by Patrick J. Shanahan
09/01/04
I have thus far avoided too much discussion of John Kerry. But as the election looms nearer, this is an unpleasant subject that I can no longer ignore. Here is a brief summary of what I believe about John F. Kerry:
He is a two-bit arrogant, fool. He is an utter and complete phony, a self-crafted image that is hollow to the core. He is a boarding school-going, rich heiress-marrying, Eastern Lockjaw-drawling, Swift Boat-riding pile of nothingness. He is a cross between Thurston Howell III and Bobby Orr, but with neither money of his own or athletic grace. He has leveraged every single opportunity of his adult life to reincarnate himself as the next JFK. All he lacks is the looks, the brains, the panache and the classy wife. And anything resembling an actual idea.
Now, we are not strangers to hucksters in politics. I recall a day not so long ago when I seethed in fury at the stupidity of the American people for electing (and then reelecting!) Bill Clinton. But at least Clinton was an honest phony. He’d look at you with a jaunty smile and that glint in his eye that said “just try to stop me!” He looked at us all and said “I didn’t not have sexual relations with that women…” and he knew that we knew that he was lying. But he didn’t care. I find this hard to believe, but John Kerry almost makes me long for Bill Clinton.
It would be hard to find a better poster boy for 1960s nihilism than John Kerry. He is not so much for anything as he is against everything. This is clearly reflected as far back as his “Winter Soldier” comments. Those comments were anti-American to the core, and an insult to every honorable American who fought in Vietnam. But they were anti-American in the peculiar way of the 1960s, in that they offered no alternatives. If it was American it was bad. Period. And the farther away from American it got, the better it was.
It would be nice to report that he has changed, or “grown” in the intervening years, but we may never know, because his campaign (and a compliant press) seems bent on completely ignoring that Senator Kerry has spent the better part of his adult life as a U.S. Senator. It appears that his Senate record - spotty as it is - suggests that his pattern of lazy radicalism has continued. He has emerged as the single most liberal Senator in the U.S. Senate, which is quite a feat for a body filled with the likes of Ted Kennedy and Barbara Boxer. But he didn’t “earn” this badge of honor the hard way - by standing up for his principles. He earned it by predictably voting against American interests at every turn, then changing his position as necessary to cover his tracks.
This, in a Python-esque sort of way, proved to be his launching pad to fame. By adding waffling to his existing arsenal of phoniness, arrogance, negativism, and anti-Americanism, he was able to slide past his record in the democratic primaries and get nominated. But he will not be elected. He cannot be elected. Because something trumps nothing every single time.
The first sign of major trouble for him has been the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth controversy. If Kerry were a man of substance, the charges made by these fellow veterans would have passed by largely uncounted. Bt the charges from the Swift Boat gang have the ring of truth about them. Kerry’s sputterings and threats have the ring of hollowness. And the American people are beginning to feel the difference.
Lord help Senator Kerry when the population really begins measuring him against the President. Like it or not, George W. Bush is loaded with “somethings.” He has an agenda - for the most part grounded solidly in principle - and he takes action based on it. As a conservative there are parts of it that I disagree on. I think the whole concept of “No Child Left Behind” is a recasting of New deal liberalism, for example. But I wouldn’t not vote for President Bush because of it.
The only part of the electorate that John Kerry can count on is the 40% who would vote for anybody rather than President Bush. And, mark my words, Kerry’s lack of “something” will make them hold their noses to do it.