Former New York Times editor Howell Raines on why John Kerry will not win the presidential election

Guardian ^ | 06/02/04 | Howell Raines

[electroclash]

It is scary that he thinks that Kerry is the first war hero since JFK. Yeah to echo Speedy - what about GHWB and Dole? Didn't Carter even serve? Al Neuharth (founding editor at USA TODAY) was saying that America needed a General President to lead it into war citing George Washington. That was his primary opposition to Bush's action in Iraq. He wasn't honest enough to admit that neither FDR or B Clinton didn't serve. These editors are going crazy with their hatred of Dubya.

[GOPJ]

Howell Raines is an idiot or a total jerk to have left out these patriots :

In additon to Dole, George Bush 41 was also a war hero with a DFC and so was George McGovern.

[ladyinred]

I remember a hero named ROBERT DOLE that was a candidate in 1996....or am I confused??

Oh come on, you know that a republican can't be a hero doncha? Heaven forbid! Are these people disgusting or what.

It made me so mad to read " a weakened Bush" when I know darn good and well the media is the one who has been doing everything in their power to cause it!

[GOPJ]

ping

[Verginius Rufus]

Raines says Kerry represents charitableness while Bush represents greed. Kerry in the mid-'90s, before his marriage to Teresa Heinz, gave zero to charity...on his income as a U.S. Senator. The 'Rats are charitable enough, but with other people's money.

[Tamzee]

Your post #37... top to bottom brilliant. I saved it, thank you :-)

[Faraday]

Two and a quarter centuries into its history as a nation, America has the most unfair tax system ever and the greatest gap ever between rich and poor. Even a real populist, however, would have trouble taking on these issues frontally. As Al From of the Democratic Leadership Council noted, Americans aren't antagonistic toward the rules that protect the rich because they think that in the great crap-shoot of economic life in America, they might wind up rich themselves. It's a mass delusion, of course, but one that has worked ever since Ronald Reagan got Republicans to start flaunting their wealth instead of apologising for it. Kerry has to understand that when a cure is impossible, the doctor must enter the world of the deluded.

"Sophisticates" such as Raines can't even recognize the world in front of their noses. The American people as a whole have undergone an increase in the standard of living over the last several generations unknown in the history of mankind. The "poor" have an existence and opportunities beyond the royalty of past ages. But these leftist scum hate America. Why? I would guess that the "rich" they hang with, i.e. their circle, in New York and Los Angeles are truly foul examples of humanity. They don't recognize that most of America is not that way. Nevertheless, the hate the "rich" (self-loathing) and despise the "poor" for not joining their hatefest. And most of all they hate the capitalist system for benefiting the people without relying on their "great minds" for a plan.

[beckett]

As matters now stand, Kerry has assured the DLC, "I am not a redistributionist Democrat."

That's actually a good start. Using that promise as disinformation, he must now figure out a creative way to become a redistributionist Democrat.

Raines provides a some insight here to the style of journalistic ethics practiced at The New York Times during his tenure as boss.

[SuziQ]

As America's first war-hero candidate since John F Kennedy, he ought to be leading the national discussion on what went wrong in Iraq.

Well there's Howell's big mistake! He believes that most Americans will buy that 'war hero' line of garbage! Actually, most folks see what Hanoi John did to his military 'brothers' on his return from Vietnam, and they don't trust their sons and daughters in the military with him as their Commander in Chief!

[Dan from Michigan]

As America's first war-hero candidate since John F Kennedy

BULL.

Bob Dole was a war hero. George HW Bush was as well.

[speedy]

Thanks for your kind words, GOPJ. There is something about Raines that makes us all want to improve our standards of invective. His attitude is almost breathtaking in its arrogance.

[mombonn]

this guy has passed from ponderous to pompous

I have called him the pompous pompadour for the past couple of months.

[PJ-Comix]

The TV camera is an x-ray for picking up attitudinal truths, and Kerry's lantern jaw and Addams Family face somehow reinforce the message that this guy has passed from ponderous to pompous and is so accustomed to privilege that he doesn't have to worry about looking goofy. It's as if Lurch had gone to Choate.

So when does Howell Raines send the royalty check to Rush for this piece of PLAGIARISM? I guess Jayson Blair wasn't alone in that weakness at the NY Times.

[smokinleroy]

Depending on the meaning of "candidate" and "war-hero", I can't think of any serious candidate since JFK who WASN'T a war hero (except Herr Bubba) if Kerry's service is the standard.