Reply #53: Major groan here. I hope he doesn't start his televised "hunting" again.

[David Zephyr]

I'm sorry, but this public relations tweaking of one's image is just the very thing that got Al Gore into trouble in 2000 (remember the "Alpha Male") and something that John Kerry seems even more prone to experimenting with.

Kerry's uncalled for statement in Louisiana, of all places, last week against gay marriages was contrived and just as unnecessary as his televised hunting last fall before the election where he strutted around with a rifle.

And now he's an "outsider"? He lives on Beacon Hill, is a billionaire married to another billionaire. He'd get more respect by just being himself. John Kennedy never once tried to be an "outsider" or appear "working class". He was comfortable in his skin just as Franklin Roosevelt was.

Like it or not, Bill Clinton was always Bill Clinton. Jimmy Carter was always Jimmy Carter, and even crusty old Lyndon Johnson was always Lyndon Johnson.

I read this story and just groaned. John Kerry is too bright to fall prey to this sort of nonsense. It does not serve him well. He should know better.

Instead of acting like Huey P. Long in Louisiana, he should be himself. Instead of attacking "Washington, D.C.", he should attack the Republicans.