LIKE "THE CAVEMAN" WITHOUT SONGS:

Kerry personally vulnerable (Tony Blankley, March 31, 2004, Jewish World Review)

[W]hat may become the enduring exemplar of the Kerry style was his spontaneous expletive on the ski slopes when his Secret Service guard bumped into him by accident (while guarding him): "I don't fall down. The S.O.B. knocked me over." To instinctively say that about the man who is sworn to put himself between Kerry and a bullet, paints a lasting and contemptible character portrait. Contrast that with what Ronald Reagan said shortly after he was shot: "Honey, I forgot to duck." It was at that moment that 60 percent of the American public fell permanently in love with the Gipper. As Ernest Hemmingway put it in another time, that is grace under pressure — and Kerry doesn't have it.

The second emerging liability is the matter of Senator Kerry's health and vigor. Few people commented adversely when Mr. Kerry had his cancer operation last year. Most otherwise healthy men go on to fully active lives after such a successful operation. But some people began to notice when he took a week off to relax and "re-charge his batteries" at his wife's ski lodge — just when the campaign was heating up and he had not yet recovered from his foolish foreign leaders claim. His staff had to explain that he gets verbally sloppy when he gets tired. (Of course, the presidency is a darned tiring job 365 days a year.)

Now comes the unrelated matter of an operation to repair a torn shoulder tendon, an injury that the Kerry campaign says he incurred while on a campaign bus in January. The post-operative period will again take him out of action for "three or four days." Of such episodes, impressions begin to form. [...]

The American public has a growing experience with incomplete, protective or misleading statements by the doctors of politicians and other celebrities. So long as Mr. Kerry refuses to permit the release of his military records relating to his war injuries and health, as well as his current and comprehensive medical records, a curious American public will have to judge the senator's physical fitness for the presidency by publicly available evidence, speculation and rumor. It's Kerry's own fault if false rumors affect his candidacy.

He is already on record as lying about his cancer condition last year — first denying the condition, then admitting it when the fact could not be avoided. Even The Washington Post yesterday reported that: "Kerry, 60, who appeared athletic and robust during his recent skiing holiday, has nonetheless faced medical issues in the past year that have raised questions about his overall health." When the Washington Post puts its corporate teeth into a candidate on a personal matter — that's not good news for the politician.

In 2000, everyone knew that George W. Bush had some skeletons in his closet that he preferred not come out--anyone who drinks to excess will inevitably have such. By not dealing with the embarrassment early--even if for understandable reasons--he left himself vulnerable, at the mercy of the media and his opponents, and when the old DUI charge came out so close to Election Day it cost him the popular vote and nearly the electoral.

The fundamentals of this race make it nearly unwinnable for Mr. Kerry--Northeastern liberal sitting senator vs. popular incumbent during economic boom--but if he doesn't get out in front of stories like this then Mr. Blankley is correct about his candidacy's potential for flophood.

Posted by Orrin Judd at March 31, 2004 9:48 AM