Democrat (CATHOLIC) Kerry Urges Caution on 'Passion'

Reuters News Service ^ | 26 February 2004 | Patricia Wilson

[MegaSilver]

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Front-runner John Kerry arrived in Los Angeles on Thursday ready to debate his rivals for the Democratic presidential nomination but unsure about the city's latest controversial production, "The Passion of the Christ."

"I don't know," he said when asked if he would see the Mel Gibson film about the last days of Jesus' life and its particularly harrowing focus on his crucifixion.

Kerry, a Catholic, said he was worried about the movie's potential anti-Semitism. Some critics have complained that Gibson portrays Jews as responsible for Jesus' death.

"I am concerned," he told reporters. "I don't know if it's there or not but there's a lot of it around now. I think we have to be careful."

The four-term senator from Massachusetts hasn't had much time to see movies lately. He has been running for president virtually since the beginning of last year.

In fact, the last movie he saw in a theater was another Mel Gibson flick released in 2002 called "We Were Soldiers," set in Vietnam where Kerry commanded a Navy Swift boat and was decorated for heroism.

Relaxed and chatty -- so long as the topic wasn't politics -- Kerry conceded aboard his campaign plane that he had enjoyed on video the special effects in "Terminator 3," starring California's governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Having declared the press cabin of his Boeing 727 a politics-free zone for about 10 minutes, the ever-cautious Kerry batted away questions about the state of the presidential race, his major rival Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina, and even how he was adjusting to life with Secret Service protection.

But he appears to have had a seamless transition to the protective bubble, slipping easily in and out of black SUVs, working and making phone calls from the back seat.

In New York on Monday, his motorcade of about a dozen vehicles, including three press buses, shot through red lights in Manhattan. In Ohio and Minnesota, state troopers blocked highway on-ramps and intersections.

Despite what Kerry called "a great adventure," so many months on the campaign trail have taken a toll.

"We haven't sat down to a family dinner since maybe pre-Christmas," he said. "But I'm having a great time." He misses his wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry, who has mostly stumped for her husband separately. The couple will see each other for the first time in 10 days when she joins him to await the results of Super Tuesday's 10 primaries and caucuses, including the big states of California, New York and Ohio.

Kerry's daughters from a previous marriage, Vanessa, who is studying medicine at Harvard, and Alexandra, a film student in Los Angeles, campaigned with their father during the holidays.

He acknowledged that he and Alex had had "some fights" but refused to say what about. Those in the know say it was probably involving politics. Alex has declared herself more liberal than her father.

The issue is certainly not boyfriends.

"I never fight about that," Kerry said. "I'm a very good dad. I listen about their boyfriends."

© Reuters 2004. All Rights Reserved.

[My2Cents]

The reporter should have asked Kerry if he thought the troops in Gibson's film "We Were Soldiers" were murderers and torturers.

[dvan]

"I don't know if it's there or not but there's a lot of it around now. I think we have to be careful."

Don't worrry he'll change his mind if he feels it will help him politically!

[commandante_zero]

Wouldn't want to steer attention away from himself. Don't you know who he is???

[dawn53]

I've taken to calling him John "faltering, fluctuating, and fickle" Kerry.

[Dahoser]

If this phony is really a Catholic, he's participated in a Passion play every Palm Sunday and yelled, "Crucify Him!" in the role of the Jewish crowd that the congregation plays. What is he going to say, that he skipped church on those days to preserve his political viability?

[Re-electNobody]

But I thought SUV users were greedy exploiters of nature, contributing to global warming and other evils. I now see, however, that different rules apply to the Kerrys of this nation; it is the little people who are not to drive SUVs.

[tbird5]

Kerry, a Catholic, said he was worried about the movie's potential anti-Semitism.

I wish they would quit calling him a Catholic. He should never receive communion.

[CFC__VRWC]

Bush in the meantime WILL see the movie, will be moved, and will not grandstand about it.

And THEN Kerry will jump in and savage President Bush for watching it, and accuse him of being "insensitive" to Jewish concerns. The New York Times will solemnly intone in an editorial about how it's "deeply troubling" that the President would "pander to right-wing Christian extremists" by watching it. And on and on it will go.

[My2Cents]

He's gotta work Vietnam into EVERYTHING!

I think John Kerry's obsession with Vietnam makes him decidely UNqualified to be President. First, I think it would be detrimental to the interests of the nation to have to reopen the wound of Vietnam everytime this guy does something as President, and secondly, Kerry is clearly still suffering trauma from his service there, and anyone so traumatized by an event like Vietnam that he has to bring it up in every conversation doesn't have the soundness of judgment to be an effective Commander-in-Chief.

[prairiebreeze]

Since President Bush has stated he wants to see the film, of course Kerry must follow a different tract. No story here.

Prairie

[Rummyfan]

In fact, the last movie he saw in a theater was another Mel Gibson flick released in 2002 called "We Were Soldiers," set in Vietnam where Kerry commanded a Navy Swift boat and was decorated for heroism.

I don't remember the '96 election too well, but can someone tell me if every single article about Bob Dole mentioned the fact that he had lost the use of his right arm in World War II?

Kerry .... makes ..... me ....sick!

[nobody_knows]

"In fact, the last movie he saw in a theater was another Mel Gibson flick released in 2002 called "We Were Soldiers," set in Vietnam where Kerry commanded a Navy Swift boat and was decorated for heroism."

And yet

another

piece of journalistic garbage from Reuters.

[prairiebreeze]

What is he going to say, that he skipped church on those days to preserve his political viability?

Senator I'll-say-anything-to-get-a-vote Kerry would have no problem with that whatsoever.

Prairie

[Desdemona]

I wish he'd quit calling himself Catholic.

[Porterville]

I really think Kerry is a puke and gut rot little girl... Dear jack-wad Kerry,

[MegaSilver]

I don't remember the '96 election too well, but can someone tell me if every single article about Bob Dole mentioned the fact that he had lost the use of his right arm in World War II?

I don't even remember that. Of course, I was only 11.

[Rummyfan]

That's true - Terry McAuliffe tools around DC in his suburban, license plate DNC-1. He needs an SUV doncha know?

[joesnuffy]

what a loathsome spineless detestable wishywashy cretin

[PaulaB]

[hershey]

The same words come out of Kerry's mouth all the time...he sits on the fence until he sees which way the wind is blowing. ("I'm concerned."..sounds like the mother in The Shining...and Jack Nicholson baiting her because their son, Danny's been injured..."You're concerned." God forbid Kerry should have the integrity to stand up for core beliefs of any sort. Finally, some hired flunky does the research and tells him what to say to get him the most votes. He hasn't had an original idea in years...other than chasing rich women.