With Friends Like This...

The NY Times runs a vicious hit piece on Kerry, subtly disguised as an endorsement:

...What [Sen. Kerry's] critics see as an inability to take strong, clear positions seems to us to reflect his appreciation that life is not simple.... he still has trouble turning out snappy sound bites... His campaigning skills are perhaps not as strong as his intellectual ones... Early in the race he alienated some audiences with brittle, patronizing lectures...

...Mr. Kerry has shown little interest in being daring, expressing a thought that is unexpected or quirky on even minor issues. We wish we could see a little of the political courage of the Vietnam hero who came back to lead the fight against the war.

...His early campaign was disastrous, and his slip from favorite to also-ran was so dramatic as to be embarrassing... he pulled his organization together and handily won the early primaries. This was not the first time in his political career — or his life — that he has shown the toughness to keep going when things turn sour. That's a quality critical to a presidential nominee — and to a president.

I have to stop and ask - does the Times really think things will be that bleak under a Kerry administration? Things will tun sour, but Kerry will soldier on? If we pick Edwards, can we just have sunshine all the time?

...Mr. Edwards's partisans say Mr. Kerry is on the wrong end of a charm chasm. The senator from Massachusetts seems to us to have warmed up a good deal since the campaign began. He can take the edge off his patrician aura, at least in part, by retelling the story of his Vietnam exploits and bringing back loyal blue-collar friends from the service to attest to his virtues as a leader.

Meaning we have to listen patiently to Vietnam war stories from now until November, with some slight chance of four more years of "Back to the 60's" after that? Please tell me Kerry can talk about something that happened in the last two decades, and I'm not even asking about the nuclear freeze.

Almost everyone who has been watching the Democratic campaign would love to merge Mr. Kerry and Mr. Edwards into one composite super-candidate, with Mr. Kerry's depth and Mr. Edwards's personal touch with the voters. In the television era, likability is extremely important. But this is a serious business, and Mr. Kerry, the more experienced and knowledgeable candidate, gets our endorsement.

Wow, if the Times is ever of a mind to endorse me, I'll just skip town.

MORE: Kerry's radio really is glued to "Classic Rock".

Comments

[Patrick R. Sullivan]

Oh, you don't have to listen, you can see the movie. Just like Audie Murphy, Kerry was in a movie. Of course, Kerry had to make it himself, and had to expose his boat and men to possible attack in order to get this future campaign material...but the important thing is to record history:

http://www.thehill.com/york/022604.aspx

---------quote---------
Kerry told reporter Charles Sennott the oft-repeated story of the February 1969 firefight in which Kerry attacked the Viet Cong who ambushed his Swift boat.

Kerry won the Silver Star, as well as a Purple Heart, for his efforts.

But the story wasn’t about the firefight itself. It was also Kerry’s reaction to it.

The future senator was so “focused on his future ambitions,” Sennott reported, that he bought a Super-8 movie camera, returned to the scene, and re-enacted the skirmish on film.

It was that film, transferred to videotape, that Kerry played for Sennott.

“I’ll show you where they shot from. See? That’s the hole covered up with reeds,” Kerry said as he ran the tape in slow motion.

Kerry told Sennott that his decision to re-enact the fight on film was no big deal — “just something I did, no great meaning to it.” But it’s clear that the old movie is a huge deal.

“Through hours of watching the films in the den of his newly renovated Beacon Hill mansion, it becomes apparent that these are memories and footage he returns to often,” Sennott wrote.

“Kerry jumps repeatedly from the couch to adjust the Sony large-screen TV in his home entertainment center, making sure the picture is clear, the color correct. He fast forwards, rewinds and freeze-frames the footage. His running commentary — vivid, sometimes touching, sometimes self-serving — never misses a beat.”
----------endquote-----------

[TM]

I have to pitch that link in there.