The Daily Howler picks up on two articles describing John Kerry's Father's Day weekend in Nantucket, one by Jodi Wilogren of the New York Times and one by Nedra Pickler of the Associated Press.
If you want the basic gist of these articles, it is this: John Kerry is rich. Very rich. Most Americans are not rich. George Bush may be rich, but his ranch is hot and probably wasn't very expensive. Besides, when he's there, he works hard clearing brush. He doesn't kite surf, whatever that is.
Some truly amazing paragraphs:
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"The wind died," Mr. Kerry, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, told reporters as he cruised by on the 32-foot Contender, a gentleman's fishing vessel said to cost about $150,000.
--snip--
Mr. Kerry and his family did dine out Saturday night at the Pearl, where sauteed yuzu-dusted day boat sea scallops go for $36, with his fellow senator from Massachusetts, Edward M. Kennedy, his wife, Vicki, and her parents. But on Sunday afternoon, he canceled a beachside brunch at one of the island's most expensive restaurants, with aides explaining that his two adult daughters preferred a quiet meal at home.
--snip--
Mr. Kerry has been coming here regularly since at least 1995, when he married the ketchup heiress Teresa Heinz at the three-story, five-bedroom house she owns on Brant Point, where the clothing designer Tommy Hilfiger also has a home and H. Wayne Huizenga, the owner of the Miami Dolphins, recently sold one. Valued at $9 million in 1995, the house...has a large screened-in porch, decorative columns, and a green-and-white love-seat swing on its sandy front lawn.
--snip--
Though some Democrats were concerned about the image of their wealthy candidate frolicking among the fabulously wealthy here on an island where the average home sells for $1.4 million, Mr. Kerry insisted not only on coming, but also on trying to kite-surf, a dangerous combination of waterskiing and parasailing with basic equipment costing about $2,500.
--snip--
The weekend was Mr. Kerry's first real holiday since the week he spent at his wife's Sun Valley, Idaho, home in March, where he was widely photographed snowboarding. It was reminiscent of President Bill Clinton's vacations in borrowed houses on nearby Martha's Vineyard, and a sharp contrast to President Bush's frequent brush-clearing forays on his sweltering ranch in Crawford, Tex.
And if you think that's bad, check out Pickler's article, headlined -- I'm not kidding -- Kerry pauses to enjoy weekend of wealth and sub-headlined -- still not kidding -- The senator's support of programs for the poor contrasts with his affluent background.
Kerry is a rich man who promotes the Democratic ideal that government should do more to help the poor.
He moves between both worlds, spending the past week traveling to downtrodden places like South-side Columbus, Ohio, and the affluent island playground of Nantucket.
Not since President Kennedy have Democrats been prepared to nominate a man of such riches. President Clinton didn't own a home until he left the White House and President Carter was a peanut farmer. Both grew up poor in the South, as did President Johnson before them.
Kerry was educated at boarding school in Europe, prep school in New England and at Yale. He married two wealthy women and his second wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry, is heir to the $500 million Heinz food fortune.
Like Kerry, President Bush is a Yale graduate who has benefited from his wealth and family connections. But Bush spends his down time trying to be more of an everyman, preferring to spend vacations at his Texas ranch clearing brush.
"Most Americans don't sit in Martha's Vineyard, swilling white wine," he said at the ranch two years ago.
Why yes, George, that's true. Most Americans also don't get into Yale despite poor grades, have large energy coorporations and Major League Baseball teams given to them on a silver platter or get out of service in a war because they have important daddies. Jerk. Oh, also, most Americans didn't vote for your punk ass.
And then there's this:
Still, Kerry doesn't hide his membership as one of America's moneyed elite.
Still? What is that "Still?" He wants to increase the share of taxes paid by the wealthy and reduce the burden on the poor, not to mention giving everyone health care and education, but, "Still," he doesn't hide his wealth. The word "still" here implies a relationship between the two things. I guess the relationship she means is that rich people, even those who seek to help the less fortunate by devoting their entire lives to public service, are supposed to be liars. They're supposed to act like they're just like everyone else, staging photo ops showing how "average" they are. What is the matter with John Kerry? He seems like he's going around honestly being himself. Is that really a quality we want in a president?
