Senator Kerry -- the likability gap

townhall.com ^ | 4/01/04 | Larry Elder

[McGavin999]

Oh, this is a keeper.

[jwalsh07]

Kerry has the trifecta, a likeability gap, a credibility gap and an ability gap.

[Howlin]

And then there's this one:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1109065/posts

[freebilly]

Great article (except for that shot at Barry Bonds).....

[rogue yam]

I wouldn't necessarily call it a shot at Barry Bonds. Bonds has a rep here in S.F. for having a big likability gap. That and a pretty freaking huge slugging percentage, but a big likability gap nonetheless.

[Bullish]

He could drop the approach -- sincere or contrived -- that Bush equals Satan.

Shhhh.... Don't tell him and spoil it all, Larry.

It's working SO well for him.

[Bullish]

Barry Bonds' steroid inflated ego is as big as the ballpark.

[smonk]

HA! the shot at bonds was the best part !

(I'm a Dodgers fan).

[Fenris6]

knew this the first time I saw Kerry eating Dominoes Pizza - with a fork. LOL. Prob never had take out in his life.

[kitkat]

BUMP

[goldstategop]

John F. Seinfeld has Butchy Cataldo written all over him - he's not only about *nothing* he doesn't have the human empathy factor people liked in Bill Clinton. Tell me again the Democrats plucked a miscast paladin from Central Casting. He aidn't no Jed Bartlet.

[js1138]

bump

[freebilly]

That and a pretty freaking huge slugging percentage, but a big likability gap nonetheless.

Kerry Bonds....

[freebilly]

Bond's inflated ego was developed the old fashioned way: a lifetime of hard work. No steroids were necessary....

[freebilly]

Smonk, it will be a pleasure to watch Bonds dismantle the Dogs, once again, in 2004....

[DJtex]

There are numerous stories about W. and his effort to remember people's names--all his frat brothers, a lot of his classmates, the reporter pool that covered him in 2000, etc. George W. knows how important that makes someone feel, even if it's a little effort on his part.

Likeability, it's so central to this election--but go back to that press pack in 2000. They were virtually all primed to be against the inexperienced Republican conservative. Slowly and one-by-one George W. won them over, on the campaign jet, the busses, in informal settings. These reporters, in spite of themselves, started liking this guy. They didn't like his politics, his stands on the issues, but they reported those issues a little more objectively because they couldn't hate Bush, or even dislike him. It was a major factor in Bush overcoming his "not ready for prime time" image at the beginning of the 2000 campaign.

Now in 2004 John Kerry will give us the opposite lesson. A liberal press pool is primed to support him. And as Karl Rove would say, the press thinks being objective means turning a lopsided situation into a horserace. This means that as long as Kerry is behind, they won't report anything bad that he says or does, won't talk about his questionable past. Instead, they will tear down Bush because he's President and he's the front-runner.

But the press won't find anything to like about being around Kerry, and that will play a major, major role in how he is covered by the media. When he starts sinking in spite of their efforts, they'll turn on him and make him an updated Dukakis joke. I'm afraid it will be really humiliating to Kerry when the press starts laughing at him, because they look too foolish fawning over him and lose credibility treating him too favorably or even seriously.

[smonk]

yeah, I hear you. let's see how many HRs BB can hit
*without* chemical assistance.

neither team did squat in the off season, but LA had
further to go.

adding encarnacion didn't come anywhere near solving
the problems with the offense, and replacing kevin
brown with jeff weaver significantly degraded the
pitching. AND nomo is coming off surgery.

LA still has gagne, but having the best closer in baseball
is worthless if you can't get a lead for him to save.

it ought to be interesting, at any rate.

[freebilly]

LA still has gagne, but having the best closer in baseball is worthless if you can't get a lead for him to save.

Yup. I'm picking Houston....

[smonk]

no kidding !

talk about a huge improvement in the off season.
petite AND clemens. and they were already playoff
caliber. I'm just damn glad that LA doesn't play in
the central.

it looks as though the entire NL may come partly off
it's traditional axis this year; I just don't see
how atlanta remains competitive -- apologies to
scheurholtz, he's a genius, but his luck has run out
this year -- in the east, the central will be a shoot
out, and I've actually read "expert" analysis that makes
the case that the padres are the best team in the west.