NY Times: Where's the Rest of Him (John Kerry)?

[Larkspur]

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/18/opinion/18morris.html

SO why is George W. Bush taking the oath of office this week and not John Kerry? For me, the answer is clear: Mr. Kerry failed because of his inability to tell his own story. John Kerry could have presented to the American people his full biography, but instead he chose to edit who he was. Why?

My guess is that Mr. Kerry and his campaign believed that certain things could not be mentioned. Foremost among these was Mr. Kerry's opposition to the war in Vietnam, which was largely erased from the candidate's life. That was a mistake. People think in narratives - in beginnings, middles and ends. The danger when you edit something too severely is that it no longer makes sense; worse still, it leaves people with the disquieting impression that something is being hidden.

Muting Mr. Kerry's opposition to the Vietnam War had precisely this effect.
<SNIP>

..Mr. Kerry was holding something back - his real story about Vietnam. And in the end the questions about his service in Vietnam became questions about how he would deal with the war in Iraq. Was Mr. Kerry for it or against it? Questions about Iraq became questions about his candor, and vice versa.

What's disconcerting here is that Mr. Kerry had an out. He could have explained why he went to Vietnam and then opposed the war, and then he could have used this explanation to help people understand why he voted for the Iraq war and then voted against it. His experience with the changing nature of a war could have shifted those critical swing voters, convincing them that he was just the person to lead them at this juncture in our history.
<SNIP>

What this author forgets is that Kerry had to edit out his opposition to the Vietnam War to cover up his support for the current immoral was -- Iraq.

[iamjoy]

1. Oh, I Don't Know

in a way, I think this author has a point.

But I am so tired of everyone trying to tell us what we did wrong.

[fertilizeonarbusto]

2. Thanks, I am too

Though, what about the brownose coverage Chimpy got from MSM?

[KittyWampus]

3. Kerry Never Voted "For The Iraq War". And Fraud Beat Him In 04.. Not

Junior.

[lojasmo]

8. Kerry voted to authorize the murdering monkey to wage war....

When even I knew Bush was going to use it....how is that not voting for the war?

As far as the fraud, Kerry et. al. should have dealt with it after 2000....He dropped the ball several times, when he wasn't busy passing it to Bushco.

[KittyWampus]

19. Ummm, NO, Try Again Though... When You Manage To Leave Your

misconceptions home where it won't get in the way of a worthwhile discussion.

[lojasmo]

20. What misconceptions?

I knew A FULL YEAR before the IWR vote that Bush was going to Iraq. It was also plainly evident that the administration was blatantly making shit up.

As far as electoral fraud....it was plainly evident in 2000. Nothing was done by our representatives.

What misconceptions do I have?

Please be specific rather than ABSOLUTELY NONSPECIFIC.

[KittyWampus]

22. Kerry Did NOT Vote For The Iraq War. No One In Congress Did

because that is not what the Resolution was about.

And what little you knew or didn't know before the Invasion is totally irrelevant.

Congress voted to give the President a big stick. They didn't vote for him to take the stick and start beating other countries with it.

[lojasmo]

26. If kerry didn't know what bush was doing, he's a fool.

Giving a big stick to a fucking bully bent on assault is pure folly.

[tjdee]

17. He couldn't even articulate that himself.

I never, ever heard Kerry go "I voted for the president to use force after going to the UN." He may have inserted that somewhere, in a fifteen minute reply to "Did you support going to war or not?" but he failed, consistently, to just answer the friggin question.

[IndianaGreen]

27. When Congress gives someone the authority to do something, it means do it!

For those of you that don't understand the legislative lingo, anytime the Congress votes monies for a defense program, it is only saying it is willing to spend x-amount of dollars for it. It doesn't mean that the Pentagon is authorized to spend the money. The moment Congress votes on the budget authority, that's when the Pentagon can go ahead and spend that money (following the budgetary guidelines of OMB).

The Iraq War Resolution, as it name explicitly indicates, was a war resolution. Even Teddy Kennedy referred to it as a war resolution. Kerry used the word "authority" which was a Beltway way of saying he voted for the war, but let the idiots between the coasts think that he wasn't voting for war.

Kerry's confession that he would have voted for IWR even if he had known then what he knows now was the final nail in his nuanced coffin (this was the same thing that Rahm Emanuel told Russert on MTP this past Sunday, it must be a DLC talking point).

So much for the war thingy, now as to the fraud thingy. Why has Kerry said that voters were disenfranchised, as he told a MLK celebration audience, while at the same time justifying his failure to challenge the election results? Why didn't Kerry join Barbara Boxer in her support of the Congressional Black Caucus's challenge to the Bush Ohio electors?

I think that we can see how Barbara Boxer is more appealing than John Kerry as a Presidential prospect in 2008.

[robbedvoter]

4. uh, Diebold?

