Aides nurture Kerry's appeal

The Boston Globe ^ | March 2, 2004 | Patrick Healy

[Cincinatus' Wife]

NEW YORK -- Douglas Paulson, an out-of-work actor who once supported Howard Dean for president and admires the Rev. Al Sharpton and Dennis J. Kucinich for expressing "overlooked opinions," now says he is "90 percent certain" he will vote for John F. Kerry in today's New York primary.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Many of these same voters acknowledged that it was an image of Kerry -- Kennedyesque, a war hero -- that attracted them, rather than a certainty that he was the best standard-bearer among all Democratic leaders in Washington or the state capitals.

Democratic frontrunner US Senator John Kerry (news - web sites) of Massachusetts throws a football on the tarmac prior to departing from Oakland Airport in California. If John Kerry has had a relatively smooth run towards the Democratic presidential nomination, the tough days are only beginning with the Republican White House cranking up its attack machinery(AFP/Stephen Jaffe)

[Just mythoughts]

JFKerry

"fallback candidate"

[Cincinatus' Wife]

We can watch him fade.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

I'm open : Democratic frontrunner John Kerry (news - web sites) catches a football on the tarmac prior to departing from Oakland Airport en route to New York. (AFP/Stephen Jaffe)

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. John Kerry (news - web sites), D-Mass., throws a football while his campaign plane, enroute from Oakland to New York, was being refueled in Indianapolis, Ind., Saturday Feb. 28, 2004. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

[Cincinatus' Wife]

U.S. Democratic presidential candidate U.S. Senator John Kerry (D-Ma) catches a football thrown by a campaign staff member as he prepares to leave Oakland International Airport in Oakland, California, February 28, 2004. Kerry is heading to New York for a Democratic candidates debate and to continue his campaign 'Jobs Tour' of the Super Tuesday battleground states before Tuesday's crucial and possibly decisive caucuses and primaries. REUTERS/Jim Bourg US ELECTION

[Cincinatus' Wife]

U.S. Democratic presidential candidate U.S. Senator John Kerry (D-Ma) pretends to kick a football into the press cabin as his campaign plane prepares to takeoff for New Yat Oakland International Airport in Oakland, California, February 28, 2004. Kerry is heading to New York for a Democratic candidates debate and to continue his campaign 'Jobs Tour' of the Super Tuesday battleground states before Tuesday's crucial and possibly decisive caucuses and primaries. REUTERS/Jim Bourg US ELECTION

[kcvl]

I am already SICK of him!

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., throws a football before boarding his campaign plane in Oakland, Calif., for a flight back to New York City, Saturday Feb. 28, 2004. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

[Cincinatus' Wife]

LOL!

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Bush-bashing: international sport?***Some Bush-bashers merely make fun of the president's personal traits and failings. "The Bush Dyslexicon" by Mark Crispin Miller is a compilation of the president's public-speaking slipups (of which there are indeed many). There are websites devoted to photos of the president looking like a chimpanzee. In Britain, reports have referred to Bush as a "cowboy," a "redneck," and a "vulgar Texan." Such name-calling is a sorry substitute for debate, and surely undeserving of good Americans' time or consideration, much less their votes. Worst of all, some in the anti-Bush brigade try to scare people into voting against him. In "Bushwhacked," Ivins and Mr. Dubose tell of a New Jersey family allegedly being poisoned by an insecticide plant because the Republican-run Environmental Protection Agency refuses to do anything about it; they write of food conglomerates that allegedly knowingly spread deadly listeria, as another downside to "life in George W. Bush's America." Raising people's fears about their health is surely the lowest form of political engagement. It plays on irrational concerns rather than exploring any hopes and ambitions they might have for reshaping the world outside their front doors.

With little by way of political conviction, many Bush-haters resort to moral blackmailing, or hectoring the electorate. Bush is an idiot, they say, so you'd have to be an even bigger idiot to vote for him. Or they claim that voting Bush is bad for your health; or you might inadvertently help to poison some poor family in New Jersey.

Taken together, all this looks like an incoherent rant, a scream of rage against the Bush administration or "stupid white men," or chemical plants, or global warming, or political power in general. The aim may be to expose Bush as incompetent, stupid, and dangerous - but the anti-Bush brigades often do a better job of exposing themselves as politically lazy, cynical, and lacking in vision.

Indeed, if they aren't careful, such critics could prove to be Bush's secret weapon: The American electorate may tire of being cajoled and frightened into voting against Bush, rather than politically convinced to do so. Some might even be tempted to vote for him as a way of snubbing the critics who have patronized them. America's voters deserve better than this.***

[IrishRainy]

Were those pics taken before he boarded the "Million Air" plane? What a fraud!

[Cincinatus' Wife]

What a fraud!

What a joke!

[Just mythoughts]

Just got to love these people....

JFKerry our "FALLBACK" candidate.

Sure would look good on bumper stickers.

[driftless]

When Howard The Horrible Dean was the frontrunner, the Dem elite looked at him with horror and shock. "We can't let that nut be the nominee" they gasped, "we'll only get about thirty percent of the vote in the next election." So they picked someone like Kerry, who holds almost exactly the same far-left views as Dean does but does not come off as a deranged asylum escapee like Dean. In fact Stoneface Kerry is the epitome of boredom and inertia. He doesn't actually want to take a stand on anything (except for criticizing Bush for everything including post-nasal drip) until supposedly he gets elected. He is the left-wing stealth candidate. He even refuses to allow himself to be depicted as a liberal even though his record shows him to be the most liberal senator in congress. Unbelievable! This is one scary person.

[Salamander]

[Cincinatus' Wife]

JFKerry our "FALLBACK" candidate. Sure would look good on bumper stickers.

I think that would look great on about a million bumpers!

[Sir Gawain]

You can tell a lot about a guy by the way he throws and catches a ball...

[Cincinatus' Wife]

OOPS!

U.S. Democratic presidential candidate U.S. Senator John Kerry (D-Ma) tries to catch a football thrown by a campaign staffer at Oakland International Airport in Oakland, California, February 28, 2004. Kerry is heading to New York for a Democratic candidates debate and to continue his campaign 'Jobs Tour' of the Super Tuesday battleground states before Tuesday's crucial and possibly decisive caucuses and primaries. REUTERS/Jim Bourg US ELECTION

[Cincinatus' Wife]

This is one scary person.

He's a dolt. The perfect standard bearer for the Left.