area of climate change, not making changes in the first amendment. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2024, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-friends-like-this-john-kerry-opens-mouth-repeatedly-chews-up-to-the-ankle-likely-untrue/1008293/11 "2024-09-30T18:19:08Z")
I mean, Kerry’s not wrong. He said an unpopular but true thing out loud. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2024, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-friends-like-this-john-kerry-opens-mouth-repeatedly-chews-up-to-the-ankle-likely-untrue/1008293/12 "2024-09-30T18:24:41Z")
> [@bobot](#): > > I googled “John Kerry 1st amendment” and got a bunch of hits from credible sources and journalists like Fox news and Sean Hannity. The video I linked to is the primary source. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2024, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-friends-like-this-john-kerry-opens-mouth-repeatedly-chews-up-to-the-ankle-likely-untrue/1008293/13 "2024-09-30T18:28:12Z")
> [@Jas09](#): > > I don’t see how much clearer you can be when the question is “how do you battle disinformation in order to implement policies to address climate change?” Like I said, you could if you wanted to interpret “change” into “change the first amendment” when contextually makes sense. Why should one assume that he linked change to climate and not the 1st Amendment. FTR: I agree with you but he did leave it ambiguous enough that it is easy to say. “He said what I wanted him to say.” > [@griffin1977](#): > > I mean if we are gonna talk about the first amendment maybe we should be talking about the views of someone who actually is running for president, From your source, he was talking only about flag-burning which after _Texas v. Johnson_ is protected speech. And of note: the Flag Desecration Amendment regularly gets the 2/3 support needed in the House so some Dems are on board as well. ---
**Author:** ![Jas09](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d07c76/32.png) [@Jas09](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jas09)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2024, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-friends-like-this-john-kerry-opens-mouth-repeatedly-chews-up-to-the-ankle-likely-untrue/1008293/14 "2024-09-30T18:54:55Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > Why should one assume that he linked change to climate and not the 1st Amendment. Because the entire 1-hour talk - hell the entire one-week event - was about combating climate change! You don’t have to bend over backwards to give his remarks the completely innocuous interpretation that he obviously intended. But instead, agitators pick out a minute from a 1-hour talk, spin it in worst way possible, and astroturf it on their news aggregators until folks like the OP (who I assume is acting in good faith) thinks Kerry has “descended into nutbar territory, or senescence”. This whole thing actually just reinforces the point that if you only get your news from certain sources, and refuse to find the original video and use your own brain, its very easy to be fooled into believing things that aren’t true. Like that John Kerry wants to change the first amendment to combat climate change. ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2024, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-friends-like-this-john-kerry-opens-mouth-repeatedly-chews-up-to-the-ankle-likely-untrue/1008293/15 "2024-09-30T18:56:34Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > From your source, he was talking only about flag-burning which after _Texas v. Johnson_ is protected speech. And of note: the Flag Desecration Amendment regularly gets the 2/3 support needed in the House so some Dems are on board as well. That was just his most recent outburst on the matter he has consistently called for weakening of the first amendment throughout his career, [not just flag burning](https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2020/12/its-not-section-230-president-trump-hates-its-first-amendment). But even just considering this recent incident he explicitly said he wanted to curtail the first amendment. Kerry(who again is not running for office and not going to be joining any future government) was talking about the first amendment in the context of something plenty of people agree with (stopping misinformation). Yet it was still reported as “Kerry and the Democrats hate the first amendment!” Trump clearly actually hates the first amendment, yet you don’t see “Trump and the GOP hates the first amendment!” headlines. There is a massive double standard in the press. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2024, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-friends-like-this-john-kerry-opens-mouth-repeatedly-chews-up-to-the-ankle-likely-untrue/1008293/16 "2024-09-30T19:03:47Z")
> [@Jas09](#): > > Because the entire 1-hour talk - hell the entire one-week event - was about combating climate change! Be honest, how many Americans are going to listen to a one-hour speech versus a 45 second sound-bite? Also, his grammar was horrible as one would assume “change” with no other qualifiers refers to the last thing he talked about - in this case the 1st Amendment and not climate. Defend Kerry all you want but that minute was not spoken and he’s a politician so he should know that you cannot give your opponents the opportunity to do what they did. All he had to do was say “climate change” and this is not an issue. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2024, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-friends-like-this-john-kerry-opens-mouth-repeatedly-chews-up-to-the-ankle-likely-untrue/1008293/17 "2024-09-30T19:05:16Z")
> [@griffin1977](#): > > But even just considering this recent incident he explicitly said he wanted to curtail the first amendment. Along with many congressionals including Dems re: flag-burning. ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2024, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-friends-like-this-john-kerry-opens-mouth-repeatedly-chews-up-to-the-ankle-likely-untrue/1008293/18 "2024-09-30T19:11:12Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > Along with many congressionals including Dems re: flag-burning. Again exactly as with Kerrys comments, plenty of people on both sides of the aisle think we should combat misinformation. Yet Kerrys comments were not reported as “Kerry thinks we should combat misinformation”, it was reported as “Kerry and Democrats hate the first amendment!” It’s an utter bullshit story (again Kerry is an old guy who is not running for office of any kind, his views on combating misinformation are as relevant to the 2024 election as mine or yours) and shows the insane double standard the media has with Trump ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2024, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-friends-like-this-john-kerry-opens-mouth-repeatedly-chews-up-to-the-ankle-likely-untrue/1008293/19 "2024-09-30T19:17:58Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > He said an unpopular but true thing out loud. It was an inconvenient truth? ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2024, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-friends-like-this-john-kerry-opens-mouth-repeatedly-chews-up-to-the-ankle-likely-untrue/1008293/20 "2024-09-30T19:38:45Z")
Wrong loser. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-friends-like-this-john-kerry-opens-mouth-repeatedly-chews-up-to-the-ankle-likely-untrue/1008293.md?page=2)