The Trouble With Kerry (from a Democrat!)

MSN Slate ^ | March 1, 2004 | Kausfiles

[FairOpinion]

The worry here isn't so much that Kerry is an untested executive--he's never run anything larger than his Senate office--but that the presidency requires more than mere executive competence.

No visible political courage: The great question for Kerry biographers is how a man who showed bravery on the battlefield could demonstrate so little of it in his political life.

I admit, I'm allergic to Kerry. Something in the vibration of that deep, pompous tone he adopts--the lugubrious, narcissistic fake gravity--grates on me.

[FairOpinion]

It's hard to excerpt this editorial -- suggest reading or at least scanning the actual article.

Even Dems are having a hard time voting for Kerry -- and this author didn't even address the War on Terror, where Kerry would totally flop -- to our detriment.

[Betaille]

"I admit, I'm allergic to Kerry. Something in the vibration of that deep, pompous tone he adopts--the lugubrious, narcissistic fake gravity--grates on me."

This is EXACTLY how I feel about him... I like this writer already. His disguistingly babyish use of his vietnam experience to put down other people for their military experience sets me off worse than anything though.

[cripplecreek]

I think we're witnessing the beginnings of the predicted "buyers remorse". Virtually everything democrats like about Kerry is met with evidence of opposition from the guys voting records.

[FairOpinion]

The author also points out that Kerry plays people for fools, but of course people are starting to realize that.

[OldFriend]

That so called bravery on the field of battle is a figment of Kerry's active imagination and not borne out under close scrutiny of the available record.

[goldstategop]

Mickey Kaus is a New Democrat from the Clinton School who detests an Old Line Liberal Warhose that John F. Kerry is. Kerry puts even the Third Way Democrats to sleep.

[Verginius Rufus]

Interesting piece. If Kerry wins, he'll do worse than Carter. I can believe that.

Another Democrat pundit who shows signs of buyer's remorse about Kerry's likely nomination is Elizabeth Drew in the March 11 issue of The New York Review of Books.

Her first few paragraphs are about how wrongheaded McAuliffe's strategy of bunching up the primaries so that the nominee would emerge quickly was...which suggests that she is not thrilled about Kerry. The rest of the piece, beyond hits on Bush and Hugh Shelton, is a paean to Wesley Clark.

[alloysteel]

And people thought that listening to Al Gore was somewhere between enough to bore zombies to tears, and a totally incoherent mishmash of diametrically opposed and completely incompatible remedies for things that most people did not even perceive as problems. In retrospect, Al Gore was almost credible, when compared to the smoke and mirrors that Kerry uses to come down solidly on both sides of any issue.

[Wolfstar]

It doesn't help that Kerry is not well-liked in Massachusetts...

Then why do they keep voting to keep him in the senate?

[alloysteel]

Mickey the Kaus has two perfectly legitimate fears. I suspect John Kerry as President would manage to make Jimmy Carter look extraordinarily competent. And John Kerry as defeated candidate would make the loud public proclamations and criticisms by the "Former Occupant of the Oval Office, 1993-2001" seem like muted mutterings.

[Cuttnhorse]

Excellent article...should be read completely.
Geez, my bookmarks page is becoming overloaded with Kerry hit pieces.

[Cuttnhorse]

The hints in Kerry's senatorial resume aren't encouraging. Legislating is an almost pathologically collaborative effort, and Kerry has been a conspicuous non-performer in the legislation department. Time magazine found exactly "three substantive bills passed with Kerry's name on them" Two of these "had to do with marine research and protecting fisheries." (The other was "designed to provide grants for women starting small businesses.") Kerry's record as a senator for two decades would be embarrassing were it not for his investigations into drug commerce and his initial digging into illegal aid for the Nicaraguan contras.

It doesn't get any more damning than this...Ketsup Boy must be wincing at this one.

[okie01]

It doesn't help that Kerry is not well-liked in Massachusetts...

Then why do they keep voting to keep him in the senate?

It's sure enough true, though. To Mass voters, Kerry seems to serve as a reliable liberal vote in the Senate, but is almost universally panned as a human being.

Massachusetts voters seem overwhelmed by an immense inertia. A recent Boston Globe poll tried to identify who the Bay Staters would vote to replace Kerry, should he win the Presidency.

The answer: former rep Joseph P. Kennedy II

Evidently, Massachusetts is a state with neither vision or imagination.

[jmstein7]

BUMP!

[randog]

I think we're witnessing the beginnings of the predicted "buyers remorse"

Yup. Kerry looked good when he was standing next to the likes of Dean, Sharpton, et.al. Now that the dems have their prize and are inspecting it under the bright light (gleefully provided by republicans and other conservatives), they're finding out that it's just a cheap plastic trophy.

I suspect things will get worse for Kerry. For starters, he has so many skeletons I suspect he rents a mini-storage unit to store them all. Add to that the lack of any ideas (and those he does have are just laughable) and you've got a train wreck waiting to happen for the dems.

It's early yet, but it's not looking good for the dems. The press is going have to work overtime to polish this turd.

[optimistically_conservative]

This comes from a previous thread that was pulled.

It was posted by Wild Irish Rose and deserves to be posted again.

It's becoming very apparent, that nobody in the DNC had access to Google before they annointed Kerry- the Democrat "nominee du jour." In spite of Kerry's crappy record on every issue important to Americans and his abhorrent treatment of the military- I am convinced that Kerry does not have the physical or emotional strength to go the distance.

I fully expect some sort of physical collapse or mental decompensation before the general election, which will force him out of the race.

I don't see this as a grand scheme by the Clinton's- I think they have lost control of the process. If anything, I see Kerry as the original dream candidate of the Bush team. Dean was just a head fake and the media and the Dems bought it.

If Kerry collapses before the convention, I guess the nomination is Hillary's for the asking.

I assume that if Kerry collapses after the convention,his VP would ascend to the head of the ticket.

[gov_bean_ counter]

That so called bravery on the field of battle is a figment of Kerry's active imagination and not borne out under close scrutiny of the available record.

In John Kerry's life, his alleged Vietnam actions are the behavioral anomaly...

[HankReardon]

Why does the same state keep Ted Kennedy in the Senate?

[FairOpinion]

"It was posted by Wild Irish Rose and deserves to be posted again."
...

"If Kerry collapses before the convention, I guess the nomination is Hillary's for the asking. "


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This is my greatest fear as well. Just the way the Dems substituted Lautenberg, instead of Torricelli, I can see them substituting Hillary for Kerry -- I think they would do this, even if it's AFTER Kerry is the nominee with a VP. Of course it's possible he will pick Hillary as his VP, making the whole thing much smoother.