Another week brings another empty NY Times Kerry-bashing story. This campaign season, these front-page pieces have alternated between two themes: "Kerry is a rich elitist" and "Kerry doesn't talk enough about religion and values".
The latest is an example of the first variety. It's so larded with heavy-handed editorial commentary, you'd be forgiven for thinking it was a reprint from Rupert Murdoch's NY Post:
In an election driven in large part by the candidates' personalities, that extraordinary wealth and the air of privilege Mr. Kerry seems to carry with him have often been a stumbling block, exacerbating the perception that he is an aloof man whose elite tastes separate him from the concerns of ordinary people. ...
...Mr. Kerry's elitist reputation goes deeper than his wife's fortune, now estimated at $1 billion. Mr. Bush, despite his own family's legacy of wealth and political power, manages to come off as a simple-hearted Texan who likes to clear brush and go bass fishing in his spare time, a man whose indulgences are barbecue and nonalcoholic beer.
Mr. Kerry, by contrast, exudes a Brahmin reserve. His accent is no longer the upper-class drawl of his youth, but his soft vowels and formal diction still hint at a privileged lineage. On the campaign trail, he sometimes calls people "man,'' a habit that may grow from his 1960's youth but now sounds like a strained effort to connect with ordinary folk.
Mr. Kerry and his wife are also cursed with the kind of good taste that suggests old money. ...
...Mr. Kerry has never been able to escape the aroma of class privilege that clings to him.
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