This is the very first article when I was ABB then made me think re: Kerry

[LittleClarkie]

I was COMPLETELY annoyed in March of 2004 that Clark didn't make it. I wasn't even that repulsed by Bush yet, and so hadn't been driven yet to find out more about John. But I do remember this being the very first article that made me think "Hey, maybe he isn't so bad. I like that he thinks so deeply about things."

Just thought I'd share.

http://www.jsonline.com/news/editorials/mar04/214170.asp

How Kerry makes decisions
By LAURA BLUMENFELD
Posted: March 13, 2004

John Kerry cliche No. 1: The single-engine plane plunged toward the Nevada desert. The pilot had tried a barrel roll and miscalculated. Ten thousand feet, six thousand feet, two thousand feet and falling.

The young Kerry, sitting next to the pilot, reached for the controls. "Give it to me," Kerry said over the scream of the engine. He pulled the airplane out of the dive.

John Kerry cliche No. 2:About 30 years later, in his office at 2 a.m., the senator hovered over a dictionary, torn between two words: "Is it 'venal'? Or 'venial'?"

Hours before he would deliver his Senate floor statement on President Bill Clinton's impeachment, Kerry was stuck in the V's, trying to decide.

Both stories, though cartoonish, actually happened. They are part of the lore that paints Kerry as alternately too rash or too cautious. Conventional wisdom has tried to reconcile the apparent contradiction with words such as "complex."

[JI7]

1. i like a complex guy

[elshiva]

5. Ditto.

[LeftyLizzie]

2. Great article! Thanks!

I, too, like a deep thinker, and no one can accuse John Kerry of being shallow.

[sandnsea]

3. That's a good article

I hadn't read it before, thanks.

"they went back on their word"

Yes they did. And people around here wonder how they got away with it. :grr:

"When Vanessa began to cry, he put his arms around her: "He kept saying, 'I'm so sorry you kids have to go through this.' He was worried about letting people down who had signed onto the campaign."

and

"Kerry joked, "Could you do a little liposuction?"

Later, he walked the hospital halls. Wearing a robe, with an intravenous needle in his arm, Kerry cracked up the hospital staff with an impression of Steve Martin as a wild and crazy guy."

Some day I am going to find out who is responsible for not getting this image out there. And I'm going to punch them in the nose.

I swear I am.

[karynnj]

4. These stories show a real person

As so many people get all their news from TV, it's really bad that the fairness doctrine was eliminated. It would really be great if during the campaign the broadcast stations were required to air a certain amount of coverage provided by each of the campaigns. The air waves are given to the channels for free, so you would think some public service would be fair.

They used to show a lot more of the candidates - even in 2000 they showed a total of 9 hr at each convention. This year it was 3 hours. (which included Clinton, Edwards, Kerry speeches) This was an enormous disadvantage to the challenger. Because of this it annoys me when they say Clinton defined himself so much better in 92. Kerry had 1 hr to define who he was, what he wanted to do and what his vision was.

[politicasista]

6. Thanks for posting this.