Posted on 07/29/2004 6:05:21 PM PDT by LibWhacker
'The embattled farmers stood and fired the shot heard round the world," declared Ted Kennedy in a moment of Revolutionary War nostalgia. Or he would have done, if he'd managed to stick to his text. But, in a strikingly erratic performance even by his standards, what actually emerged from the Senator's lips was: they "fired the shirt round the world".
That sums up better than anything what the Democratic Party's been trying to do this week for its Presidential candidate: fire the stuffed shirt round the world, put a rocket up a guy who seems weighed down by his own self-importance and project him into the stratosphere. All the star speakers through the week were the equivalents of those bits of the rocket that boost you up into space and then fall away, leaving just the little capsule up there. And, who knows, if they boosted him up high enough, maybe nobody would notice just how little there is to John Kerry's little capsule.
What was the message of John Kerry's Democratic Party this week? According to vice-presidential pin-up John Edwards, they want to bring an end to "the tired, old, hateful, negative politics of the past". That was bad news for rank-and-file Democrats, but the party bosses meant it.
That's why you weren't allowed to wear your BUCK FUSH T-shirt up at the podium. The trick for those on stage was to imply Bush was a liar and a draft-dodger and a war criminal but not to claim outright that he was the new Hitler and enjoyed drinking the blood of Iraqi babies.
In the normal course of events, you avoid saying unpleasant stuff about the other guy by saying nice things about your guy. But, aside from a few by now over-familiar references to his four months in Vietnam, nobody seemed to know anything nice about John Kerry.
Including his wife, who steered well clear of anything warm and personal and instead gave one of those speeches only the truly mega-loaded can give - when you've been rolling in it so long nobody's able to tell you you're a flaky windbag no matter how long you go on or nutty you get. Floundering for a cause with which to rally the citizenry, the Democrats eventually found one: themselves.
"Our greatness is also measured by our goodness," declared Howard Dean.
"I've seen it in the people I've met and their desire to take our country back for the American people. I saw it in a college student in Pennsylvania who sold her bicycle and sent us a cheque for $100 with a note that said, 'I sold my bicycle for democracy'."
Really? John F Kerry's bicycle cost $8,000. Why doesn't he sell his for democracy? If you throw in the designer French T-shirt buttock-hugging lemon-hued lycra shorts, you'd probably be up around an even 10 grand. When Howard Dean and John Kerry and John Edwards talk about "change", what they mean is you send these bazillionaire grandees the 100-dollar bill and they'll keep the change.
What did that co-ed cutie get for her 100 bucks? Presumably she sent it to Governor Dean because he was anti-war. He lost to Senator Kerry, who at that time was for-and-against the war, in the same way that he's for-and-against abortion and for-and-against gay marriage. But he seems to have come down, Iraq-wise, on the "for" side of the ledger.
He'll be spending a little more time ineffectually chit-chatting with Kofi and Jacques and Gerhard, but other than that his Iraq policy is sounding more like Bush's every day. That college kid ponied up her $100 and isn't getting a lot of "change".
There's a narcissism about the tone of this convention which cuts to the heart of the Democratic Party's problem: they don't believe in anything except their monopoly of goodness.
That's why poor boy-turned-trial lawyer John Edwards's supposedly "appealing biography" is appealing only next to John Kerry's. Instead of marrying his money, he sued his way into it.
But his message doesn't resonate because it boils down to: if I can do it, you can't. But here's some government programmes instead. Edwards's very condescension to the downtrodden masses confirms middle-class liberals in their sense of their own virtue.
That's the essence of this convention: a condescending media congratulating a condescending leadership for effectively communicating to a condescending governing class their plans for everyone else. John F Kerry should enjoy it while he can. Electorally speaking, he'll lose his shirt.
Most long time residents of Beacon Hill have a "Do you know who I am" story.
Plus they couldn't take the chance that she would steal a line from Ronald Reagan and shout: "Mr. Chairman! I PAID for this microphone!"
But you'll never see this in an American newspaper...
Takes an outsider to sum it up tersely, no?
BTW, I'm trying to figure a one sentence summary for Kerry's new image. How about this: "I'm Rambo, but will consult France first"
Damn, this guy's good...
I can think of something nice about Kerry. By November's end he's going to be looking for work.
bump.
The Founding Fathers are kicking themselves in their graves thinking, "Dammit! Why didn't we think of that?"
Unfortunately not. He's got his Senate gig until 2009.
Great article. Made me feel really good especially this line at the end:
Electorally speaking, he'll lose his shirt.
Kerry and Edwards just don't feel right. I'm not just saying this because I detest them and everything they stand for. They aren't presidential material. Mrs. Heinz isn't first lady material. As much as the media tries to sell these two, I'm getting a feeling, especially after the big convention, their campaign is going to sink like a lead ballon. Anybody but Bush isn't going to carry them over the finish line.
These Guys Are the Most Crooked, Lying Group I've Ever Seen"--John Kerry, 2004, channeling my thoughts about him and Edwards
Now that's a "squirrel's" review of the entire demonrat convocation. All in a nutshell. I believe this convocation of the demonrats this week is the nails in the coffin. Mr. "Flip-Flop" & Mr. "Mop-Top" ain't goin nowhere after the election except down.
Yep. It's pitiful. The MSM has no interest in presenting all sides.
I like that--Flip-flop and mop-top.
He sure is! I'll have to remember to do a keyword search for him everyday (now that ping lists are ancient history).
LOL
Can't believe democrats think voters are ready for another freak show in the White House so soon after the last one was impeached.
bump
That's a good article -- good post. It sounds like this writer has been reading Mark Steyn -- he's not as good as Steyn, but he's finding his own voice.
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