Peggy Noonan: JFK Disease

Opinion Journal ^ | 03/04/04 | Peggy Noonan

[Pokey78]

John Kerry certainly looks like a president--the thick steel-wool hair, the Lincolnian planes and shadows of his face. He is tall and slim and seems serious. He also has the guts to wear salmon-colored ties. A red tie is red and a blue tie is blue, and red and blue know what color they are. Salmon is a more delicate hue. Salmon can't decide what color it is. Sometimes it's pink and sometimes it's orange. It's like wearing ambivalence on your shirt. This is an unusual thing for a politician to do if it's thought through, and it takes courage.

[Pokey78]

Peggy ping!

[SevenDaysInMay]

JFK was a security risk whore monger.

JFingK is a whore security risk monger.

[SwinneySwitch]

"The good news about Mr. Kerry, and I mean this seriously, is he does not appear to be insane."

I could read Peggy all night!

[lainde]

Great!

[mrs tiggywinkle]

excellent Noonan article on Kerry...

[FlashBack]

"He wound up looking not like Mr. Reagan but like a turn-of-the-century madam in a San Francisco whorehouse, but that's not important."

Had to pick myself up off of the floor after that line!!!!

Great Article!!!!!!

Peggy Ping!!!!!


G.

[randog]

Many great lines here, but this, imo, is the best:

The great unmentioned fact of Democrats in power and foreign policy right now is that they try hard to do nothing, because if they were to do something it would be what Republicans do. And they don't want to do that.

[NYC Republican]

ping

[F16Fighter]

The good news about Mr. Kerry, and I mean this seriously, is he does not appear to be insane.

And thus the worst kind of psychopath.

[jwalsh07]

The good news about Mr. Kerry, and I mean this seriously, is he does not appear to be insane.

Appearances can be deceiving.

[Think free or die]

"One has the sense he is a liberal Democrat because of the time and place in which he was born, that he inhaled a worldview as opposed to struggling through to one."

Bingo!

[Dolphy]

The good news about Mr. Kerry, and I mean this seriously, is he does not appear to be insane

If insane isn't the right word, what do you call a man who holds so many contradictory positions and thinks he's the real JFK?

[Fenris6]

Peggy's always too nice :) Kerry is a Dork. A Dork Weasel who lies without shame. He prob got one of his pruple hearts by impaling himself on his bayonet when he jumped of the PT boat.

Dork: http://home.comcast.net/~fenrisulven/dork.jpg

Post - this help section on this site stinks. How do I post a pic - tried IMG tags, no luck...

[Mo1]

I disagree .. Kerry is crazy

[My Dog Likes Me]

John Kerry looks like President Andrew Jackson. Just look at a $20 bill! Separated at birth??

[Mo1]

Oh and Kerry in some ways reminds me of Gore

He doesn't know who the heck he is .. or what he stands for ..

Well let me be a bit more clear .. he doesn't stand for America

[Paradox]

{img src="http://home.comcast.net/~fenrisulven/dork.jpg "}

[nutmeg]

bump

[smoothsailing]

Kerry looks larger in my rear view mirror.

He's very small head on.

[Porterville]

Kerry is a loser.

[Lawgvr1955]

Perhaps Kerry is going to run a campaign like the Firesign Theatre's Papoon, whose motto was "Vote Papoon, Not Insane".

[SkyPilot]

After reading the story about his Communist father---he should wear red ties with a hammer and sickle.

[1rudeboy]

bttt

[okie01]

"If insane isn't the right word, what do you call a man who holds so many contradictory positions and thinks he's the real JFK?"

Peggy posited that John Effin' Kerry wasn't insane. She made no such claims regarding his being delusional.

[Rocky]

"You can imagine him struggling, like Mr. Clinton, to know what precisely he wanted the presidency for once he had it"

This is exactly what I thought of Bill Clinton, even before he took office. Remember the movie The Candidate (Robert Redford)? After being elected senator, Redford says to his campaign manager, "Now what do I do?" His campaign manager, who had done all the thinking up to that point, looked at him with some surprise and said something like, "That's up to you. My work is finished." I think that's where Kerry would be too, if by some nightmarish miracle he should be elected.

[Siobhan]

The other woman of the moment, Teresa Heinz, is going to make things fun. I saw her on C-Span give an eloquent speech a few weeks ago in Wisconsin--notes, no text, and she didn't refer much to the notes. She spoke interestingly of her youth, her political views. She has been wealthy, connected and powerful for so long she has grown mildly bored with her good fortune, and in all her time in public life she has not developed much of an edit button. She seems in interviews like someone who's walked through many smoke-filled rooms, waved her arms impatiently, and told the maid to plug in a few air fresheners. She is not awed by media people; she thinks producers and anchormen are people who are lucky she invited them to dinner at Louisberg Square.

