Dowd finds Kerry insatiable

[BeyondGeography]

When it's all said and done, she likes him. She really likes him.

At least in today's paper.

J.F.K., Marilyn, 'Camelot'
By MAUREEN DOWD

NEW ORLEANS

Here are five things you might not know about John F. Kerry:

• Like W., he loved "Cats."

• Like his hero J.F.K., he was crazy about the musical "Camelot" and Marilyn Monroe (but only on screen).

• Like that other earnest Massachusetts liberal, Michael Dukakis, he is drawn to the sultry tango. (Then again, tango is called the dance of "vertical solitude.")

• Like Dennis Kucinich, he writes soulful poetry.

• Like my older brother Michael, he never got over the image of Elizabeth Taylor in a white bathing suit in "A Place in the Sun."

It's not often that you get a presidential candidate to recite poetry to you, especially in a year when W. and J.F.K. are going macho a macho.

But there was Mr. Kerry flying from Boston to New Orleans on Friday, sipping tea for his hoarse throat and reeling off T. S. Eliot's "Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock."

"There are so many great lines in it," he said. " `Do I dare to eat a peach?' `Should I wear my trousers rolled?' `Let us go, through certain half-deserted streets/The muttering retreats/Of restless nights in one-night cheap hotels/And sawdust restaurants with oyster-shells."

Then he started on "Gunga Din" and " `talk o' gin and beer.' "

When I gave George W. Bush a culture quiz in 2000, he gamely struggled to come up with one answer in each category, calling baseball his favorite "cultural experience."

Mr. Kerry, on the other hand, struggled to stop coming up with a cascade of things in each category, rarely settling on a definite favorite.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/07/opinion/07DOWD.html?hp

[MercutioATC]

1. Akkkk! Kerry's quoting my favorite poem....

Badly, if Dowd's reporting is accurate (which it might well not be).

Damn. I like that poem, too...

[Gloria]

2. Careful, John....you're showing you are smart and that means you're

part of the "elite" and no one will want to have a beer with you or vote for you, either....

[iamjoy]

8. You Got It

No one likes that overly educated liberal elitist thing. Sad, but true.

Kerry would go up more in the polls if people knew he rode a Harley.

Don't talk about windsurfing, TS Eliot, tango and for pity's sake, no comparisons to Michael Dukakis, the Repugs will give us plenty of those, thank you very much.

[Jade Fox]

15. the hell with that....We want a smart President!

We have to fight this dumbing down of people in power. Yet another thing
the neo-cons have bullied us with.

I think a big part of the reason Clinton was hated was because he was
pure white-trash, but smart and successful.

[Stephanie]

3. Oh my God - She's in LOVE with him

So am I, actually, after reading that.

Remember when Oprah asked bush what his favorite book was? And he named some children's book.

When she asked Gore, he named The Red and the Black.

[Catt03]

6. God...me too!

What a man! (sigh)

JK.....:yourock:

[connecticut yankee]

14. And what was Bush's?

I believe he said "Curious George."

Or maybe I'm just projecting.

:evilgrin:

[dw]

18. The Very Hungry Caterpillar

http://www.southcoasttoday.com/daily/09-01/09-02-01/e02li122.htm

[zulchzulu]

4. Word!

Kerry is an amazing fellow and will make a great president. I didn't know he could recite parts of Prufrock...

[Journeyman]

16. I'd be surprised if he couldn't quote "Prufrock". . .

every literate person I know can recite at the least the quoted lines.

[kskiska]

5. Sounds like a wonderful date

I thought Al Gore would be a great date, too.

[David Dunham]

7. Kerry is Great. Far Better than Bush. JK's as smart as Lincoln.

[Nay]

9. Won't it be great to have an intelligent, well-read president again?

I can hardly wait.

[David Dunham]

10. First one since JFK I.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

17. Jimmy Carter was an extremely intelligent president.

[whistle]

11. Yes, come convention time...

...we will all love John Kerry :kick: :party: :bounce:

[whistle]

12. What's John Kerry's middle name?

:dunce:

[BeyondGeography]

13. Forbes

eom

[Manix]

19. What a difference from the ignoramus from Texas!

nt