Reply #19: That's what bothered me about Kerry's campaign from the beginning [View All]

[Lydia Leftcoast]

I thought he was intelligent and qualified, one of the best candidates we've ever had in that respect.

However, I saw CSPAN coverage of him with a gathering of Vietnam veterans, and he seemed uncomfortable with them, which surprised me. I know that the men he actually served with were loyal to him, but that was then, and he seemed unable to let down his guard.

I could imagine Bushboy going right in there and shaking hands and slapping backs, and "the guys" would have just eaten it up. Like most sociopaths, he can turn on the "good old boy" style of gregariousness when it suits him.

Kerry was also too nice. I've noticed over the years (especially from working as an industrial temp and riding public transit) that blue collar workers like feisty politicians. It doesn't seem to matter what their actual positions are--they just want someone who will get in there and fight for what he believes no matter what anyone else thinks. (I think that was part of the very liberal Wellstone's appeal.) I think it has something to do with their own feelings of powerlessness. They want someone in their fighting for at least some part of their beliefs, and if they can find only someone fighting for their prejudices instead of someone fighting for their economic interests, they'll figure that at least their prejudices are being actively promoted, so they'll take what they can get.

By being so slow to fight against an obvious slander, Kerry came off as a wimp, and as another poster mentioned, the all-too-perfect hunting gear was a bad idea as well. It didn't make him look like a tough guy but like a New England aristocrat pretending to be tough as he posed for an LL Bean ad.