[Kota]

5. Bush got away with hiding quite a bit. Kerry's story was

distorted by the swift boat liars and the media for not calling them out.

[NYCGirl]

6. Fascinating article from one of the finest filmmakers.

If anyone hasn't yet seen Morris' The Fog of War, do yourself a big favor and seek it out.

[Ganja Ninja]

7. Why isn't Kerry taking the oath this week instead of Bush?

For me the answer is because MSM outlets like the NY Times have been giving Bush a pass for the last four years. Whats wrong here is that were directed to what the writer believes is what Kerry did wrong.

Meanwhile the world is going to hell in a hand basket because of Bush and the neo-con agenda.

GET OFF YOUR LAZY ASS AND DO YOUR JOB AND QUIT FEEDING US THIS TYPE OF CRAP!

[Q]

9. Some may think it's 'crap'....

...but in a very real sense it's true. Kerry did 'edit'out important aspects of his life...things that could have brought many people to his side. But he came off supporting and not supporting the Iraq war at the same time.

Kerry also has a history as an investigator...exposing the Reagan/Bush operatives in the Iran/Contra affair.

It look as if both Gore and Kerry got suckered by taking the 'play it safe and don't offend the Bush family' advice of the New Democrats.

[Ganja Ninja]

13. We've been pushed into to a war based on lies and deception

and now we're getting advice on what John Kerry did wrong!?!? The country should have been up in arms over all the lies we've been fed instead of re-electing Bush. It's always about what the Democrat(s) did wrong and how the president is such a confident leader with strong public support. It makes me sick reading this pointless crap while our military is being run into the ground and tens or even hundreds die daily in a war for no reason.

[Larkspur]

29. Actually the reason Gore won the popular vote in 2000 was that he

finally ditched the "cautious" style that Kerry hung onto. Gore returned to his populous roots but with Clinton's sex scandal a black cloud over him. it was hard for Gore to get the popular vote in the states he need to win the Electoral College vote.

[blm]

10. And the media also left out IranContra and BCCI and Kerry's 1996 book

on the funding of global terror, The New War.

Ironic that someone complains about missing parts of Kerry and never points out that the media IGNORED decades of Kerry's work.

[NYCGirl]

12. Did Kerry ever speak about these things? Did his campaign

ever make sure the media knew about it? The "media" is lazy, but it is still up to the campaign to make sure these things are mentioned — it's part of its job.

[blm]

16. His consultants let the media set the tone. They weren't interested in

those matters. STUPID. I'd be the first to say the consultants blew it on that.

When Kerry, himself, did refer to those events, the media didn't seem to notice or care.

[robbedvoter]

11. That, AND W stole it.

[radric]

15. Kerry was a bad candidate...

he may have made a fine President but he just doesn't come across all that well. When he needs to make a point he meanders forever instead of getting down to it. He was far to passive and let Bush and his cronies define him instead of fighting back. Has he to this day fought back against the lies the Swift Boat Vets spread around about him? If he has I've not heard of it. Bush is probably the worst President in our history and Kerry couldn't beat him. To me that says a lot about Kerry. I can't imagine Howard Dean taking that abuse in silence.

[KittyWampus]

24. Kerry Came Across Wonderfully To The Hundreds Of Thousands Who

showed up to hear him at rallies and to the millions who voted for him.

Kerry was a bad candidate?

How about, the Corporate Media was stacked against ANY Democratic candidate.

Too bad YOU allowed the Corp. Media to influence YOUR perceptions so thoroughly.

[Larkspur]

28. I listend to Kerry's rally speeches and they were pathetic

People showed up not to hear Kerry but to give Bush the finger.

[EVDebs]

25. ....and airhead that currently needs a phone book to sit in Oval Office

was such a GREAT CANDIDATE. I don't think so. And fighting back against the LIES that the media was telling FOR the SBVF"T" ....we all know who the media wanted.

Well media, you got who YOU wanted, live with it...send Brokaw and everybody else to Baghdad for at least three month. Then we'll see some real campaigning.

[RuleofLaw]

14. What I don't understand is

why the Kerry campaign made no mention of his time as a Senator.

why not promote the fact that he was instrumental in the prosecution of the Ira-Contra scandal and the BCCI scandals and did extensive work on money laundering legislation.

He never replied when Bush said that Kerry had a very anonymous career as a senator.

[cindyw]

18. blah, blah, blah, that's all I hear now..blah, blah, kerry sucks, blah,

blah, blah, Dean is a god, blah, blah, blah, kerry let is down, blah, blah blah, blah, blah..

[lojasmo]

21. Perhaps you're hallucinating....

You should see a doctor if you heard somebody say "Dean is god"

:eyes:

[EVDebs]

23. Better yet NYTimes, ask what Gulf of Tonkin and WMD have in common

Don't get a brain cramp or call up Judith Miller, just come out with it ! They were FABRICATIONS....