John Kerry's public problem

This is my personal opinion and observation.

We are a society that doesn't want to think-

Doesn't want to stop and have to really DIGEST things.

We want-
fast food

SOUND BITES

instant everything
easy fixes

SOUND BITES

simple answers
superficial reality

SOUND BITES

to 'feel good' even when we are doing wrong
false bravado

SOUND BITES

justification for our worst traits
someone who says they are never wrong

SOUND BITES

We want to be sold a bill of goods, and when the reality that what we have bought into is nothing but crap, we want someone else to come along with quick sound bites, people who never ask us to examine our own role in why we are screwing up our lives and the world-

John Kerry is a very intelligent, compassionate, generous, humble man- he never claimed perfection- he didn't give people the 'feel good' answers that fed the 'revenge' and 'hate' mentality that lives in all of us- He didn't give back shit for shit- (swift-butthole surfing)

He believed we would/could/should actually slow down, listen, and think- and God knows, America isn't gonna go back to having to wait for anything. Or spend our precious 'time' on introspection.

(I apologize for preaching to the choir here, but * was marketed with sound bites, arrogance, and feeding the worst parts of who 'we' are- and that, along with pulling election booth strings bought us this rotten harvest)

I agree with everything you said. I wish I could be so eloquent.:thumbsup:

A lot of people I heard talking about kerry wasn't the fact that he flip flopped or didn't deliver the easier answer. He seemed kind of out of touch. From the way he spoke on issues, it seemed like he didn't need to deal with the problems he wanted to help. Not to say bush did, but I think people like bill clinton who really seemed to have a form of empathy and seemed more lively to the people's plight did better for just that reason. Why did america get so bent out of shape? Most couldn't care that he lied to the US people (barring idiot republicans), but it seemed almost like a betrayal to the guy we thought we could trust. The danger with people like bush is his chronies know they can't trust him -- but they do anyway. A double standard of idiocy that can put a dent in our elections.

He seemed to gain more popularity when john edwards was on the ticket, and edwards had that kind of people person charisma.

younger (or more with it) generation can't go five minutes without being on a cell phone or getting an instant message, when will we ever get back to discourse?

he has such a "sadsack" face; he just doesn't make people feel warm and fuzzy all over. Most people aren't very intelligent so they don't look for intelligence in their leaders, which is really a sad fact. I agree with your comments; most of Americans are so shallow they can't/won't think beyond the next 10 minutes.

My 20 year old daughter thinks he's hot, for an old guy. Just because he strikes you that way, doesn't mean he strikes other people that way. So what's the point in repeating shit?

I had to struggle AGAINST finding his outward appearance reason to support him- It wasn't easy- Lincoln had quite the mug- What I saw in JK was honesty- realness- humanity- Not a cardboard cut out face-
not the baby-face innocence-

He's lived some really sad times- it shows, and he isn't prettying up-
I liked that about Dean too, and Bill Bradley, and many of the other not so 'pretty faces'-

But some of the best books have worn covers- actually many of the best ones do- and the worn places are endearing. Because it proves they are REAL.

thanks tho-
gotta go offline- hope to return soon and reply to others.

I think he has a strong, expressive face. And I think he is very handsome...striking, in fact. But that isn't why I like him. I like his intelligence, and his spirituality and sensitivity.

MOST Americans want somebody who looks like a movie star, although I think they really messed up with Bush. ha I would much rather have a beer with Kerry than Bush, but MOST Americans thought they would rather sip suds with Bush - just shows how wrong people can be.

He is HOT..Hot..Hot!

(Like sandnsea...my new voter says the same thing.)

I think he not only is strikingly handsome, his face is very expressive, and I just love his smile.

I would feel so much more safe and protected if he were president instead of the chimpmeister.

I agree that Kerry does not try to simplify or dumb down the issues. I thought he did pretty well in some of the debates. But even among engaged, thinking audiences, delivery matters.

Bill Clinton could also discuss issues without dumbing them down, but in a compelling way. Kerry sometimes gets caught up in "Senate speak" which is its own obfuscating and indirect way of speaking and Clinton never did that (except maybe, "it depends on what the meaning of is, is").

Gore used to try to talk down to audiences. He was once described as addressing the nation as though we are all learning disabled 14 year olds, but he has radically changed his speaking style.

