No questions right now; he's gotta run

Chicago Tribune ^ | September 9, 2004 | Jill Zuckman, ON THE TRAIL WITH JOHN KERRY

[Cincinatus' Wife]

NEW ORLEANS -- Who knows what lurks in the heart and mind of Democratic presidential nominee Sen. John Kerry?

Not the traveling press corps, that's for sure.

Kerry has been under wraps for the last month, declining to subject himself to what must surely be the painful process of answering national reporters' questions.

Kerry used to regularly assure his audiences that, if elected president, he would hold a press conference every month to communicate with the nation's citizenry. (That was a not-so-subtle dig at President Bush, who has held only 12 formal press conferences during his four years in office, a record low number.)

"I have pledged that I am going to have a press conference at least once a month to talk to the nation about what I'm doing because I don't have anything to hide," Kerry said during a campaign stop in Beloit, Wis., after the Democratic National Convention. "I want America to know what I'm doing. I want you to know what I'm fighting for. I want you to ask me questions."

But Kerry doesn't make that promise anymore.

"Here we have issue 9,611 that Kerry's now on two sides of," joked Mike Murphy, the Republican political consultant who advised Sen. John McCain's non-stop presidential talk-a-thon in 2000. "It's easy to start off with the old, `I'm Mr. Transparent.' It's hard to do it when things are hard."

[ThirstyMan]

A-a-r-r-g-g-h! anyone have a password and username?

[RobFromGa]

"Once you've taken the oath of office, you're guaranteed four years of employment. When you're still a candidate, there's a consuming fear that even the best-prepared, most disciplined candidate can slip and say something embarrassing," said Ross Baker, a Rutgers University political scientist. "Also, the level of fatigue is so intense that even people with really nimble minds can make gaffes. I think they just don't want to tempt fate."

Oh yeah being a candidate is much more grueling than being a President. The gall of these people is amazing.

[DaughterOfAnIwoJimaVet]

Go to bugmenot.com and find out. I know that sounds like a joke, but it's not.

[RobFromGa]

try bugmenot.com

[upchuck]

A-a-r-r-g-g-h! anyone have a password and username?

FWIW, 99% of the time you can use "slashdot" without the quotes for the username and password. If you're asked for an email address, use slashdot@slashdot.org

[Schnucki]

A-a-r-r-g-g-h! anyone have a password and username?

I went to www.bugmenot.com and got this, which worked fine:

user id: drgwandsp
password: calzephyr

If that dries up, give www.bugmenot.com a try for another.

[ThirstyMan]

thanks all, slashdot worked, bugmenot.com is on file for future use.