Another Brahmin eruption (Why Kerry is Toast)

Arizona Republic ^ | 3/19/04 | Phil Boas-Editor of "Plugged In"

[zarf]

I was trying to recall the exact moment I lost interest in the 2004 presidential race. It was March 7, the day The New York Times published Maureen Dowd's gushing paean to John Kerry.

Dowd gloried in the "vast palette of cultural preferences" that paint the Kerry persona. Why, he not only reads Keats and Shelley and T.S. Eliot, he writes his own verse on the "barren desolation of the desert."

[thegreatbeast]

"Now that we know what Al Qaeda did in Spain, we're on alert against their trying to create a major terror atrocity here in the homeland. Huh? Give me one reason why I shouldn't think that a dozen M. Atta's are crossing our borders everyday. Don't kid yourself, it only takes one maniac to change the future. ....and there ain't no shortage of maniacs!

[EllaMinnow]

From the New York Times article that starts the thread here:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1101169/posts


"His next trip down, a reporter and a camera crew were allowed to follow along on skis — just in time to see Mr. Kerry taken out by one of the Secret Service men, who had inadvertently moved into his path, sending him into the snow."

[arasina]

Do you remember when we used to sing
Sha la la la la la la la la la la dee dah
Just like that

One of my brothers is in a band and the crowds love it when he sings Brown Eyed Girl. (So do I.)

[Dante3]

I would like to see photos of J. "Vast Palette" Kerry taking a spill.

[VOA]

Kerry's behavior is a classic un assured "nouveau riche" type of behavior.

I thought it was interesting that I heard these two tidbits on talk radio on
the same day:

1. "I NEVER fall down!" ... attributed to John F'in Kerry when talking about
his prowess at skiing.

2. "I've ridden for years and I NEVER fall off!"... attributed to flash-in-the-pan
Paris Hilton after it was reported to have fallen off a spooked horse during the
filming of "Simple Life II".

Amazing how sufficient cash buys perfection in athletic exploits, isn't it?

[NYCVirago]

I don't know but i'm very annoyed. Maybe theyve just bought into the NYtimes/Washpost line that any story that's bad for Kerry is just "sensationalism" or "tabloid journalism".

Isn't the New York Times supposed to be the paper that sets the agenda for the rest of the media? Yet the Times is the first and only regular media outlet to run this story. I give them credit for running it, but when is anyone going to do a followup? Geez, everybody in the media seemed to consider it newsworthy when Bush and Cheney called Adam Clymer a Clymer!

[NYCVirago]

Regarding Hugh Hewitt -- he's not on the air in New York, so I've never heard him on the radio, but I have to say I've been very impressed with his columns.

[arasina]

A FReeper by the name of (Mike) FUMETTI met John Kerry in person and had some very interesting things to say about him:

I personally met Sen. John Kerry in Boston in 1992 at a Boston Northeastern University political science gathering and found him cold, aloof, unfriendly and condescending. In fact, the only person he was warm to was the token "gay" guy at the gathering. I guess I was not diverse enough to be talk to him in a social situation. Furthermore, my Syrian friend Khalid saw him groping women and acting drunk at the Harvard Club in Boston (yeah I know he went to Yale, but he IS a senator and can do that). And at an election year party in 1992 at the Weston Hotel which I attended (I was once a Democrat...gasp!) he would not shake hands with anyone who was not either in a 500 buck Dior tie or a dyke crewcut. Are these revelations of any concern to anyone sorry enough to have met the arrogant jerk of a man?

He made some additional interesting and enlightening comments further down in the thread.

Hey! I actually met Sen. Kerry in person!

[Betaille]

"Yet the Times is the first and only regular media outlet to run this story."
Well the NYtimes downplayed it and buried it in the end of the article. I'm shocked that they reported it anyway though. But I'm even more shocked that Kerry has gotten a total pass from Conservative Media on this.
This is the kind of thing that destroys a candidate. Gore lost alot more votes in 2000 for seeming dishonest than he did because of this policy or that policy. Kerry's snootiness will lose him even more votes if it's properly exposed. Liberal Elitist Snob is a label that will stick better htan just plain "liberal".

