January 2, 2005

Just When You Thought It Was Safe to Open Newsweek

kerrycurtain.jpg
Say, kids, what time is it?


Billed as an "exclusive talk" with John Kerry, Newsweek's Evan Thomas pounds a 3/4 inch chunk of rebar straight down your spine with a thumbsucker that's long on bathos and short on quotes: 'I'm Going to Learn'

On this damp November evening, he appeared alone in the house; he answered the door and showed his visitor into a cozy, book-lined drawing room. His face was deeply lined, his eyes drooped, he looked like he hadn't slept in about two years. But his manner was resolute, his mood seemed calm, even chipper.

Why did he lose? Kerry points to history and, in a somewhat inferential, roundabout way, to his own failure to connect to voters%u2014a failure that kept him from erasing the Bush campaign's portrait of him as a flip-flopper. Kerry said that he was proud of his campaign, that he had nearly defeated a popular incumbent who had enjoyed a three-year head start on organizing and fund-raising. Sitting presidents are never defeated in wartime, he insisted (true, though two, LBJ and Harry Truman, chose not to run for another term during Vietnam and Korea). Kerry did not wish to be directly quoted touting himself, however; he did not wish to appear defensive or boastful.

Short form: It's not his fault. His wife has migraines. He's going to run again. He's ---> home alone. <---

Posted by Vanderleun at January 2, 2005 4:25 PM
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"It is impossible to speak in such a way that you cannot be misunderstood." -- Karl Popper N.B.: Comments are moderated and may not appear immediately. Comments that exceed the obscenity or stupidity limits will be either edited or expunged.

Did you know he was in Viet Nam?

Posted by: Dave Schuler at January 2, 2005 5:16 PM

I'm sure he'll run in 2008-from the coven of Hillary followers prior to the Dem primaries and from his life mate Butch after the primaries, assuming he hasn't dumped Butch for the oh so wealthy widow Arafat.

Posted by: Thomas J. Jackson at January 2, 2005 7:12 PM

Gerard - I did a compilation of the day by day mistakes Kerry and his campaign made. No Way to Run a Campaign

His campaign was mindboggling inept.

Posted by: chris at January 3, 2005 4:03 AM

I wish I could afford a book-lined drawing room, but I work for a living.

Posted by: Brian J. at January 3, 2005 5:58 AM