Monday, 9 February 2004 - 10:13 AM EST

Name: Liz

I got some Kerry horror stories from the Mass. people I met in NH. Now, I'll admit they were more biased than most, being in NH to work for Dean and all. But, their disgust with Kerry was one of the reasons they all love Dean.

One of the main points of contention: Kerry refused to meet with anyone/have his staff meet with anyone who was against the war. He held a town hall meeting in Mass. and his staff screened people before letting them into the hall.

According to the people I met, this was not the first instance of Kerry's brush-off, just the final straw for many of these old liberals.

Monday, 9 February 2004 - 10:35 AM EST

Name: Liz

P.S. All of your ads are for presidential dolls right now!

Monday, 9 February 2004 - 11:25 AM EST

Name: Marc

John Ellis with more Kerry-bashing:

He's a nightmare of a candidate -- moody, self-important, indecisive, self-righteous, self-important and incredibly thin-skinned. He's also boring -- mind-numbingly, run-out-of-the-room, can't-stand-it-anymore boring. And he's a gloomy bastard. And he's a transparent phony.

Tuesday, 10 February 2004 - 2:41 AM EST

Name: Sean

I was for Kerry when the primaries started, and then subsequently lost interest in the whole race.

With that said, who cares if he's a jerk? Bush used to physically assault people when they talked bad about his daddy(farther back than Iraq, hah) Kudos to the Murdoch-owned Post on the hard hitting story of a heckler that had something said back to him.

I'm not liking his new campaign very much. Too much faux populism and buzzwords such as "the real deal." What the hell is that? Whatever it is it seems to have Bush running scared.

Anyway, apparently the (positive) Karl Rove of the Democratic Party is the architect of the new campaign, and you can see that here.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A50539-2004Jan26.html

Wednesday, 11 February 2004 - 10:30 AM EST

Name: Marc Nelson Jr.

With that said, who cares if he's a jerk?

It matters because Bush would not be president if Al Gore were not such a jerk. Howard Dean might still be in the race if he weren't such a jerk. The vast majority of voters don't think about issues and policies. They make a gut decision on who they like more.

My sister, who doesn't care about politics in the least, had an opinion on Howard Dean. I told her that Liz was going to NH to work for him, and she made a shocked and disgusted face, saying "Why is Liz working for HIM?", like I had told her Liz had joined the American Nazi Party. All based on Dean's scream.

Wednesday, 11 February 2004 - 11:31 AM EST

Name: Tony

To follow up with what Marc said, most research indicates that only about 2% of people make political choices based on a consistent set of ideological beliefs. People generally decide based on their own economic self-interest, and the personality of the candidates running. Beyond mere electability, however, Kerry's jerky antics in and around Boston goes to his genuine dislike and lack of respect for common, everyday Americans. This makes his psuedo-populism all the more insulting and frankly, disgusting.