Kerry: "I said, DON'T touch the hair ... don't EVER touch the hair!"
Aide: "Ok, ok, I'm backing off ... no need for a hissy fit."
Posted on 09/05/2004 8:46:21 AM PDT by Sarastro
YOU'D think John Kerry could be excused for wanting to spend a summer afternoon on the water.
Instead, David Letterman mocked him for windsurfing instead of campaigning. Jay Leno played the flip-flop card, quipping that even Mr. Kerry's hobby depends on which way the wind blows.
Zell Miller, who could himself be accused of being flip-flopper-in-chief, derided Mr. Kerry's swim trunks as "silly little bicycle pants."
Conservative blogs lumped the windsurfing in with Mr. Kerry's other elite hobbies - skiing, biking, flying between vacation homes. ("He married the all-inclusive package," sneered one posting on freerepublic.com. "EVERYTHING is included.")
Like the helmeted Michael Dukakis peeking out of the tank, or the first George Bush bewildered at the grocery scanner, the photo of Mr. Kerry windsurfing played into the negative stereotype his opponents are trying to play up - in this case, that of the out-of-touch, elitist Massachusetts liberal.
The stereotypes of the sport are unfair - there are lots of plumbers and construction workers windsurfing off Cape Cod and in the lakes of Iowa. (Better put: Who among us doesn't like windsurfing?) "I would have expected it to go over well, the stodgy, overserious guy trying to do something hipper," said Robert J. Thompson, a professor of media and popular culture at Syracuse University. "It's not like he was going out having a row with the Harvard crew team."
Still, there was the sense that no one would have mocked Mr. Bush photographed in the same position, even though the two men could have a Zell Miller duel over who has the deeper pedigree. But despite his legacy at Yale and the weekends in Kennebunkport, Me., Mr. Bush manages to pull off the common-man routine without question. Earlier this year when both he and Mr. Kerry were pictured riding top of the line bicycles, and both fell off, Mr. Kerry was the one ridiculed for the expensive bike.
"Often things that they both do still redound to Kerry's disadvantage - the Ivy League education, the biking," said Thomas Frank, author of "What's the Matter With Kansas? How Conservatives Won the Heart of America." Mr. Frank noted that he had just attended a Republican party at the New York Yacht Club, the varnished-wood redoubt of elitism. "But somehow the image of the yacht really clings to Kerry," he said. "Largely because Republicans have made the stereotype so natural. If a liberal drives an S.U.V., it's the car of the elite, if a Republican drives one it's instantly the car of the common man. They have a whole stereotype that they've spent years building."
Professor Thompson confesses that he does not think it has anything to do with windsurfing, or skiing, or even the mansions. After all, no one made fun of John F. Kennedy for all those yachting photos.
"The thing about windsurfing is, there's wind," he explains. "It blows through your hair. John Kerry looks like a guy who could ride in a convertible with the wind rushing through all that hair, but the truth is, his hair just looks goofy when he's out there on that windsurfer. I can't believe I'm saying this, but it just boils down to the hair." Quick, somebody warn Hillary.
The difference is Kerry is playacting to try to idenitfy with the common man. Bush was on his ranch and couldn't care less if he fell. He who he is. Did you see Kerry skeet shooting? "See, I'm a gun guy". This fool doesn't see that people see through his tricks. Hes running out of sports, what next?
I may be out of touch, but the burden of raising a family doesn't allow windsurfing in our budget. What a jerk.
Glad you mentioned this. I noticed it also.
Shouldn't the New York Slimes be registered as a 527?
LOL
This fool doesn't see that people see through his tricks. Hes running out of sports, what next?
Running with the bulls?
LOL
I don't think people would be as upset if Kerry just naturally acted like the man of privilege he is, instead of looking like a complete fool pretending to be "one of the commoners."
The SUV thing is to show the hypocrisy of the left. They are the ones who are supposedly saving the environment and the common man should be forced into driving a tin can which gets 50 miles to the gallon while they continue to drive whatever the heck they want.
Sour Grapes. NY Slimes can't understand why sKerry can't come across as a regular guy like the Pres. Gee, hard to understand, huh?
O/T
Thanks to the FReeps here and everywhere for making it a pleasure to come here to read and post. It is GREAT to see ALL FREEPS get the National and International respect and exposure that Free Republic is getting now, and will continue to get in the future. I am grateful.
The thing the Times misses is that Kerry has been looking stupid for a long time. It's not that he looked particularly goofy windsurfing this week; he looked just as dopey snowboarding six months ago. But Kerry was ahead in the polls then, and he's behind now, so all of a sudden, the Times realizes that Kerry is capable of looking dopey in these pictures.
From reading or hearing all the comments women were making about him, President Bush clearly didn't look like a dork in any of those pictures.
Georgia Senator Zell Miller: "I noticed that John Kerry was out windsurfing the other day. I still don't understand why this man still goes around in those skin tight spandex things. How many people in the United States windsurf or wear those silly little bicycle shorts?"
Here's another quote from Zell on Kerry -- this was from January, mind you:
(2) Now to "Cussing Kerry." Like Alice, this campaign gets "curiouser and curiouser." What will those former Gore consultants try next? The electric blue spandex surfing bodysuit didn't work. The jeans and Harley Davidson didn't work. Chet Atkins turned in his grave at the senator's guitar picking. And now comes the F-word in Rolling Stone. My mouth ain't no prayer book, but John Kerry could have asked his pal Tom Harkin of Iowa how cussing went over with voters in 1992. Like a lead balloon. It's as if Mr. Kerry will do anything to appear the "coolest" in the Our Gang crowd. What's next? John Kerry wearing a baseball cap sideways?
You know, I thought you were wearing a tinfoil hat, but then I noticed in the freeper thread about him windsurfing that the Yahoo photo link doesn't work anymore. I don't think that's an accident.
ROFLMAO !!!
I think it's more that because the Democrats have spent years trying to portray themselves as the party of the common man (calling themselves "The People's Party"), and the Greenies (who hate the SUVs,) - that make the yachts, the mansions, the SUVs noticable because of their hypocracy. The rich Republican stereotype is something the Democrats have perpetuated, so according to them, it would not be unusual for a Republican to be at a Yacht Club.
The Democrats have painted themselves into a corner with this image. Bush can clear brush on his ranch and WOW, he's more like us than we thought. Kerry goes windsurfing at one of his many vacation homes, with his family's yacht, jet, SUVs at his disposal - hmmm, not so much like me.
I note that they're still pushing the "first George Bush bewildered at the grocery scanner" lie. It was totally false, made up by a reporter who wasn't even at the event.
Kate starts off lamenting the mocking of Kerry for wanting to spend "a summer afternoon windsurfing" as if he's toiling endlessly and was only seeking a few brief moments' respite from the perpetual grind. The fact is he's constantly goofing off.
From there her analysis and comparisons get just plain idiotic.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.