Mark Leibovich of the Washington Post did a brilliant and rather too detail-rich profile of her last summer. People didn't know she considered her late husband, John Heinz, to be her real husband until then. It was startling, and delightful. She hasn't given an indiscreet interview since. But she will. Before that, however, there will be a series of long and glowing interviews from big media reporters who a) need to foster a relationship with a possible future first lady, and b) want to be the first to change the narrative line from "known crazy woman" to "colorful, earthy and authentic presence--and secret power in the campaign."

Bump for my fave part of Peggy's prose on Kerry and claque.

[AnalogReigns]

as if Leonardo's painting had come alive and they were actually seeing God touch Adam.

Ummmm, it was actually Michelangelo's famous painting of God touching Adam.... bad Peggy! BAD!!!

[ontos-on]

his communist father"? can you elaborate?

[Tamzee]

Thank you, Pokey78.... Peggy is always a delight!

[ontos-on]

Peggy posited that John Effin' Kerry wasn't insane. She made no such claims regarding his being delusional.

no, she is a person who chooses words carefully; she said he did not "appear" insane.

[Tamzee]

Pssstt... over here ;-)

[okie01]

"his communist father"? can you elaborate?"

Kerry's World: Father Knows Best, an illuminating article from, astonishingly, CBS News.

Explains a great deal.

[Ruth A.]

Peggy had me from the first reference of salmon. How can someone make me laugh so hard when she writes so subtly?

[Ruth A.]

Ummmm, it was actually Michelangelo's famous painting of God touching Adam

Thank you, I was wondering why it didn't connect together.

[TheMole]

"One has the sense he is a liberal Democrat because of the time and place in which he was born, that he inhaled a worldview as opposed to struggling through to one."

It is indeed a very good line. It applies to many liberals, and especially those who have spent their entire lives in the liberal bubble - New England or the Bay Area, college and college towns, government, the "non-profits". It's why so many of them can't make reasoned arguments for liberal policies - they've never really thought about them.

[Fenris6]

thanks. I'm used to using [img]...[/img]

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Bump!

[metesky]

"One has the sense he is a liberal Democrat because of the time and place in which he was born, that he inhaled a worldview as opposed to struggling through to one."

Kerry was born in Colorado.

[FairWitness]

Thanks, Peggy. I needed that.

[doosee]

Kerry is too boring to be insane. I could foresee in his presidency (not) that he could easily do a repeat Bay of Pigs, say in Venezuela. Help to overthrow Chavez but dont help too much so you actually throw him out.... Democrat weakness revisited.

[Tax-chick]

She is not awed by media people; she thinks producers and anchormen are people who are lucky she invited them to dinner at Louisberg Square.

I'm prepared to like someone who treats the media like the SERVANTS they are!

[Ditter]

>>>>>> Kerry has a secret stash of Gray Poupon>>>>> LOL That is a great line too, & absolutely true. He does not appeal to the common man or woman.

[harrowup]

The great unmentioned fact of Democrats in power and foreign policy right now is that they try hard to do nothing, because if they were to do something it would be what Republicans do. And they don't want to do that.

This is so absolutely true. Clintonian FP was just a page from Introduction to Billing Hours for Partners in Waiting and merely used negotiations as an excuse for papering over the problem. Of course, James Baker in the Bush One administration was pretty good at that as well...oh, yeah, and a pretty good litigator himself.

Classic Noonan, and I mean that appreciatively.

[GailA]

He was also a drug addict. Like Elvis had Dr. Nick, JFK had his own private pill provider.

[isthisnickcool]

Peggy and I agree.

[arasina]

For all his macho posturing on Harleys and windsurfing and wearing wetsuits, John Kerry's true nature is still apparent.

JOHN KERRY IS JUST A BIG SISSY!

[arasina]

FR's HTML Sandbox

[MeekOneGOP]

How do I post a pic - tried IMG tags, no luck...

Here is a link. Go to post #116 first (link should take you right to that post), and look under "Pictures". That will give a walk-thru for picture posting. That article gives a lot of very useful and helpful tips on HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language), which you need to post on FR. There are other related links and information there as well.

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[MeekOneGOP]

Good article on John Kerry by Peggy! ...

Peggy Noonan: JFK Disease

Excerpt:

JFK was an interesting man, privately complicated and publicly merry. When his motorcade went by in 1960, women--especially nuns, I once read--couldn't help themselves; they jumped up and down in excitement. The Kennedy campaign called them the jumpers. Mr. Kerry on the other hand--well, no one jumps for him.

I didn't think a man with a face that anguished would make it this far. I mean without other qualities that overwhelm and even counter the message of the face, which is: I suffer from mild clinical depression, do you?

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