On an August Grand Canyon hike with daughter Vanessa, center, and wife Teresa, John Kerry tried to show a happy family. But Teresa was "sullen" and "complaining of migraines," according to Newsweek. (Jack Kurtz -- Arizona Republic Via AP)
Posted on 11/14/2004 8:19:13 PM PST by Cableguy
Teresa Heinz Kerry hardly suffered from a lack of media attention during the presidential campaign.
But if a lengthy, behind-the-scenes Newsweek piece is on the mark, press accounts failed to reflect the degree to which she was a disruptive force in her husband's campaign who often looked "sullen," was deemed a "hypochondriac" by the staff and had a knack for "silencing a cheering crowd."
"On the campaign bus," Newsweek reports, "there had been constant talk of marital spats between the candidate and his wife. . . . Though they kept Teresa's sometimes erratic behavior out of their copy, when they were speaking among themselves . . . the reporters were increasingly vocal in mocking the candidate's wife."
It is difficult for daily journalists covering a candidate to report on the personal travails and staff infighting that envelop most campaigns. Some reporters who traveled with John Kerry said these stories are hard to pin down because campaign officials refused to discuss such details on the record. Others said it was risky to write stories that would alienate not just the candidate but the staffers on whom reporters depend for news.
"There were hints in the daily coverage that Kerry had problems with being decisive and Teresa was not completely helpful," says Evan Thomas, who wrote the Newsweek article. "But I don't think anybody tried to step back and look at the pattern of it. The press has gotten so consumed with the day-to-day that they've forgotten about or become uninterested in the whole Teddy White approach to reconstruction."
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
The poor thing is nearly 70, bless her heart. After pushing that saucy, sexy, bon vivant b.s. it was tough.
A troll, I think, is a person who signs up but ends up making the democrats' case for them. There were a bunch in the last election cycle.
It's a matter of opinion who's a troll. But, if a person is making Kerry's case, he will be history pretty fast.
FR isn't a place to debate conservative vs. democrat points of view, as much as a user-supported conservative news-abstracting service, where you can get in your digs at the dummies. If you say something novel or very quotable, it might be noticed and become part of the lexicon.
The spelling "democRat" was popularized on FR, as early as anywhere else. I remember being a very early user of that, and thought at the time I might have been (one of) the first. Of course, there is no way to know except to scan everything, and who has the time. The point is, FR can make a difference. Don't be a troll, don't insult anybody (too badly) and support the cause. And contribute a bit.
I've seen some trigger happy zotters here, but I've never seen what I experienced at DU. After a few uneventful posts, I had the audacity to post "Since the media and DU seem to talk about nothing but ABB, could someone please send me a link to the party platform?" One response said that since I signed on to DU I should already know what they stood for...and I was banned. They sure don't want anyone to ask the questions they should be asking themselves.
Kerry was a waffle, now he's toast.
"Like painted kites, those waffles, they went flyin' by."
Oh well, since Kerry appears to like wealthy women (and is able to overlook their shortcomings), there's always Martha Stewart...in a few months, that is...
That says it all.
I think that a troll is some - one? from DU :) Welcome, Welcome, Welcome!
On an August Grand Canyon hike with daughter Vanessa, center, and wife Teresa, John Kerry tried to show a happy family. But Teresa was "sullen" and "complaining of migraines," according to Newsweek. (Jack Kurtz -- Arizona Republic Via AP)
You would have to start 2 pools. One for the divorce, and the next for the Kerry/Suha Arafat wedding date...JFK
On Friday I read a story posted on FR about the Marines finding a mini prison with two dead bodies and two starving males shackled to the wall. Saturday evening that story was breaking news on FNC! I kid you not. I read things on the internet than one to three days later I hear on the radio or television. Yet how fast does the MSM get something the president or his family says or does on the wire?
Newsweek (which is owned by The Washington Post Co.) got special access for seven reporters segregated from its regular coverage by promising not to publish the article -- part of a forthcoming book -- until after Election Day. President Bush's campaign granted less access and periodically booted Newsweek staffers from its Arlington headquarters, once for reporting on an off-the-record campaign party.
Among the magazine's findings:
• Kerry was both "cranky" and more indecisive than he was portrayed by the media. "I couldn't get the man to make decisions," said former campaign manager Jim Jordan. As late as days before the Democratic convention, Kerry was still "dithering" and presiding over endless discussions on whether to abandon public financing for the fall campaign before deciding against private fundraising. Top aides grew so tired of Kerry continuing to seek advice on issues they considered settled that they took away his cell phone.
• Kerry "never did learn how to deliver a speech" and was privately counseled by Washington speech coach Michael Sheehan on shifting to "a more conversational style." Ted Kennedy told Kerry he used "too much Senatese," and the candidate's daughter, Alexandra, tried to get Steven Spielberg to intervene. Kerry would cross out his speechwriters' most pithy lines as too "slogany."
• Teresa Kerry was a major "distraction" who "demanded everyone's attention, including her husband's." During the primaries she told Jordan: "I want you to issue a challenge for me to debate Howard Dean." On a Grand Canyon hike meant to provide footage of a happy family vacation, "Teresa was soon complaining of migraines" as the candidate kept pulling along "his sullen wife and children." Later, Kerry confidant John Sasso told her that she was being too critical of her husband and depressing his spirits. Reporters said last week that the billionaire heiress was banished to travel on her own before they could write about her impact.
• By the fall, Kerry was "unhappy" with senior advisers Robert Shrum and Tad Devine and "annoyed" with communications director Stephanie Cutter, described as too slow-moving and the target of frequent complaints by the traveling press corps. Several Kerry aides call the depiction of Cutter unfair, with senior adviser Joe Lockhart saying: "She had a Herculean task and overall did a very good job."
Let's keep in mind this "erratic" First Lady wannabee also has multi-billion dollar interests in major corporations and political foundations and withheld her tax returns. Put that together with an indecisive husband and you have an important story - except to the democrat press corps.
You'll have to wait till the end of the month before the msm makes OH an issue.
Page 78 is Kerry's outrageous offer to McCain to join the ticket--VP-SecDef and control of foreign policy.
Page 85 is is his "yes" answer to voting for war again, given at the Grand Canyon, which the rest of the family didn't want to visit.
By contrast, the twins, on page 88, enjoyed calling out the derisive signs to their father that they passed along the roadway.
Although the Newsweek writers who worked on this edition were sworn to secrecy about the stuff they say, the regular campaign writers clearly were covering for Kerry and Mama T by not reporting the ineptness they witnessed on a daily basis.
So THAT'S why they live separately.
The world was new beneath a blue umbrella sky
Then softer than a piper man one day it called to you
I lost you, I lost you to the summer wind
Hah! I can hear Kerry in his best Thurston Howell III voice, sucking up to the crazy THK.
Notice how a real 130,000 vote margin has now slipped to 60,000. Pretty soon it will be 500 votes and a "stolen" election.
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