The Real, Real John Kerry

This piece killed me before I saw the Drudge siren alert, now it is deadly at 30 paces. It has all the cringe-inducing elements in play: snarky first-person insider posture, the hint of Anglophilia, a dash of other-media bash, the Grand Insight into a candidate's character, and most of all, big, sloppy wet kisses planted on a politican in anticipation of ever-greater access.

Hey, it's a job.

Comments

[Jason Ligon]

"Kerry has, for better or worse, the natural temperament of a leader, a loner in charge. That's his manner whether he's in charge of a gunboat, a movement of anti-war veterans, or, if things keep going his way, of the nation that brought you the Electoral College."

You have got to be kidding. In theory, this made it past an editor, too.

[shane]

Wow, does this guy work for Kerry? Talk about gushing.

Seems weird right now though.

[Dilly]

What the hell is "the nation that brought you the Electoral College" even supposed to mean in this story?

[B.P.]

Good God, he gets paid to write this schmaltz? Now I'll never be able to control my laughter when they cut away to him on the radio.

"Now with the brass ring of the Democratic presidential nomination within reach..."

I would've gone with another metaphor, perhaps something about a fist going into a very active hornet's nest.

[Douglas Fletcher]

He left out the part where he gave Kerry a blow job.

[joe]

Hint: if somebody appears to find you annoying or intrustive, transparenly kissing his ass isn't likely to change his mind.

[LB]

To: David Welna, NPR

Get a room fun-boy. This is family (government-subsidized) network.

[shane]

"Now with the brass ring of the Democratic presidential nomination within reach..."

lol. Good point B.P.

I guess that makes Kerry the Gollum of the dems.

"My presciousssss........"

[paul]

Given whatever news Drudge is breathlessly pushing, maybe "hornet's nest" isn't the proper receptacle to be speaking of ...

[shane]

"Hornets nest" is what Kerry might be facing at home if this is true.

[Shannon Love]

" Being just one of 100 never seemed to quite suit the guy all these years in the Senate. His ambitions to lead were constantly thwarted by the realities of a collegial body where nobody ever really leads. It's decision-making by committee, legislating by compromise."

I don't what bothers me more, the implication that writer thinks Kerry would be more comfortable as a Dictator or his apparent belief that successful Presidents do not govern by building broad consensus.

[Jeff Smith]

How can people who write this drivel show them-
selves in public or even sleep at night? The
Senate is 100 people who would otherwise be
used car dealers or shyster lawyers. To
worship them like this is truly and completely
pathetic. Get a life man! Have some pride.

Jeff

[Shultz]

This article reminds me of the drivel I read during the Lewinsky Affair.

At the time, Lewinsky's behaviour was explained by the left with the theory that women are geneticaly attracted to powerful men.

This reporter seems to have discovered a new genetic permutation in which men become more approachable as they become more powerful.

Behold the wonders of modern science!

P.S. I myself have noticed that as a Democratic candidate becomes the obvious frontrunner, NPR reporters show a genetic proclivity to fall in love.

[kevrob]

Funny, TV reporters never have had a problem getting a quote out of "Liveshot" Kerry, to use Howie Carr's term.

[Kevin Carson]

We need to coin a word for this phenomenon, along the lines of "Bush-kake" (what Peggy Noonan has a face full of after one of her gushing tributes to Dubya). Welna's face is definitely glistening.

[bigbigslacker]

"It doesn't take long to sense who's approachable and who's not when you report on the 100 members of the Senate -- our Yankee version of the House of Lords."

David knows how stupid his fellow Americans are. In case you didn't know, there 100 Senators, and the senate is kinda like the House of Lords. But if you don't know what the U.S. Senate is, what are the odds you'll know anything about the House of Lords (I ask no one in particular). Or is he just trying be international? Oh, and U.S. citizens are sometimes called "yankees" - that's important to know.

One thing I notice very often on NPR (confession! I listen on occasion) is a news reader, er I mean journalist, will use an acronym and then immediately afterwards tell you what that acronym means. Such as, "today the SEC, the securities and exchange commission, decided to...blah blah blah". Seems condescending to me - maybe they figure a certain percentage of their listeners are teens raised on MTV or senile old farts?

NPR stands for National Public Radio, in case yous fellas didn't know...

[Douglas Fletcher]

BBS (bigbigslacker), I think that defining the acronym the first time you use it in the story is pretty much standard journalistic procedure. I've read stories where they referred to some acronym without defining it, which is mighty annoying if you don't happen to know what it stands for.

Believe it or not, there actually are people who may well be they are tuning into a news broadcast and hearing of the SEC for the first time in their lives. Think of how many Martha Stewart fans probably had to be educated about who exactly is going after their hero.

[HH]

But remember, there's no bias at NPR.

[MJ]

"Striking a pose there of being above that fray just may have been Kerry's way of saying "this isn't really me."

Or maybe he he tended to tick everyone else off and had lousy ideas for legislation that nobody else wanted to implement. Calling someone "above the fray" in a deliberative body is a nice way of saying "ineffective". Also, if he is so out of place in the Senate, why has he chosen to be there for at least two(three?)terms?

Lastly, while this guy is an NPR reporter and therefore understandably inclines towards a lefty Dem candidate, is it amazing how docile reporters become when a subject hangs out with the media peons?

[joe]

MJ, Kerry's "greatest hits" as a Senator came heading investigative commissions, not getting his name on legislation. His committee hearings broke Iran-Contra, BCCI, and the Contra/Noreiga/CIA/cocaine scandal.

Between uncovering government abuse of power and NOT passing lots of legislation, I'd think he'd be a libertoid hero!

[KJ]

"His committee hearings broke Iran-Contra, BCCI, and the Contra/Noreiga/CIA/cocaine scandal"

His committee hearings. M-hm. Sure, that makes him "a libertoid hero," of course.

But, wait! What exactly was the part he plaid, personally that is, in this "uncovering government abuse of power?" Did his Perry Mason-like cross-examination make evildoers jittering and quaking and confessing their skulduggery? Or did he just happen to sit on a committee, occationally dozing, and thinking of his forthcoming weekend? What's the threshold for qualification to "libertoid heroism?"

On the other hand, given that all these "hero" labels seem to be rather cheap to come by today, "NOT passing lots of legislation" probably makes him eligible anyway.

[joe]

"Did his Perry Mason-like cross-examination make evildoers jittering and quaking and confessing their skulduggery?'

No, he actually did the boring hard work of investigating, and organizing staff, and shepherding through parliamentary moves, and getting the machinery available to him to work, that needs to get done in order for oversight and investigative committees to achieve things in the real world.

You know, the sort of things that successful government officials do when they realize they weren't elected to prance around in military costume at taxpayer expense.

[thoreau]

Joe-

Are you saying that he used the legislative branch to check the executive branch? Didn't you know that the purpose of the executive branch is to let an idiot puppet prince wield unchecked power while tramping around in uniforms? This is of course necessary to defend freedom from the unruly masses and dark-skinned foreigners.

[MJ]

"...NOT passing lots of legislation, I'd think he'd be a libertoid hero!"-joe

A small government hero does not pass legislation because he feels it unneccessary, not because he cannot get his colleagues to follow his lead, which is what I believe the reporter is trying to put a good spin on.

[dj of raleigh]

> NPR stands for National Public Radio, in case yous fellas didn't know...