Thursday, February 2, 2006

GOING UPRIVER, OR UP THE CREEK? — by Steve Nadis

Last night, I watched a depressing documentary, “Going Upriver: The Long War of John Kerry.” What was depressing about it to me was that in the late-1960s, when John Kerry was galvanizing the antiwar movement (anti the Vietnam War, that is), he was really charismatic. He spoke in simple, forceful, and direct terms. Richard Nixon and his aide John Haldeman were scared of him. Haldeman said Kerry’s performance before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee was very impressive: “He looks like a Kennedy, he talks like a Kennedy, and he acts like a Kennedy.”

But 35 years have taken a toll on John Kerry. When he ran for president in 2004, he rarely seemed charismatic. Instead of the “simple, forceful, and direct terms” of his youth, his responses tended to be nuanced, complex, and sometimes contradictory. If he had acted like the Kerry of 1969, I have no doubt he would have beaten Bush in the election.

When he spoke about our dubious involvement in Vietnam before the Senate committee all those years ago, Kerry said: “How do you ask someone to be the last person to die for a mistake?” The same question, of course, could be asked about our current engagement in Iraq. The only question then would be which “mistake” are we referring to? Putting Bush in office in 2000 or reelecting him in 2004 after the whole world saw what a disaster he was?

Posted by Snake in 22:33:48
Comments

10 Responses

  1. Windfall Woman says:
    February 2, 2006 at 6:32 pm

    There are no good choices any more. The idiot versus the non-commital drone…….it was barely worth going to the polls.

  2. Anonymous says:
    February 2, 2006 at 7:16 pm

    ZARDOZ SAYS:

    ITS HIS DIET ,

    SHOULD OF CHANGED THE KETCHUP.

    ======ZARDOZ

  3. Snake says:
    February 2, 2006 at 11:55 pm

    Now Z, let’s not malign my favorite vegetable. And WFW, this is a rare instance where we disagree. Maybe it was hard to get fired up about voting for Kerry last time, but it was definitely worth doing though, obviously, not enough people did.

  4. Flubberwinkle says:
    February 3, 2006 at 3:18 am

    35 years in politics can take their toll on you.
    You start off a little fish fighting the mighty sharks, and end up losing your incentive to “swim” heartily in the whirlpool of politics. It’s a pity that Kerry of ‘69 is no longer.

  5. Snake says:
    February 3, 2006 at 7:23 am

    A pity indeed, FW. President Kerry would have a nice ring right about now…

  6. Anonymous says:
    February 3, 2006 at 7:58 am

    ZARDOZ SAYS:

    WELL MAYBE ENOUGH PEOPLE DID VOTE FOR HIM,

    BUT WASNT JUST ENOUGH PEOPLE TO COUNT THE VOTES.

    ———ZARDOZ

  7. Snake says:
    February 3, 2006 at 9:21 am

    There have definitely been “improprieties” (to put it mildly) the last two elections…

  8. gatemouth says:
    February 3, 2006 at 9:30 am

    It’s really too bad he’s such a dog as a candidate, because I had the best campaign slogan picked out for him:

    “John Kerry: when you Kerry ’nuff to elect the very best”

  9. Anonymous says:
    February 3, 2006 at 9:37 am

    zardoz says:

    read mr AL GORE is doing a johnny appleseed tour
    has got some visuals going around telling everyone that the enviroment is at risk , can you still
    say those things..? he wouldnt be thinking
    about running again , i kinda liked him better over
    KERRY , besides the fact hes a democrat i think he cares,

    zardoz

  10. Snake says:
    February 3, 2006 at 12:22 pm

    Hi Z — I don’t get Gore at all. When he ran against Bush in 2000, he was a real stiff. After he lost, he became incredibly outspoken & forceful. Where was that during the campaign?

    Hang onto that one, Gatemouth. It will make a great BUMPER STICKER if/when Kerry tries to give it another whirl (not that I necessarily think that would be a good idea).

Leave a Reply