Kerry And The Green Tea Metaphor....

[DemocratSinceBirth]

First of all let me preface my remarks by saying I respected John Kerry's service in Nam, his work in the Senate especially his vote against the barbarous Defense Of Marriage Act and the campaign he ran for president but he was a prisoner of his patrician upbringing...


Two of my political heroes John Kennedy and Roberty Kennedy had no less patrician upbringings but they were able to transcend it... I rememember reading that during the 1960 West Virginia primary a coalminer told JFK he heard that he had never "worked a day in his life"... The man added "you ain't missed anything."


Candy Crowley who I detest is getting a alot of criticicism for her "green tea" metaphor but I think she did hit on something... There was a bit of Thurston Howell in John Kerry...

He was no bubba...

That's not his fault...


As Tennyson said "that which we are we are..."

[AspenRose]

1. Green tea is better for you anyway

eom

[DemocratSinceBirth]

3. I Am Not A Big Tea Drinker...

I just think there is a kernel of truth in Candy Crowley's metaphor.....


Even a broken clock is right twice a day....


I didn't think Bush* had the common touch either because I knew it was faux but I can see how and actually witnessed folks who were seduced by his everyman shtick...

I think it's an important ingredient in a candidate; the ability to emote and empathize....

[Nobody]

32. Tea and Shakespeare and Republicans

This reminds me of that scene in Coriolanus where he's a war hero and the custom for anyone aspiring for office was that he would have to dress as one of the orinary people and pretend he's one of them. Coriolanus gets dressed in his working man clothes and his wife Virgilia thinks he looks ridiculous. It kills his self confidence.

It's been a while since I read that particular Shakespeare play.

As ancient Roman Republicans did, the modern day Republicans do. It's all a pretense, and everyone knows it.

As for green tea. What is so elitist about green tea? My humble temp worker with no health care coverage self drinks and enjoys green tea.

Oh yes. I read and understand Shakespeare. How dare I?

[Warren DeMontague]

44. Yeah. "Real Americans" Drink Swill Loaded With High Fructose Corn Syrup...

I love green tea. It's really good for you, too.

[soleft]

2. She deserves to be drummed out of the profession for that comment

For every "green tea" moment she noted - I bet there were a dozen moments like when he took off his tie at the Cleveland rally and gave it to sixteen year old kid who had worked his ass off for the campaign.

Crowley prejudged him and never overcame her bias -

For every Kerry "green tea" moment there are a million "I know Osama attacked us" moments from Bush.

I'll take Thurston Howell over Charles Manson anyday of the week.

[JI7]

4. she is a right winger

when Mary Landrieu beat that republican in her senate re-election runoff after all those dem losses earlier in 2002 she had an ugly look on her face. the same ugly look she had while reporting on the kerry campaign.

[Name removed]

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[DemocratSinceBirth]

10. I Am Not Giving Her The Benefit Of The Doubt

but we are kidding ourselves if we say that personality isn't important in politics or in any endeavor where success can be measured by the number of people you make like you...

[ClassWarrior]

18. I know what you're saying...

...but this is the corporate whore media. We should NEVER give any sort of public credence to any of their charges. They should constantly be ignored or the object of relentless ridicule - unless they've earned otherwise, like Olbermann.

NGU.

[soleft]

27. There's nothing wrong with John Kerry or Al Gore's personalties

The media had an agenda to portray them as unlikable.

[Name removed]

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[DemocratSinceBirth]

8. I Respect Kerry...

I am just saying that Thurston Howell part of his personae was of no benefit...


It might be superficial but I think personality accounts for a lot in poltics...


As for Candy Crwowley I have literally had a thread pulled for my criticism of her...

[madmax]

5. Maybe he developed a tast for Green Tea because of

Teresa. I'm Portuguese and I remember as a child my Mom always served Green Tea. We Pork Chops are big on Green Tea. :p

I don't get why the hell Candy Cruntly finds this to be some sort of indictment. She's an ass!

[ClassWarrior]

12. Bull. You can get Green Tea in every Quikee Mart in America...

Corporate America is only willing to shill cheap knock-offs of the most fancy-schmantzy crap to consumers to make them falsley feel like they're sharing in the wealth.

NGU.

