November 4, 2004
JOHN F**** KERRY:
Dish on campaign trail follies (TRACY CONNOR, 11/04/04, NY DAILY NEWS)
In the biggest fight of his charmed life, John Kerry swung between bewilderment and anger when things didn't go his way on the campaign trial."I can't believe I'm losing to this idiot," the Massachusetts Democrat sighed to a staffer when President Bush's poll numbers surged in April.
"Why the f--- didn't he take it?" he wondered when Republican Sen. John McCain refused to be his running mate a half-dozen times.
"It's a pack of f---ing lies, what they're saying about me," he shouted at an adviser as a group of Swift boat veterans stepped up attacks on his Vietnam War record while his team refused to let him respond.
Those are some of the behind-the-scenes stories from the year-long race for the White House revealed in a special Newsweek report out today. The magazine says Kerry's courtship of McCain to be his vice presidential candidate was far more intense than the public realized.
It started in August 2003, but kicked into high gear after Kerry nailed the nomination. He even offered to expand the veep's role to control defense and foreign policy. "You're out of your mind," McCain told Kerry. "I don't even know if it's constitutional, and it certainly wouldn't sell."
When Gerald Ford's people started saying that was what he was going to get for being on the ticket with Reagan in 1980, the Gipper went to the Convention Hall himself to put an end to the nonsense. Posted by Orrin Judd at November 4, 2004 4:24 PM
Kerry's simply channeling Jon Lovitz channeling Michael Dukakis.
Posted by: Ed Driscoll at November 4, 2004 4:28 PM"I can't believe I'm losing to this idiot," the Massachusetts Democrat sighed to a staffer when President Bush's poll numbers surged in April.
You sure he's not channeling Wile E. Coyote, Genius?
Posted by: Roy Jacobsen at November 4, 2004 4:52 PMSounds like some of the campaign staff who might have other, er...allegances, to different interest groups within the party let this stuff out, in order to make sure the senator has no thoughts about mounting another presidential effort in 2008. (I also would have expected a few nuggets about John Edwards, since he's the more likely candidate, but with his wife's cancer diagnosis, I think any stories will be kept in storage for at least the next couple of weeks).
Posted by: John at November 4, 2004 5:32 PMIf Kerry really expected McCain to be his VP, it only shows a man so out of his depth politically that he was bound to lose.
No sane man would ever abandon the political capital acquired from his own political party to be Vice-President from another. McCain has a chance to be the GOP nomination, he does not have the capital or support in the Democratic Party to do that.
Besides, regardless of who won, he can run 4 years from now. A Kerry-McCain win delays that by 8 years. McCain is already 68. He could conceivably run when he is 72. He cannot realistically win by beginning a Presidency at 76.
Posted by: Chris Durnell at November 4, 2004 6:59 PMIn the fall of 1984, Mondale threw a fit in some hotel, tossing a cigar against the wall and yelling "why can't I get at this guy?"
Sounds like the Democratic left forgot its history.
Of course, had Kerry ever actually subjected himself to a solid interview on the Vietnam questions, his share of the vote would have peaked at around 40%.
Posted by: jim hamlen at November 4, 2004 10:10 PMThere will be some great stuff to come as the various factions settle their scores. Don't worry the Clinonistas will dump all over Edwards. he will be back in Carolina mucking out the pig pens before this blows over.
Posted by: Robert Schwartz at November 5, 2004 3:15 AM