Taking the Measure of John Kerry

[DaveSZ]

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/15/books/review/15HITCHEN.html

Taking the Measure of John Kerry
By CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS

Published: August 15, 2004

To begin with a small question that I trust is not a trivial or a petty one: how often have you met a self-described Kerry supporter? During the truncated and front-loaded Democratic primaries, it was relatively easy to encounter Dean enthusiasts, Gephardt union activists, Clark fans, Edwards converts, Kucinich militants and even dedicated Sharptonians. (My circle wasn't wide enough to encompass any Braun campaigners.) But a person who got up every morning and counted the day wasted if he or she hadn't made a Kerry convert? I've asked this question on radio and on television, and on campus and in the other places where people sing, and I've heard only a slight shuffling of Democratic feet. Just as the junior senator from Massachusetts used to say, for arcane fund-raising purposes, that he was only the ''presumptive'' nominee, so he was earlier the ''presumptive'' or last-resort choice once all the passion and spontaneity had been threshed out by the party machine. The name Kerry is thus another tired synonym for ABB, or ''Anybody but Bush.'' Shall we ''take America back'' this November? In such a case, we would be taking it back to a fairly familiar version of Democratic consensualism.

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Yet these books make it plain that Kerry is not a taller version of Mondale or Dukakis. This year's Democratic aspirant has a fascinating family history, extending not just to the earliest years of the ancestors of the Republic but to the yearnings of those later Europeans who sought refuge on this continent. (He must be the only Catholic Jew with Mayflower-Winthrop roots to have sought the highest office.)

By being a brave warrior and a prominent antiwarrior, Kerry was profoundly involved in the two largest claims to participation in a ''noble cause'' that the last half-century has offered Americans. He has succeeded in getting two very striking and independent women to marry him, the second of whom, though she sometimes resembles a large-print version of Bianca Jagger, is nonetheless living proof that ketchup is not a vegetable. His service in the Senate, while not describable as stellar, has featured some important moments of gravity and responsibility. He might wince from the compliment, but he deserves to be called un homme serieux.

Why, then, the penumbra of doubt that surrounds him? (Doubt on his own part, I mean, not just doubt by others.) The answer is not complex. One of these books, ''John F. Kerry,'' by a Boston Globe team, makes reference to the song ''Give Peace a Chance,'' as sung by John Lennon in Kerry's presence in far-off days. The second, ''The Candidate,'' by the journalist Paul Alexander, has a verse from Bruce Springsteen's ''No Surrender'' as its epigraph, speaking of ''blood brothers in a stormy night'' and refusing the idea of any retreat. (This stirring song, indeed, was played at top volume by the party managers in Boston to herald Kerry's acceptance speech at the Democratic convention.) The third, ''A Call to Service,'' by Kerry himself, merits Mark Twain's comment on the Book of Mormon -- ''chloroform in print.'' It has no music at all. But if it were to draw its title from any popular song, it would have to bow toward Joni Mitchell and announce itself as ''Both Sides Now.''

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[DaveSZ]

1. NY Times joins CNN & Fox

,

[NMDemDist2]

2. while I wonder why you would bother to post Hitchens BS

I have to add I fit in the catagory "self described Kerry supporter" since August 2002

Screw Hitchens and the pony keg he rode in on

edit to add I didn't get past the second sentence

[Paradise]

4. "Screw Hitchens"?

wouldn't chance it. don't think he showers. :)

[NMDemDist2]

5. wise choice indeed n/t

[w13rd0]

3. I knew something stank about that article...

...and seeing the Hitchens byline, I now know the distinctive flavor of it. I wish I had known, for I would not have wasted by "beautiful mind" on such utter shit.

[murielm99]

6. Complete and total BS

My daughter was a Kerry supporter from day one.

When I asked her why, she gave me such coherent answers about his record and background that she converted me.

She met all the candidates, or saw them in forums, because everyone who ran in the Iowa caucuses visited the state and campaigned heavily. She is also an active Democrat, who attended the Jefferson Jackson dinner there.

I was amazed at the number of Kerry supporters on her campus. Everyone thought all the college kids were for Dean, but that is not so.

And in her caucus in Ames, Iowa, all the people voted for either Kerry or Edwards. No one else got a vote.

She was not surprised that Edwards was chosen as VP either.

[bemildred]

7. Drool. Vague drool. nt