The side of Kerry the press rarely sees (or won't talk much about)

[blm]

This Globe columnist is one of their rightwingers. The article is an oddity for him as he usually dumps on Kerry with impunity. I wonder if he's been feeling somewhat guilty lately?

http://www.boston.com/news/politics/president/articles/2004/04/06/dont_box_him_in/

>>>>>
Still, a couple of years ago, I found myself on a rainy winter afternoon in a shuttered variety store on the outskirts of downtown Lawrence. Inside, the few shelves were stocked with cans of beans and jars of coffee. The longtime storekeeper, Frank Biongorno, was suffering a broken heart. His wife had recently died, and Bongi, as everyone knew him, wouldn't walk downstairs from his apartment to run the store ever again.

As his nephew showed me around, he casually mentioned that John Kerry used to stop by from time to time to have dinner with Bongi and his wife at their kitchen table upstairs.

John Kerry? The man in the blue tailored suits? From Louisburg Square? Are you sure?
>>>>>>>

[DAGDA56]

1. These are the kind of stories that will win it for Kerry...

...and I suspect there are alot more of them.

[cally]

2. Thanks for posting that

I'm saving that one.

[sangha]

3. More proof that he's a genuine American hero

.

[lucidmadman]

4. Thank you...

...I'm sending that one around...

[JI7]

5. those who know John Kerry

love him.

[Imalittleteapot]

6. Thanks for a reminder that Kerry

IS a kind person - a hero to many.

[bobbieinok]

7. do note all the 'necessary' negatives about Kerry in the article

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

8. His "right" side?

;)

[flpoljunkie]

9. Thanks, blm.

I wrote and thanked him for this article. It was quite moving. Am sure you know that Mary McGrory, his cousin, died this week. She was one of my favorite liberal columnists over the years.

[JI7]

12. did you hear

kerry give that very nice tribute to mary mcgrory in his speech and where he took questions from the media a few days ago ? it was great, i loved where he talked about her making it on nixon's enemies list and how that was an honor to her. kerry himself said the same thing once.

[pscot]

10. Thanks

I needed that.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

11. Man, what a story:

"....Kerry was leaving one of those overstaged campaign events with unemployed workers -- candidate's message, "I care" -- when he happened across a father and daughter in the crowd. His eyes lit up. He hugged her, and they talked intensely for many minutes.

The father was Steven A. Tolman, a state senator and part of the Tolman brothers political team, two good guys fighting on behalf of people who never seem to get as much as they need. Back in 1996, Tolman, then a state representative, worked on Kerry's successful reelection campaign against Bill Weld. In the last month of the race, Tolman's 11-year-old daughter, Victoria, fell ill. She first lost use of her legs, then lost all motor control. She ended up in Franciscan Children's Hospital for 2 1/2 months.

The morning after he won the biggest campaign of his career, Kerry showed up in Victoria's room by 9:30. He was dressed casually, accompanied only by his wife. They came unannounced, sat on the edge of Victoria's bed for a long while, and then visited with other patients. The only cameras were held by parents.

Last Wednesday, with the national press corps in tow and a crush of locals vying for a moment's time, Kerry spied Tolman's daughter standing among the pols. He had seen her just one other time since that morning in the hospital seven years ago, when she was a frightened girl unable to move. She's now a fully functioning young woman of 18, having waged a long battle against a disease that doctors still don't understand. She attends college at night. It took Kerry maybe a fraction of a second, but he exclaimed, "Victoria," a question as well as an answer, and leaned in for a hug. They talked of her recovery and her schoolwork. Tolman, fully aware of the good and the bad of John Kerry, was floored. "It was genuine," he said...."