[EllaMinnow]

ABC News "The Note" has it up, it seems one of their reporters was there, too. However, this report just says "another skier" and not if the other skier was an SS agent.

http://abcnews.go.com/sections/politics/TheNote/TheNote.html

ABC News Kerry campaign reporter "Diamond" Ed O'Keefe, who, (not) incidentally, looks hot in his ski gear, files this exclusive report from atop Bald Mountain in Idaho:

As Senator John Kerry carved his Burton snowboard down a green rated Upper College run, another skier interrupted his stride, colliding with the presumptive Democratic nominee at 9,010 feet.

The slope-cade of two Ski Patrollers, several Secret Service agents, two journalists, one camera and one Kerry aide suddenly came to a halt. The Massachusetts Senator lay on the ground, removed his Smith sunglasses, and surveyed the damage.

Assured that the ABC News camera accompanying the entourage had not captured Kerry's fall, the Senator glared at your sloping Noter and assured, "I don't fall down. That son of a bitch ran into me."

[Betaille]

the Senator glared at your sloping Noter and assured, "I don't fall down. That son of a bitch ran into me."

I'm glad they at least posted this on thier website, but I would be very surprised if they actually reported this on the Evening News. In fact I would be SHOCKED... meanwhile... Tom Daschle would be deeply deeply saddened.

[EllaMinnow]

Oh, they won't put it on their broadcast. I'm sure Petah Jennings thinks of "The Note" as a redheaded step-child, but I'm still glad it's there.

Mickey Kaus at slate.com writes about it, too. I found the link to the ABC story at his blog.

http://slate.msn.com/id/2097269/

[NYCVirago]

I know The Note reported on it, but it doesn't really count as a regular media outlet, since nobody but political junkies like ourselves actually read it. :(

[bondjamesbond]

The 'Rats are trying to get pictures of Kerry snowboarding, looking athletic and vital, on the front page of every newspaper in the country. It is the Pubbies job to make sure that when people see those pictures they think, "a$$hole!"

Fortunately, Kerry is giving the Pubbies a lot of help in this department.

[NYCVirago]

Well the NYtimes downplayed it and buried it in the end of the article. I'm shocked that they reported it anyway though.

This is the second time this week that the Times reported something that was devastating to Kerry. On Monday, they reported on the interaction between Cedric Brown and John Kerry at that town hall meeting. The Washington Post described Brown as a "heckler," while the Times actually reported the question and answer session, with quotes from Kerry. It was really devastating to Kerry, to use his own words, which is why the WaPost paraphrased it!

[EllaMinnow]

Did the NYT run the article in the print edition, or was it just online?

The article was full of little digs at Kerry, not a positive piece at all. By contrast, the Reuters "Kerry on vacation" piece was a big sloppy kiss.

[Ann Archy]

Rush NEVER gives SERIOUS time to gaffs by Kerry....he's laughing at nothing waaaaaaay too much lately.

[Betaille]

Did you notice though, that the NY times today couldn't report Bush's campaign speech in Orlando without adding in their OPINION that the tax cuts Kerry voted for were responsible for the economic growth of the 90's???
This is exactly the kind of bias Bernard Goldberg explains in his book. It was not blatant bush-bashing... but it does demonstrate that the Nytimes refused to keep their OPINION out of the article.

[Betaille]

"Rush NEVER gives SERIOUS time to gaffs by Kerry....he's laughing at nothing waaaaaaay too much lately."

Good observation. This really troubles me because Rush is usually exceptionally good at staying "ON-MESSAGE". I'm not sure whats going on w/him... this is such juicy Kerry snobbery, you'd think Rush would just love it.

[arasina]

Athletic and vital? Maybe. Juvenile and snobby? Definitely.