It's a misunderstanding of the "J-uh" and "Ch-uh" sound.
I wonder how many towels his vallet has to carry to wipe the spit off?
LOL. Actually I think it's a grammatical confusion: The author meant that Kerry was "cheered" as in "cheered up."
Example: "Down in the dumps ever since his electoral defeat, Kerry was cheered when the troops brought him a steaming bowl of plastic turkey soup."