Senator Gasbag--There’s a reason why U.S. senators don’t win the presidency

There is a reason U.S. Senators don't win the presidency: they are all talk and no action. John Kerry played the senatorial gasbag again in last night's debate, amending and revising his remarks endlessly. He loaded his answers with the same boring hedges and qualifications, trotted out the same stale lines and cheap political props.

Like John Edwards, John Kerry takes a very keen interest in the nocturnal life of Dick Cheney's daughter. Kerry at this point is almost beyond Saturday Night Live's parody of him -- the robotic gesticulating, the "I have a plan" emptiness, the name-dropping and celebrity-chasing (as if American politics couldn't get any phonier, Kerry planted Michael J. Fox next to his wife) was as tiresome in Kerry as ever.

For all his bragging and chest-thumping, Kerry shows little passion about his "idears," often abandoning them in mid-answer lest he fail to mention this or that poll-tested hedge. Republican policies are poisonous, he says, but at the same time he wants us to know that he "broke with his party" to support them, eager to remind one and all that he worked with "Ronald Reagan." Perhaps Kerry will inform us that he planned to vote for Reagan before he voted against him. Jimmy Carter must feel terribly hurt that his party now campaigns on chumminess with his rival.

Kerry also emphasized that he isn't for government-run health care, which must have come as news to Hillary Clinton. She always found a receptive audience in Kerry and Ted Kennedy when discussing Hillary Care.

Kerry said that he will take scrupulous care to keep God out of politics. But by the end of the debate he had turned God into a Democrat and liberal who sanctions homosexuality and abortion. Was the former altar boy never introduced to the concept of blasphemy? Using God to bless sin is the height of blasphemy. But since blasphemy polls well Kerry will go with it. Kerry even found time to pander to the bisexuals-trapped-in-marriage demographic. Somehow bisexuals prove to Kerry that God approves of homosexuality too.

Kerry was unable to stop himself from a contradiction within the course of a single answer on the topic of faith and deeds. He first called for faith without works -- he believes in Catholicism and has deep, deep "respect" for it, but can't act on his faith in the public square -- then ended his answer with a rebuke of Bush for having "faith without works." The ironies pile up: here we have a sham Catholic citing James 2:14 (a verse Catholics use to argue against Protestantism) against a Protestant President who has "faith" but no "deeds," according to Kerry, even as that Catholic argues that his own faith shouldn't drive his deeds.

Who is the Protestant in the race again? Kerry, a pol who once bowed out of a race so a pro-abortion Jesuit priest, Robert Drinan, could win a political race and who once loudly defended "Father Aristide," was again last night telling the Pope to butt out of American politics, while the Protestant president quoted the Pope's "culture of life" slogan.

The phoniness of Democratic politics is hard to follow. Its head-spinning in its "complexity." At one point the nuanced Kerry went from touting homosexuality to promoting "abstinence." He was an altar boy and youth hunter, he also wanted us to know, and bragged that he recently went on a gun outing with a sheriff who -- wouldn't you know it? -- made an important point to him about the dangers of assault weapons.

Kerry says that his mom said "integrity, integrity, integrity" to him. Using her deathbed musings as a prop in a debate probably wasn't what she had in mind. And notice that she had to use the word three times with him, not usually a good sign between moms and sons. No words of wisdom from Teresa Heinz Kerry were imparted by Kerry last night, though he did very tactfully mention that he "married up" into a higher tax bracket. Even Bob Schieffer couldn't believe his ears, giggling almost uncontrollably at Kerry's faux pas. The windy senator had finally been undone by a question beyond his powers of fakery.

George Neumayr is executive editor of The American Spectator.

1 posted on 10/13/2004 11:13:35 PM PDT by hope

I thought Kerry killed his campaign and lost his chance at the election with his response in the third debate about Dick Cheneys daughter being a lesbian. The question was meant to solicit a deep thought and understanding of the issue not for some sound bite response. It was meant to get an understanding of the candidates soul and Kerry's shallowness showed right through in his answer. It proved to many that he is an empty suit ultra elite liberal who has nothing but complaints about the government and for which he has no inclination to even attempt to fix. He wants to be President because he believes he deserves to be. I think smart America realizes now that all talk and no action gets you 9/11.

2 posted on 10/13/2004 11:16:13 PM PDT by tomnbeverly (If John Kerry wins I guess I'll see ya in the Bread Lines)

I think he lost it when he couldn't even think of a single nice thing to say about his wife.

3 posted on 10/13/2004 11:17:15 PM PDT by Jeff Chandler (Thank you Rush Limbaugh-godfather of the New Media.)

