Bush common touch is outreaching Kerry

Sunday Independent (Ireland) ^ | Sun, Sep 05 04 | Gwen Halley

[Happygal]

This is long, but well worth the read.

Gwen Halley has some great digs at the Kerry Campaign, media bias in Europe, Kerry's effete elitism, and there's one smashing bitch slap at Carol Coleman - the Irish Washington reporter who rudely interviewed President Bush earlier this year.

[Happygal]

O'ping-a-ling!

Read this one guys, I think you will enjoy it! :-)

[Right_in_Virginia]

How come the Democrats weren't charged with 'hiding' the loony left when Kerry tried to disassociate himself from them?

Good question.

[basil]

Because the Democrats ARE the looney left! How could they hids Kerry at the convention?

[happydogdesign]

[basil]

Make the "hide" Kerry!

[RAY]

This is great - but I won't pass it on to my demorat friends, 'cause their mind is made up, and they don't have the necessary reading skills or attention span to absorbe it.

Have a good LOL:

"The Right Nation, by John Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge, offers an insight into why ordinary Texans prefer Dubya to his father. One Texan felt that Bush Senior - unlike his son - was 'the sort of man who steps out of the shower to take a piss'. In that case, John Kerry is the sort of man who'd step out of the shower to sneeze."

[AnAmericanMother]

It's interesting to see somebody in the Irish press trying to get inside the details of social class in the U.S.

A really complicated issue - varies from place to place in this large country - and further muddled by the egalitarian myth that still prevails here: as Kipling said years ago, the party line is that there are no gentry in America - only rich and poor allowed. But of course, there ARE gentry.

I think she does a pretty good job of getting to the heart of the difference between Kerry and Bush. Kerry is a hothouse plant from a very limited social circle (he is an aspirant to the old upper class of New England - a group to which he doesn't really belong. Purely an ambitious hanger-on who doesn't fit in.)

[McGavin999]

Boy, did I enjoy that one! Thanks for posting it.

[maica]

Wow! Great read! At least one Irish writer "gets it."

From the Mark Steyn school of commentary ---

"vainglorious waffler" = snooty flip-flopper

There is an entrenched belief in Ireland that only civilised, sophisticated, decent Americans vote Democrat and only ignorant, hick, rednecks vote Republican.

Both kinds of Americans have their roots in Irish ancestors.

[Happygal]

Yeah! I loved that last line too. Kinda sums the whole thing up, really! :-)

[madprof98]

And John Kerry is a discreet, upmarket brand of these ten-a-penny bargain basement sneerers. Smug, sanctimonious, self-righteous and patronising. But beneath the fondant pillow rhetoric, his party is far more exclusive and less inclusive than the Republican Party.

The 'compassion' associated with the Democrats is a high society affectation.

Smug, santimonious, self-righteous and patronizing--pretty much sums up the outlook of the Dems, the people who tell the rest of us, "We know so well what's good for you that we'll make sure you never have a chance to vote on it." That lady judge in Massachusetts who gave the USA gay marriage is a perfect example. And I believe she's married to one of the guys who made the NYTimes what it is today.

[Happygal]

Your welcome.
I was reading the hard copy version of the Sunday Independent in bed this morning, and enjoyed that so much I got up to post it! *L*

[GaretGarrett]

I'm a brand-new Gwen Halley fan, thanks to you. Where did you dig this up?

"Bush's energy and scamp's grin make John Kerry look like Mr One Flip-Flop in the Grave."

"There is an entrenched belief in Ireland that only civilised, sophisticated, decent Americans vote Democrat and only ignorant, hick, rednecks vote Republican. No doubt buttressed by delicate flowers like RTE's Carole Coleman who summed up Dick Cheney's brilliant political hardball speech last week as "vicious". Carole, you should get out more."

I wonder if she has a website or we can talk Drudge into linking to her.

[liberallarry]

This woman is a great observer and she can write. Boy can she!

How come the Democrats weren't charged with 'hiding' the loony left when Kerry tried to disassociate himself from them?

As other posters have already noted this is the heart of the matter politically and the great weakness of the Democratic position.

I disagree with the writer on only two points

John Kerry is still the father who'd panic if one of his daughters announced she was marrying a petrol pump attendant

Hardly a reaction limited to Kerry or the Democrats

'A Village in Texas has Lost its Idiot.'

This is funny. Give credit where it's due.

[Happygal]

I'm a brand-new Gwen Halley fan, thanks to you. Where did you dig this up?

I'm in Ireland, and I get the Sunday Independent every week. Gwen Halley is one of their columnists. I don't know if she's got her own website or blog.

[battlegearboat]

I'm buying the bar a round!

[independentmind]

He still doesn't wear his class and wealth as conspicuously and hubristically as Kerry does.

And, in fact, for those who actually care about such things--and thankfully few Americans do--Bush's lineage is more impressive than Kerry's. He doesn't have to wear it on his sleeve.

Easy can do.

[Leisler]

Reading 'Turd of Duty'. In the late 1950's, Kerry was going to St. Paul's prep. Exclusive and expensive. Anyways, he said he wasn't rich like the other kids because his dad's sailboat was only 57 feet long.

Summer's on the Cape sailing from the family island( Nashon ), or summer long car rides through Europe, stopping at friends European mansions, estates.

Poor thing. No wonder he is bitter.

[martin_fierro]

When 'artists' meddle in politics they become vainglorious wafflers. The only cogent argument for evicting Bush from the White House in November is that it would put a stop to the obesity of bad art he has inspired over the last four years.

Yooooo-hoooooo!