Former NY Times editor hammers Kerry

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Raines on Kerry : 'Lurch Gone to Choate'

By E&P Staff

Published: June 02, 2004

NEW YORK --  Former New York Times Executive Editor Howell Raines, on the hot seat again as controversy over the newspaper's Iraq coverage during his tenure continues to swirl, has written a column for The Guardian in London today on John Kerry that concludes that he "has to get better as a candidate." One problem, according to Raines: Kerry is "pompous" and "ponderous."

He also declared that Kerry has an "Addams Family" face--"as if Lurch had gone to Choate."

Where Bill Clinton's most famous campaign message was, "It's the economy stupid," Kerry's seems to be, according to Raines, "It's the war, sort of, and it's the economy, maybe."

Raines believes Kerry can win "in a campaign that's going to become the political equivalent of a street fight" but every time he talks to "a reporter who has covered him, new doubts creep in about his ability to connect with voters...

...Kerry radiates the feeling that he is entitled to his sense of entitlement...The TV camera is an x-ray for picking up attitudinal truths, and Kerry's lantern jaw and Addams Family face somehow reinforce the message that this guy has passed from ponderous to pompous and is so accustomed to privilege that he doesn't have to worry about looking goofy. It's as if Lurch had gone to Choate...

..."Kerry has to face the fact that even though the incumbent looks like Goofy when he smirks, he's going to win unless Kerry comes up with something to say. To stay 'on message' you have to have one."

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/ne...t_id=1000523125