It's beginning to look a lot like August 1988

The Boston Herald ^

[Redcoat LI]

It's beginning to look a lot like August 1988 By Howie Carr Recent Columns by Howie Carr Friday, August 20, 2004

John Kerry's August 2004 is beginning to look like Mike Dukakis' August 1988.

Not a good month, in other words. It's probably too much to say that the wheels are coming off Kerry's campaign the way they did off his political mentor's 16 summers ago. He hasn't climbed into a tank yet, but isn't it odd that he reaches out to Mike McCurry almost 16 years to the day that Dukakis brought back a sleazemeister named John Sasso?

Sixteen years ago this month, the nation learned that the Duke was a henpecked wimp who went to bed at night with, as he himself put it, ``Kitty's advice, counsels and urgings ringing in my ears.''

Now we discover from Kerry's ditzy ex-girlfriend that when he used to call her he used an alias - Miguel. And that when they were playing doctor with the shades drawn, he would whisper sweet nothings in her ear. In French.

Sacre bleu!

We've come a long way from John Kerry [related, bio] reporting for duty to Miguel reporting for booty.

And now Sen. John Miguel Kerry throws down the gauntlet to the swift-boat vets. But this may have been a time for Miguel to have recalled the words of Jim Curley: ``Never complain, never explain.''

For 30 years, Miguel has been in a media liplock with the bow-tied bumkissers of Morrissey Boulevard. And this love affair has apparently led him to believe that the rest of the media will roll over for him the way his kissin' cousins always have in Boston. And most of the PC press has until now totally ignored the charges of the swift-boat vets. But how can they now?

You know how every profile of Kerry this year has included the old story about how the late state rep Bill Reinstein passed himself off to the clueless Kerry as another legislator. The anecdote is always cited as an example of how out-of-touch Kerry was, and is.

But it appears that Kerry never absorbed the most important lesson of his tormentor Reinstein's career. Back when Reinstein was mayor of Revere, a scandal erupted over the building of a new high school. Reinstein began writing letter after letter to Garrett Byrne, the DA of Suffolk County and an ally, demanding an investigation.

Finally, after about the third missive, Byrne felt compelled to refer the matter to a grand jury. Reinstein was promptly indicted.

Now Kerry brings up the swift boat vets issue himself. And the lamestream media, like Garrett Byrne before them, may finally be forced to do something they are loath to do - go after somebody on their own team.

Miguel has benefitted from hundreds of millions of dollars worth of free publicity from Michael Moore, Moveon.org, and every brain-dead junkie and slut in Hollywood. The bookstores are full of anti-Bush tomes that are prominently displayed, but good luck trying to even find a copy of ``Unfit for Command.''

Day after day, Miguel's flanks are protected by The New York Times, CBSNBCABCCNN and every pointy-head Ivy League windbag in America, and he's freaking out over a $500,000 TV buy because the contributors are from, gasp, Texas. The Democrats' big-money guy is George Soros. He's from Hungary.

Now, though, all these semi-official organs of the Democratic Party are going to have to at least mention the charges against Kerry. Aren't they?

The media can't ignore the swift-boat vets anymore. Can they?

And Miguel asked for it. He forgot that, as they say in Revere, you should never let your mouth write a check that your rear-end can't cash. Somewhere, the shade of Bill Reinstein must be smiling.

( Howie Carr's radio show can be heard weekday afternoons on WRKO AM 680, WHYN AM 560, WGAN AM 560, WEIM AM 1280 and WXTK 95.1 FM. )

[Malesherbes]

Kerry reporting for duty; Miguel reporting for booty! Nobody knows the inner Lurch better than Howie Carr.

[Gunder]

I'm not familiar with the Boston Herald. What kind of paper is it? I imagine it's sort of like the NY Post, or am I wrong?

[housewife101]

Thanks....I actually was a freeper over four years ago...I stopped as so many things in my life were going on...just had to get back in it before this election...I AM GOING CRAZY! LOL

[KC_Conspirator]

For 30 years, Miguel has been in a media liplock with the bow-tied bumkissers of Morrissey Boulevard. And this love affair has apparently led him to believe that the rest of the media will roll over for him the way his kissin' cousins always have in Boston.

I actually heard that lady from the Washington ComPost say months ago on FOX News that Kerry has been battle tested because he Boston press is tough. What a joke! They work hand in glove with the democrat party for crying out loud!

[RKB-AFG]

I am getting more nervous about this election

Me too.

[counterpunch]

 
 
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[finnman69]

I love it...MIGUEL!

[pabianice]

In July, 1988, Dukakis led George H.W. Bush by 17 points. In November, 1988, he lost to Bush in a landslide.

Liberals' own worst enemy is themselves. The more people learn about them, the less they like them.

[MikefromOhio]

Exactly....they always follow their own...

The media in this country has forgotten that ratings = money....they think that if they follow the right ideology that they can convince everyone that they are right about everything....meanwhile their ratings are dipping further and further....

[WillVoteForFood]

Hello, my name is Juan Miguel Kerrodriguez and this is the, how do you say, ah, yes, the campaign.

[misterrob]

Sensationalist, tabloid news coverage but their Op/Ed page tends to slant to the right. Howie Carr basically hates politicians and the establishment. He hates corruption, patronage and government ripping off the tax payers.

[Darkwolf377]

I'm not familiar with the Boston Herald. What kind of paper is it? I imagine it's sort of like the NY Post, or am I wrong?





You are correct. It's a bit less obnoxious than the Post (not that the Post being obnoxious is a bad thing) but it's the alternative to the Boston Globe, which has more indepth news stories yet is so politically biased that it's hard to take.

[Maceman]

I'm not familiar with the Boston Herald. What kind of paper is it? I imagine it's sort of like the NY Post, or am I wrong?

Tabloid paper, generally conservative editorial policy, decent conservative columnists in the opinion section, but its news leans left, especially when written by political reporter Andrew Miga -- whose stories often appear on the first or second page, and whose reporting makes him the poster boy for leftish bias.

Howie Carr's usually entertaining radio talkshow can be heard on WRKO AM at 3pm each day, following Rush. Carr is really a lifeline expert on the shananigans of Massachusetts politicians.

[latina4dubya]

In July, 1988, Dukakis led George H.W. Bush by 17 points. In November, 1988, he lost to Bush in a landslide.

i remember this quite well, as i was a LIBERAL back then... i just knew Dukakis was going to win... then i went on vacation during the Republican Convention... i remember glancing at the newspapers at a stand during my vacation and could not believe my eyes--George Herbert Walker Bush was gaining on Dukakis in the polls... i was devastated! (little did i know that just four years later, i would be voting for GHWB)...

[LS]

I think I said it first, here, this morning:

"The Willie Horton Moment"

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1195371/posts

[Constitution Day]

We've come a long way from John Kerry reporting for duty to Miguel reporting for booty.

Sounds like great tagline material.

[Republic Rocker]

Ok......This OCTOPUS now has LEGS!

[capt. norm]

Somewhere in a post the author referred to the "mainstream media" as the "Old Media"

I really like that term, not just because it's true but also because they will not like it.

The internet and talk radio are driving the Old Media into the museum.

The alphabet networks who sare mainly entertainment media that does news on the side, and the big newspapers that used to rule are now becoming outdated curiosities.

The "Gray Lady" (NY Times) will now serve as a liner for parrot cages.

(Let Polly editorialize on it)

[Redcoat LI]

Somewhere in a post the author referred to the "mainstream media" as the "Old Media"

It's like Rummy's "Old Europe" phrase,a bunch of shriveled, useless appendages living off their former glory, and expecting everyone to bow to their greater wisdom.