Kerry is a Better Candidate Than Gore

[liberalpragmatist]

Don't get me wrong. Gore would have made an excellent President and though I wasn't old enough to vote, I was a strong supporter of Gore's. Additionally, I'll acknowledge that Gore did a hell of a lot better than the media and spinmeisters would lead you to believe. But Gore got tarred as *loser* and it stuck.

Gore could never get too comfortable in his own skin and he failed to strike the right tone at any time throughout the GE campaign. He was overly cautious and constantly trying on different personas and he failed to use Clinton, instead distancing himself from him. Most damaging, Gore never adequately dismissed the right-wing lies and BS that seeped into public consciousness like the internet *claim* or the Love Boat thing.

Kerry, has shown he is a much more politically adroit creature than Gore. Kerry is a FAR stronger candidate and campaigner than he is EVER given credit for. He fights hard and pulls it off when it counts. He always rises to the occasion. And he takes the media and right-wing BS head-on, debunking the lies that are spread about him and campaigning very actively against Bush.

This is why I'm confident. If Bush could lose to Al Gore, an awkward and weak candidate, there's no way he's going to win against a candidate as strong as John Kerry. Don't let anybody tell you this man is not a good candidate. We made an excellent choice this year.

[Walt Starr]

1. Kerry is a better candidate than Clinton was

At least IMO.

[merh]

4. I have to agree with you!

Kerry is the best dem on the ticket in a long time! (imho)

[JohnKleeb]

2. I have to agree with you though Al has changed for the better

Not only that but now people know Bush. Really liking Kerry a lot.

[MyUncle]

5. I wish I had started my recent Gore post as graciously as you did yours.

I agree with you by the way.

[WI_DEM]

3. At this point in the campaign Gore was as good as Kerry

Gore gave a very successful speech at his own convention in 2000 and got a big boost in the polls. But you are right, Kerry seems to be more comfortable in his own skin, now, than Gore was in 2000--now Gore seems very comfortable.

[MsUSA]

6. and should we even talk about Gore's VP???

John Edwards is the BEST VP candidate we've had in long time....although I thought Al Gore was too.

[seabeyond]

7. lineralpragmatist too young to vote, i love informed youth

just love it. and even your name. this is what really turns me on, even before you were able to vote you were well informed and a participant in the political system.

and i agree with you. gore was working against more things in 2000, a nation of 8 years repugs bashing dems, clintons behavior i think people went to bush simply to let them have their ways to stop the fighting. and no one but those of us in texas knew the man. now the world has had four years seeing who bush is

[jayavarman]

8. I agree- Gore lacked Authenticity

It all boils down to this, for me at least.

Kerry is more authentic than Gore.

Kerry is a Preppy. When he talks about the middle class, etc . . . he does it in that vein- Kind of a JFK, noblesse oblige tradition. This works because it is authentic & he is speaking in his own voice. Example- that ad where he talks about being privileged to go to a school like Yale & that experience led him to the recognition that he has a duty to give back to his country & an obligation to help others out.

For those who don't recognize it, it's the classic "from those to whom much have been given, much is expected" thing that I can 100% guarantee that Kerry, Gore (& bush for that matter) repeatedly heard from parents & headmasters all through their early life.

Gore is also a Preppy & came from the same type of background. He was less authentic because he ran a populist campaign as if he had grown up like Edwards or Kusinich did. Because his background did not really match up with his rhetoric, I felt that his populism lacked power & authenticity . . . Whereas an Edwards (or a historical figure like Huey Long) could have ran the same campaign much more effectively. Gore just did not have the life experiences to authentically run the kind of campaign he chose to run. Example- It's kind of hard to say that your with the 'people vs. the powerful' when you have obviously lived a more privileged life than most of 'the people'.

Who knows what would have happened if Gore ran a more authentic campaign . . . . remember that one of JFK's most famous lines came from his prep-school headmaster (Choate) "Ask not what your school can do for you, ask what you can do for your school"

[Nlighten1]

9. I agree...

Kerry is kicking ass. Slow, measured ass but kicking ass.

[depakid]

10. Kerry has yet to prove

that he will fight back against the inevitable far right assault. Simply taking "the high road" isn't going to do- he'll get Gored and Dukakis'd. In fact, it's already started, and he's already failed to respond- that's why the flip flopper meme is sticking. The same thing is happening with the misrepresentations of his voting record.

[NYCGirl]

11. It's difficult to compare the two,

since no one yet knew George W. Bush, and Kerry is now running against an incumbent with a lot of strikes against him. Al Gore had a good 8 year record with Clinton to run on, but he also had the shadow of Clinton's problems.

Al Gore, as we've seen recently, is neither awkward or weak, but he was horribly misused by his advisors.