[madmax]

21. I'm just saying - she probably grew up drinking 'cha matte'

Was it fashionable 40 years ago. :shrug:

[JI7]

13. Teresa is watches what he eats

he loves cupcakes but she only allows him to eat them on special days like his birthday.

but she is into health things, including foods and drink and she always watches what Kerry eats.

this green tea thing was around the time of his prostate cancer. i wonder if there was a connection.

teresa is also one who figured out he might need to check for the prostate cancer based on things she knew. and she was right and he caught it early and was cured early of it.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

43. Green tea's believed to be anticarcinogenic

Didn't Kerry recover from prostate cancer?

[JI7]

50. yes, early 2003 was when he had the prostate cancer

[Name removed]

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[Old and In the Way]

9. He lost because of green tea....it had nothing to do with the

systematic hijacking of our election process.

Total BS....there will always be something that can be used by RW corporate media to further their meme that Democrats are elitists. They do that very well. Bush, too, enjoyed a patrician upbringing. The difference between him and Kerry is Bush has used his connections to game the system to his advantage while Kerry has devoted his life to honest public service.

But you can bet that Candy won't be discussing this on her speaking engagements.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

15. But Bush Had A Faux Everyman Shtick

which many people bought....

[RafterMan]

17. Elistist Democrat is a RW meme?

Maybe you missed the thousands of DU posts referring to half the country as ignorant, superstitious knuckle-draggers who need to be re-educated about what's best for them.

They may both have had patrician upbringings, but Bush is the one who learned to speak their language.

[Old and In the Way]

23. Since when does the DU represent the Democratic rank-and-file?

This is an anonymous posting board and we have plenty of people who aren't Democrats posting here. So some people editorialize that Republicans are voting against their best interests...is that not true? The worst offenders who make the most outrageous posts are probably RNC ops who seed progressive boards with the purpose of using this against Democrats...so what else is nw? Fact is, our legislative agenda is inherently non-elitist. Same can't be said for the Republican agenda.

I'll grant you that Bush is a better actor in his portrayal of a "common guy". Everytime he opens his month that perception is validated.

[RafterMan]

26. I used DU because it's common ground to refer to

But I see it in real life all the time. I long ago learned not to mix my college liberal friends with my working class friends to spare the latter the well-meaning, but embarrassing, paternalism of the former.

This is true despite the fact that these same people can go on for hours about how self-defeating it is America to try to impose its values on other cultures. When that other culture is Red America, however, look out.

[Old and In the Way]

28. I know what you mean, but I don't know how we address it.

Maybe we need to be more cynical and dumb down our approach. But the bottom line is the corporate media wants to maintain the "red vs. blue" division in this country. They know that as long as large segments are pitted against each other, attention is deflected off the Party that is busy destroying the country.

Personally, I've written off the 50% of Republican voters who are totally closed to critical thinking and base their decisions on blind adherence to ideological and religious beliefs. I think we should work with the other 50% that don't want to believe that the Republican Party is selling out this country. I think we will eventually convince them...or, more likely, they will convince themselves.

[Old and In the Way]

24. Oh, just as a specific example on this.

Scarborough's intro on Keith Olberman a couple of nights ago mentioned a discussion of the issues between conservatives and the "liberal elites".

See how they do it?

[RaleighNCDUer]

25. That's only because * himself is an

ignorant, superstitious knuckle-dragger.

[Warren DeMontague]

45. Maybe someone spilled a shitload of Green Tea...

Into those Diebold GEMS Vote-Tabulating Machines.

[angrydemocrat]

49. You Said It................

Kerry has devoted his life to honest public service. He has always been a true patriot that love this country. He has worked his A$$ off trying to help the poor and middle class people because he has a real heart and beleives all Americans should be able to live the American dream not just the wealthy and privaleged. He has done a great service for this country and will continue to do so. That is why he is a highly respected man reguardless of what some people on these boards say, media whores, or dumba$$ repukes.

[MaineDem]

11. In this case her use of "green tea" was the kool aid

People bought it and drank it and it's her fault. Her's and the media's for making this an issue. It shouldn't even be part of the reporting.

I'm not sure what needs to be done to restore honest reporting. There's too much extraneous drivel that passes as "news" these days. It's disgusting.

