Kerry's Looking for American Failure-And He's It.

Chicago Sun-Times ^ | 09-26-2004 | Mark Steyn

[heckler]

In this respect, John Kerry isn't exactly the best advertisement for his Swiss finishing school. Forget the impeccable carriage -- if you imagine you're watching streaming video on a slow dial-up connection, his gait seems perfectly natural. But the manners thing seems to have passed him by entirely. His decision to break the time-honored tradition of keeping out of the way during the other guy's convention by rushing on the air within an hour of President Bush's speech to give an instant response was boorish and petty. But, given that his ''midnight rambler'' routine in Ohio was a disaster, there didn't seem much point dwelling on it.

But last week he did it again. Ayad Allawi, the first prime minister of post-Saddam Iraq, was in Washington to give a joint address to Congress. A tough, stocky, bullet-headed optimist, Iraq's interim leader delivered a simple, elegant and moving speech, which made three basic points:

They're six feet from Iraq's head of government and they've got not a question for him. They've got no interest in Iraq except insofar as they can use the issue to depress sufficient numbers of swing voters in Florida and Ohio.

So for Kerry the new world war is just a wedge issue. After their schooling in Switzerland, those well-mannered English gels used to describe themselves as ''finished.'' If he wasn't ''finished'' after graduating from the Institut Montana in Zug in 1955, this week John Kerry is looking finished in a far more American sense

[AHerald]

Another keeper. Steyn has been gifted with so much talent that it's almost embarrassing. He's got that freaky otherwordly Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods level of talent and skill.

[blanknoone]

I think B O'R is a pompous idiot, but he has some of the highest ratings on cable. FOX is not going to replace him until long after his ratings slump, or at least do not keep up with the meteoric growth of the network.

[DCPatriot]

"...That's why I recently bought an anthology of his columns...."

Where did you find them? What is the title?

[DCPatriot]

O'Reilly isn't going anywhere.

He's becoming the useful idiot...in order to keep being honest about "fair and balanced".

[Carolinamom]

I found it on Amazon.com. It's entitled FROM HEAD TO TOE: An Anatomical Anthology. He cleverly takes an eyebrow, eye, nose, etc. to equate w/the content of his columns. There are other books by him at Amazon.

(The oddest thing happened while I was typing this post. It completely disappeared, and I'm now typing it for the 2nd time. Gremlins?)

[ride the whirlwind]

A tough, stocky, bullet-headed optimist, Iraq's interim leader delivered a simple, elegant and moving speech...

Everything that Kerry is not.

Steyn goes after the fools in the press corps nicely. Kerry is supposed to be holing up at a posh resort in WI for a few days this week to get ready for the debates. Somehow I don't think it will help.

[nothingnew]

quidnunc on vacation?

FMCDH(BITS)

[Mr. Buzzcut]

I always feel inadequate after reading Steyn ... he says the things I mean to say, only 100 times better ...

[Mr. Buzzcut]

I like "pampered cipher"!!!!

[finnigan2]

You don't have to subscribe to the Chicago Sun Times to get Steyn. Just bookmark, www.marksteyn.com and get to enjoy all his many articles on politics, plays, movie reviews and more. As for listening to Steyn, just bookmark, www2.krla.870.com/listen/ . He is the first guest every Wednesday afternoon at 6:00 P.M. EST on the Hugh Hewitt Show.
I've only found this show recently and heard him once, but I should warn you that you may be disappointed. Unlike his writing which is often funny and satiric, his radio persona struck me as being a bit too serious and he has an English accent that is very stuffy and Colonel Blimp like. Maybe I caught him on an off day. Nevertheless, it's worth a listen.

[television is just wrong]

JF'n Kerry need not look further than into his black heart.

[Owen]

Folks, it's crunch time. There are only a few days left before the 30 day limit for registration. Please call the campaign and volunteer to register voters from GOP districts in battleground states. And then volunteer for GOTV efforts just before and during the elections.

Tactics trump policy every single time. We can persuade the majority of Americans, but if they don't vote it won't matter.

[Libertina]

A tough, stocky, bullet-headed optimist, Iraq's interim leader delivered a simple, elegant and moving speech
What a wonderful man! Allawi BUMP! Apparently half a billion dollars does not pay for good character and civil manners... Perhaps a second finishing school for John and TuRAYza might do the trick.

[libs_kma]

"I'm subscribing to the Chicago Sun-Times!"

There you go! I wish I lived there because the rag here where I live is like the liberal NYT, only Cincinnati Enquirer style!

I canceled my paper just Tuesday because of their liberal bias. I got a call Thursday (can you believe it?) from their subscription department telling me about a new deal they have for subscribers. After I explained that I just canceled less than 36 hours before, and why, the person on the phone told me that he talks to people all day long about the Emquirer (naturally) and he hears about the Enquirers liberal bias a LOT!! hahahaha

I asked him if he could call back when my wife gets home because she thinks I'm the only one who thinks they are liberal!

[finnigan2]

Steyn has published eight books in total. Go to his web site (www.marksteyn.com) and click on, "books" to get a list and description of each. By the way, all his articles on everything from politics, play and movie reviews and even obituaries wind up there. He is very prolific and seems to write at least three and sometimes four major articles a week. If you want to hear Steyn, every Wednesday afternoon at 6:00 PM, EST he is the first guest on the Hugh Hewitt radio program. Go to www2.krla.870.com to listen in. I must warn you; he's got a dreadful English accent.

[OSHA]

Good for a new tag line.

[DuncanWaring]

"What a small, graceless man Kerry is"

Ya don't have to be short to be a small man, and ya don't have to be tall to be a big man.

[Capriole]

I'm a professional writer and editor, and I had thought of doing a blog. But Steyn's perpetual brilliance leaves me tongue-tied and intimidated, and I lost interest. How can anyone be so good? And how can he do it almost every day? What an intellect. His wife must be exhausted, living with such a mind.

[ODDITHER]

"What a small, graceless man Kerry is."

What a crass thankless elitist foreigner he is married to.

He is willing to alienate 46 nations as puppets and irelivent in order to increase the stature of our so called allies that I call our palms-up allies. As Long as we have our wallet out and they have their palms up - we are allies.

The groups that have endorsed Kerry, should be enough to make us all run to tho polls and pull the lever for
George W Bush.

The American Communist Party
The American Anarchist Party
The American Socialist Party
George Soros
Americans for Abortion
All Gay and Lesbian groups
ALF
and last but not least

The radical NEA who is much more concerned that our children in grade school be taught all the leftist propoganda put out by those in the above groups than
they are about ensuring that they can read and write.

[Lando Lincoln]

Thanks for the post. And, here's a Steyn ping to our good FRiend, Pokey78.

Lando