Kerry’s Hog Farmer Challenge
27 May 2006 1:11 pm by Taylor Marsh
Kerry's Hog Farmer Challenge
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Al Gore and John Kerry are new men these days. Gone is the tongue tied Al Gore and his stage fright. John Kerry's inability to make a declarative sentence
is kaput. But since Gore keeps saying he's not running, let's take another look
at John Kerry.
As regular readers know, I was born in Missouri, though I haven't lived their
in decades. But I remember my roots very well. My brother still lives back there
and I've done radio interviews and duked it out with right-wing callers for
years, so I know the turf. It's still the place I think about, along with Nevada,
when I envision a Democrat winning in 2008. If you can make it in Missouri and
Nevada, you can make it anywhere, at least that's my theory, though I'm certainly no Chris Bowers.
… candidates see an uncommon opportunity this November–and in November
of 2008–to win back many “Reagan Democrats,” the voters whom the
party lost to Ronald Reagan a quarter century ago: the white working class,
suburbanites, and Catholics. The collapse of President Bush's popularity …
is working to the Democrats' advantage. Polls show that even on national security–the
issue that has favored Republicans since George McGovern's candidacy in 1972–Republicans
are now no more credible than Democrats.(snip)
… Many liberal Democrats would like to make Bush's record the focus of
the upcoming campaign. Centrist Democrats, though–particularly those running
in states that have cooled to their party–think that something more is needed
this year, and certainly for 2008, when Bush will be retiring. They argue
that their party must speak in language familiar to, among others, the disaffected
hog farmers of Missouri. …Central Casting, by Jeffrey
Goldberg
Goldberg's article in the New Yorker is a good one, though some of the language
makes me crazy. “Centrist” and the “third way” nonsense
is a trap, I believe. Case in point is Hillary Clinton. No one is more centrist
than she is, but everyone thinks she's a liberal, which is total crap. In fact, she's
religious, conservative on some issues and anything but progressive, frankly, but the Republicans,
especially on wingnut radio, have done a number on her. So, perception kills
her in hog country.
This is John Kerry's biggest challenge, too, though for different reasons. The lingering image of 2004, it's got to go and believe it or not, it is.
Ari Berman wrote about “The
New John Kerry” recently (also found in The
Nation). But as Berman notes, he barely polls 3% on MyDD. But he's attacking
it head on, giving one word answers and beauties like this: “Osama
bin Laden is going to die of kidney failure before he's killed by Karl Rove
and his crowd.” That this is a subject that Kerry has been proven
right about doesn't hurt. We did indeed let bin Laden go after Tora Bora, which
Kerry said time and again during the 2004 election. It was Kerry who talked
about the vulnerability of our ports, too. Dubai ring a bell?
Kerry's diary
on DailyKos actually caught him straight talking: “P.S. I want you all to
know that I’m reading your many comments. My wife Teresa reads blogs passionately,
and I follow blogs too, and I’m glad I can be a part of this – and
frankly I’m not worried about taking some slings and arrows along the
way. I’ve faced worse! So keep the comments coming — good, bad, hopefully
not indifferent.” He got over 1,200 comments.
Kerry's speech on the 35th anniversary of his
testimony in front of the Senate was a four alarmer.
The Boston Globe recently hailed this the time of “John
Kerry's Encore.” He can only hope.
But yesterday he did something even more important. He
stood up against Judge Kavanaugh, then did another blog about the judicial
consequences of Bush's picks. It will be a long time before we forget he stood up against Alito, however belated it was and let's hope he's learned that you don't make a stand from Davos.
Yet the reality remains that pig farmers don't surf the web to pick their
presidents. It's a reminder of 2004 and that you also can't go hunting and not come
back carrying your own kill. At least he's not a drive-by hunter like Deadeye. And no, you don't have to dig NASCAR, but you should respect and be able to reach out to the people who do.
John Kerry has come a long way, with a long way to
go, but 2008 is a long way off. At least he's getting a second look. It's
a start.