[stlchic]

14. For all the comments republicans hurl about "elitism"...

this "reporter" needs to take a look in the mirror.

I was reading the comments on this over at Media Matters, and one person there noted that in her small, mid-western town, green tea is very plentiful at their local discount and grocery stores. I particularly liked it when she noted, "And we even have 'lectricity! Hee Haw!!"

The mid-west or "heartland", or whatever term you want to use is not just full of country bumpkins who think latte is a city in France. Why is this Crowley person assuming that middle America knows nothing about "new things"? (not that green tea is all that new)

[mainer]

16. Green tea is now mainstream -- it's Crowley who's out of touch

Numerous medical studies have touted its benefits, and some people drink it for the same reason they drink red wine -- it's good for you! (I've heard that green tea sales now make up about 20% of Lipton's market.)

[goodhue]

33. exactly

Green Tea is the Real Deal.
Candy knows nothing.

[sonicx]

19. i have Green Tea in my house right now and...

i'm not rich, 'elitist', or anything like that. Crowley can go fuck herself.

[Name removed]

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[grasswire]

29. the five best things you can eat if you're over 50

cooked tomatoes (lycopene - anti cancer)
red wine (works against red cells sticking together in blood vessels)
green tea (anti-cancer)
blueberries (anti-oxident)
banana (potassium)

I have all of them in my house and ingest them almost every day. And while I am rich in spirit, I am barely over the poverty line.

[Must_B_Free]

41. White tea is supposed to be better than Green tea

google white tea; the same plants, but processed differently; also has more buds

[Nobody]

31. Me too and it isn't even that Lipton crap

Just imagine if the comment had been about Turkish coffee instead.

[emulatorloo]

22. Google "Green Tea" and "Cancer" and see what you come up with

Then Google "John Kerry" and "Prostate Cancer"

PS I live in Iowa and you can get green tea here in restaurants. Pretty damn mainstream.

Candy is just smearing like she always does.

[cyn2]

30. So it's ok to be against the gentry?

I'm sick of this. It's not acceptable to criticize people for how they're born unless they happen to have been born to the gentry.

Kerry didn't have to go to Nam, he didn't have to report what he saw there, and he didn't have to choose public service in the Senate.

He's a good guy. He's done a lot of good for his country. And his aspirations to be president spring from a desire to serve the country, not to get enormously rich as the shrubco is doing.

[ibegurpard]

34. I know what she was talking about.

Kerry didn't have a knack for the "common touch." I don't know if he could've overcome that in other ways or not.
Clinton had it, as much as I hated some of the things he let happen on his watch. And it didn't have anything to do with him being a Southernor.
I don't like Candy Crowley...I watched Alexandra Pelosi's nauseatingly self-congratulatory "documentary" on HBO recently and Candy Crowley had some things to say about the campaign process. She looked at it like a game, which is how many of these jaded inside-the-bubble "journalists" view it. Candy Crowley is just as out-of-touch as John Kerry but she was not wrong with this observation, in my opinion.

[WildEyedLiberal]

35. It would be one thing if he'd ordered something extremely exotic

Like if he'd asked for Darjeeling tea made from fresh tea leaves harvested in Punjab before the last monsoon season. Then, maybe she'd have a point about him being "out of touch."

But he didn't. He ordered green tea, for chrissakes - green tea is about as elite as chicken parmesan. The media whores just decided that the only way they were going to portray John Kerry was as an elite wealthy New England brahmin, ignoring everything else about him besides his genealogy and his region of birth. It was disgusting and wildly inaccurate. At no point in my observations of John Kerry over the election season did I ever think, "wow, he really acts like a wealthy son of entitlement." He's a debonair, sophisticated man. That is not in and of itself condescending to so-called "common folk," and in fact it's incredibly patronizing to me and other denizens of the "heartland" to imply that we're too simple to understand anyone who doesn't say "ain't" and wear bib overalls. He cannot help his accent. He dresses well - shouldn't any US statesman? Why should he pretend to be something he isn't? It's such a blatant double standard. When Bush panders and puts on the facade of being a "common man," the media practically orgasms over his "common touch." If Kerry tried in any way to portray himself as "common" (which, again, is incredibly patronizing - as if Midwesterners only understand people with 'suthern' drawls and straw in their teeth), he would have been crucified for insincere pandering. Somehow, Bush is allowed to get away with creating a false persona for himself, while Kerry is made to feel ashamed for being who he is. It's complete bullshit, and the main reason I hate the media with a passion.