The plainest speaking Democrat today is Howard Dean, and the plainest speaking Republican today is John McCain, and that's why they are both popular, whatever the actual content of what they are saying.

truer words have never been spoken.

sound bite. lol lol

i too have learned,
soundbite

lol

cause anything more is jsut too much

i would listen to kerry speeches when they would actually put it on tv, generally cspan, once msnbc. yes it was long and drawn out and dry. it was a plan, for our future, for what kerry wanted to do for us. but people could/wouldnt/didnt bother to listen. too boring.

they still say, too boring.

surely we are more capable as a people than this. we can sit for twenty minutes, focus, and listen

What a sad commentary on the state of our society.

You hit the nail on the head.

Recommended and :kick:

The "average" American is an idiot with a short attention span who can't wrap his mind around a complex thought and lacks the patience to listen to anything that can't be summed up in five seconds. You want to reachthe "average" American voter, you need to use words of one syllable and make blatant appeals to base emotion. God forbid they should actually have to THINK.

certainly trying and in many instances succeeding in being more to the point.

How about using short words like "yes" and "no" and election "theft" instead of "fraud"...Maybe then, stupid me would understand.
And, one more question: why are all his little fans so scared about the upcoming vote to withdraw from Iraq?

Sound bites? First you have turn off the RE echo chamber that will NOT give anyone the benefit of that kind of popular sloganeering. They control the process, the quality and spin repetition that is the very hallmark of sound bite "genius". You have to do more than be more clever(we are) more honest(by default) and more memorable(the dumb method is reiteration and cheerleaders and parrots galore). You have to take off the shackles of a national swindle: the national media.

:applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause:

News is a for-profit industry in America. Their obligation is not to the truth, or the facts, or to the public good, or even to the well-being of America, but rather to their shareholders, advertisers, and owners. Like any capitalists, they market what sells. And sensation sells. Sex sells. Scandal sells. Bright, flashy colors and graphs sell. Instant gratification sells. Reason, intelligence, thought, wisdom, compassion - all the qualities that are necessary in a good leader, in other words - they don't sell. Not flashy enough. It won't reap the same profit margin.

This is why we see the punditocracy. Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, all the talking heads - none of it is designed to actually enlighten about the issues, or provide meaningful political debate. It's controversial, antagonistic, brutal - like a train wreck, it makes you queasy, but yet you can't turn away. In other words, it's a ratings bonanza. So the proliferation of sound bite politics continues. And I may get flamed for it, but Michael Moore is cut from the same cloth, which is a good and bad thing. He knows how to get attention in the modern media climate, and that is to be as obnoxious and controversial as possible. That is why more Americans have heard of Michael Moore than any other noted liberal commentator.

If John Kerry had been alive 150 years ago, he would have flourished. Those were the days - the days of the famous Lincoln-Douglas debates - when America EXPECTED their leaders to be articulate, intellgent, and wise. Today, Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas would be run out of politics. Abe, see, he doesn't have the right face for TV. Not charismatic enough. And Steve, well - you're too short. Sorry.

This infotainment virus is eating away at the soul of our vibrant democratic tradition. If we live in an age when such a stupendously talented, intelligent, courageous, and compassionate man as John Kerry is not taken seriously because he is TOO intelligent and reasonable for our belligerent, inattentive, violence-driven nation, then America is in its last throes. Bread and circuses, indeed.

Great post.

We need CONFIRMATION of what we've heard. After another politico changes the subject, voters don't know if the opposing talker somehow refuted it. Statments need repeating.

. Bumper stickers stay on cars, and repeat as they are seen each day. That's why we like bumper sticker size sayings.
. Today, Kerry and Murtha repeated the "Cheney is a five-time-deferment criticizer. Cheney's statement was short enough that we can realize that he did not answer this. Result: IT'S TRUE with high level of confidence. (We need this to happen more.)
. Short answers, sound bites, get repeated more often. That's why we like 'em.

It's not that Kerry is too dogged-faced, or that Gore is too stiff, it's that we don't hear the so-called truth they speak ... repeated. Because the WE we need to reach are the WE who swing their votes because they don't have the time to memorize long speaches and verify each point when some opposing jerk speaks politisleaze.

Don us for wanting things fast and easy, but, we are all busy.