To: Jeff Chandler

hahahhah I noticed it too... strange ... very strange indeed.. she looked doped up as usual..

4 posted on 10/13/2004 11:18:08 PM PDT by tomnbeverly (If John Kerry wins I guess I'll see ya in the Bread Lines)

5 posted on 10/13/2004 11:19:51 PM PDT by T. Buzzard Trueblood ("the bribed, the coerced, the bought and the extorted."-John Kerry on our allies)

6 posted on 10/13/2004 11:23:04 PM PDT by Kryptonite

Bush: "Guess you could say it was love at first sight."

Kerry: "I married up."

Man, is that telling or what!

7 posted on 10/13/2004 11:25:22 PM PDT by Kryptonite

I've heard it said that Sen. Kerry is a gifted,and a polished speaker, did anyone pick up how he pronounced the word Woman, when he was speaking about marriage being between a man and a wimmin, what the hell is a wimmin?

8 posted on 10/13/2004 11:30:23 PM PDT by diss-a-lib (I used to get lost in the shuffle, but now i just shuffle along with the lost.)

Senator Kerry is "all hat, no cattle" - as the saying goes in Texas. Spoke personally about our Vice President's daughter, though he couldn't muster a definitive syllable about his own wife. Flipped when he should have flopped, said "ideas" every time he forgot to pronounce it "idears," looked defensive, appears to have lost his tan, and had all the personal flair of a squashed bug.
May a HUGE scandal descend upon his contenance, and ruin his political future for all time! And I don't mean that "in the nicest possible way."

9 posted on 10/13/2004 11:34:17 PM PDT by Rightfootforward

ROFL! John F*ckin' needs a permanent recurring role on SNL -not a four year stint in the White House.

10 posted on 10/13/2004 11:34:18 PM PDT by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives On In My Heart Forever)

To: Jeff Chandler

Like I love you? - Gee, you would think a married man would take the time to acknowledge his wife as well as his children. I can't fathom Kerry's weird thought processes.

11 posted on 10/13/2004 11:36:15 PM PDT by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives On In My Heart Forever)

I have no idear what a wimmin is.

12 posted on 10/13/2004 11:36:40 PM PDT by Rad_J

A wimmin is a woman who made the mistake of getting in a car with Ted Kennedy. It's short for 'swimmin.'

13 posted on 10/13/2004 11:37:38 PM PDT by piasa (Attitude Adjustments Offered Here Free of Charge)

To: goldstategop

Kerry comes off as a cold, shallow man. He may be warm in person, but he sure doesn't convey it. In our Oprah society, he just gave his chances the kiss of death.

14 posted on 10/13/2004 11:45:04 PM PDT by Jeff Chandler (Thank you Rush Limbaugh-godfather of the New Media.)

Senator Kennedy, You mean the swimming Senator, I loved it when Bush said that Kennedy is the Conservative Senator from Mass.

15 posted on 10/13/2004 11:51:29 PM PDT by diss-a-lib (I used to get lost in the shuffle, but now i just shuffle along with the lost.)

To: Canticle_of_Deborah; Lancey Howard

16 posted on 10/14/2004 12:35:09 AM PDT by nickcarraway

To: Jeff Chandler

Kerry's wife looks like she would melt if you threw water on her, just like a certain witch from OZ.

17 posted on 10/14/2004 12:36:29 AM PDT by diss-a-lib (I used to get lost in the shuffle, but now i just shuffle along with the lost.)

To: Jeff Chandler

Kerry's wife looks like she would melt if you threw water on her, just like a certain witch from OZ.

18 posted on 10/14/2004 12:36:29 AM PDT by diss-a-lib (I used to get lost in the shuffle, but now i just shuffle along with the lost.)

(as if American politics couldn't get any phonier, Kerry planted Michael J. Fox next to his wife)

Only because Chris Reeve was no longer available.

Seriously.

19 posted on 10/14/2004 12:42:30 AM PDT by GretchenM (A country is a terrible thing to waste. Vote Republican.)

To: Jeff Chandler

I think he lost it when he couldn't even think of a single nice thing to say about his wife.

Except that she has a ton of money.

I honestly do NOT understand how any American can be undecided about the candidate he/she will vote for at this point.

John Roberts < gack > said it all comes down to which candidate presented himself better. Excuse me? Don't the issues and the stands the candidates take on them count?

20 posted on 10/14/2004 12:49:34 AM PDT by GretchenM (A country is a terrible thing to waste. Vote Republican.)

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