As a resident of the rural Midwest (and a woman), I can tell you I'd much prefer James Bond to John Wayne. And even if I didn't, I would still prefer sincerity. John Kerry never tried to be who he wasn't. Bush's political career hinges on an act, a facade, on pretending to be something he never has been nor never will be. At the least, Americans should make good on their so-called dislike of bullshit and acknowledge that, whether or not John Kerry had a "common touch," he was not hiding behind a false pretense - which is more than anyone can say for Bush.



On edit: My 200th post! W00t!

[arewenotdemo]

40. well stated, WildEyedLiberal

:toast:

[WildEyedLiberal]

42. Thank ya sir

:toast:

[liberalpragmatist]

46. RIght on - Except Darjeeling Tea Wouldn't be Harvested in the Punjab

Darjeeling is in the Himalayan Region of Sikkim - a narrow strip of Indian land sandwiched between Nepal and Bhutan and abutting the Bengal. Punjab is a northwestern Plain fed by 5 rivers that spread out across Northern Pakistan and Western India - not really a tea-growing region.

I'm just being facetious. Haha.

[WildEyedLiberal]

47. You know, I was actually wondering about that as I wrote it

I was just talking out of my ass, and hoping no one actually knew from which part of India Darjeeling tea came. I shoulda known better - there are some smart cookies on DU! So props to you for knowing about Darjeeling tea. I'm am Earl Grey drinker so that's my excuse :)

[liberalpragmatist]

51. Darjeeling

*Correction: Darjeeling's actually IN West Bengal, not Sikkim.

Don't you love how this is completely off topic?

[WildEyedLiberal]

52. LOL... yes, yes I do

That is BEAUTIFUL country, by the way... hell, maybe I'll make a trip there and buy some honest to God authentic Darjeeling tea.

[spooky3]

37. Yeah, that's why he never drew any big crowds.

:eyes:

[Julien Sorel]

38. A lot of this perception is driven by the media in the first place.

Al Gore was stiff and unlikeable. How do we know?
Because of media hacks who tell us so. In fact, there were polls taken showing Gore had high likability ratings -- nearly as high as Bush's -- despite two years of character assassination from the very same media that was telling everyone how unlikeable Gore was.

We don't know Kerry ourselves; the Kerry we see is the one the media portray, and our media are not trustworthy about such things. Pig Crowley apparently did not like Kerry, and neither did many of his pool reporters. So they start casting around for a theme to convey that dislike. Gore was stiff. Kerry is patrician. Bush, however, is a regular guy because he's a "reformed" drunken cokehead who makes a show of clearing brush on his Potemkin ranch every few months?

I think another thing at work is one you see here. A lot of these reporters are liberal Democrats, and they are seeing the Democrats struggle the same as everyone else. Much easier to blame the candidate, or facilely point to "values" and the like, than it is to look at the big picture problems that Democrats are struggling against. If only Gore hadn't been stiff, the southerners would have cast off their growing conservatism and voted for him. If only Kerry wasn't so patrician, voters would have cast aside their distrust of Democrats' commitment to national security and voted for him. It's lazy and intellectually dishonest, but so's much of our media.

[sr_pacifica]

53. Good post n/t

[Minstrel Boy]

39. I like very much what you say about the Kennedys transcending their

patrician heritage.

No one did so better - more heartfelt, and with more of an impact on his politics - than Bobby.

Man, it hurts to look at these photos, and see the leader America wasn't permitted to have.


Outside Stockton, California


In the Mississippi Delta


Touring Washington after Dr King's assassination

[NAO]

48. 'bit of Thurston Howell in Kerry'? - There is a LOT of Gilligan in Bush

and Cheney as the Skipper too.

[LittleClarkie]

54. Or Popeye

I yam what I yam.

That said, the damn hotel HAD green tea, so she made it up.

She's perpetuating a stereotype, and not even genuinely reporting something she saw. Especially in this day and age, many people's tastes are more sophisticated. I know freepers who like micro brews and musicals.

I can't believe the fate of the free world hinged on green tea. Surely the end is near.