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#223167 - 08/03/04 08:00 PM John Kerry - Regular Guy?
Paragon Offline
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As reported on the web:

Here’s the problem with John Kerry: it's not that he's rich, but that he's rich in a very un-American way. His swank has a European air about it.

Case in point: last Friday, the Kerry campaign bus was passing through Newburgh, north of New York, and stopped at the local Wendy's. Elizabeth Edwards, the wife of Kerry's running mate, had told a heartwarming personal anecdote at the Democratic convention about how every anniversary she and her husband celebrate at Wendy's, because on their wedding night it was the only restaurant they could afford to eat at.

As you know, John Edwards's campaign theme is a slice of warmed-over Disraeli: there are "two Americas", one for the rich, one for the poor, and, even though he's part of the former, he wants you to know that he started out in the latter. Friday was the Edwards’s 27th anniversary, so, in keeping with tradition, they hit the Newburgh Wendy's, along with the Kerry’s, campaign mascot Ben Affleck and accompanying press crew.

The photo-op didn't go smoothly. Kerry went over to say hi to some marines, who turned out to be Bush supporters and resented the interruption to their lunch. More telling was Teresa Heinz Kerry. She pointed to the picture of the bowl of chili above the clerk's head: "What's that?" she asked. He explained that it was something called "chili" and she said she'd like to try a bowl. The Senator also ordered a Frosty, a chocolate dessert. They toyed with them after a fashion, and then got back on the bus.

It then emerged that Wendy's had just been an appetizer. The campaign advance team had ordered 19 five-star lunches from the Newburgh Yacht Club for Kerry, Edwards, Affleck and co to be served back on the bus: shrimp vindaloo, grilled diver sea scallops, prosciutto, wrapped stuffed chicken, etc.

So, it turns out John Edwards is right: there are two Americas - one America where folks eat at Wendy's, another America where the elite pass an amusing half-hour slumming among the folks at Wendy's and then chow down on the Newburgh Yacht Club's specials of the day. The Elizabeth Edwards anniversary-at-Wendy's shtick was meant to emphasize her husband's authenticity, but it now looks as inauthentic as Kerry's own blundering "regular guy" routine.

On reflection, I now see there might indeed be something to the idea of a remote privileged class hermetically sealed off from the masses. Unfortunately, John Kerry seems to be the best living exemplar of it. He may not enjoy eating at Wendy's, but his faux lunch order captures the essence of his crowd-working style: chili and Frosty. If I were the Wendy's marketing director, I'd make it the John Kerry Special from now through election day.

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#223168 - 08/03/04 08:04 PM Re: John Kerry - Regular Guy?
HappyGilmore Offline
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Pulling people out of the ditc...
This is too funny. But get ready to be slammed...
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#223169 - 08/03/04 08:45 PM Re: John Kerry - Regular Guy?
MB Guy Offline
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Way, way south.
I really hope that the truth about these two comes out and America sees the "real" people they are.
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#223170 - 08/03/04 09:53 PM Re: John Kerry - Regular Guy?
HRH Dawnie Offline
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So the anniversary thing is just a little tradition and they end up going to a regular restaurant for a real meal? Wow we should shoot these evil people now.

Maybe the Kerry's hadn't been to a Wendy's and didn't know that the chili isn't the best, and the frosty is rather fat. They gave it a shot and didn't spew it out upon tasting it. The marines were Bush supporters? Well it's rather rude to throw that in the faces of the Kerry camp isn't it? I for one wouldn't be rude to George W if he approached me. I'd smile, thank him for his service and call it a day. It would be rude as hell for me to say "You suck, I'm voting democrat".

Geeze, I don't eat at Wendy's either. I guess I'm not a real American either in your books. I like high quality food and don't really like thick cups of icemilk. Paint me evil and send me to France.
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#223171 - 08/03/04 09:57 PM Re: John Kerry - Regular Guy?
MB Guy Offline
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Way, way south.
Quote:

So the anniversary thing is just a little tradition and they end up going to a regular restaurant for a real meal? Wow we should shoot these evil people now.

Maybe the Kerry's hadn't been to a Wendy's and didn't know that the chili isn't the best, and the frosty is rather fat. They gave it a shot and didn't spew it out upon tasting it. The marines were Bush supporters? Well it's rather rude to throw that in the faces of the Kerry camp isn't it? I for one wouldn't be rude to George W if he approached me. I'd smile, thank him for his service and call it a day. It would be rude as hell for me to say "You suck, I'm voting democrat".

Geeze, I don't eat at Wendy's either. I guess I'm not a real American either in your books. I like high quality food and don't really like thick cups of icemilk. Paint me evil and send me to France.




Honestly, I think the point of the story is that the Edwards' couple stated that they dine at Wendy's just like us (you excluded ) normal, average, less-than-millionaires. You don't brag about being and average-Joe (or would that be Average-Ann?). Either way, it sounds like their stories are nearly fictional....and they aren't the average family - they are bazillionaires who want us to think they are average. JMO.
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#223172 - 08/03/04 10:03 PM Re: John Kerry - Regular Guy?
QuestionQuest Offline
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While I don't usually wade into these things, I think that the point here was that they were trying to take on the mantle of "regular folks" and not the country club or yacht club set, but they couldn't bear what many "regular folks" eat, and so had pre-arranged for the yacht club to send them something more suitable for their more rarified palates. Do a lot of politicians due this? Almost certainly. Is it hypocritical? Yes. It would almost adhere more to their credit to be open with the fact that they are (at least the Kerry's) members of the yacht club set. It would certainly be more honest.
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#223173 - 08/03/04 10:09 PM Re: John Kerry - Regular Guy?
HRH Dawnie Offline
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Anchorage Alaska
I'm not always with the yacht club set but I do prefer quality food to crap. If the visit to Wendys were a tradition of friends of mine we'd have done the same thing, stop by, try a snack and then go have a real meal. They didn't do anything rude like spit it out, moan about the fat or throw it away in public. Then they ate decent food. Oh well, I guess it's easier to pick on them for being rich than leave them alone. Carry on
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Dawn Coursey VP/CRA Queen

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#223174 - 08/03/04 10:13 PM Re: John Kerry - Regular Guy?
Jokerman Offline
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Quote:

I for one wouldn't be rude to George W if he approached me. I'd smile, thank him for his service and call it a day. It would be rude as hell for me to say "You suck, I'm voting democrat".




Well of course you wouldn't do that, since, as you told us, you're very independent-minded and haven't made up your mind about for whom to vote. Or maybe Senator Kerry's stirring convention speech convinced you?

Anyway, I don't really care too much about the fact that THK couldn't figure out what a bowl of chili is. (Although the fact that the lunches from the yacht club had been ordered previously points out how phony the image they try to portray is.) It is a tactical mistake for them, and as a political junkie it's fun to read about. But personally, I'd rather debate the issues.

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#223175 - 08/03/04 10:16 PM Re: John Kerry - Regular Guy?
Paragon Offline
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Dawnie: Are you really so thick that you don't even comprehend the meaning of this true story? Now, I realize that you are a liberal down to the bone and may even have ‘liberal’ tattooed on your arm, but you do understand the story, correct?

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#223176 - 08/03/04 10:20 PM Re: John Kerry - Regular Guy?
CRAatBOK Offline

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Further South than I wanna be.
So the Edwards go to Wendy's for their anniversary. I am not voting for their taste in fast food (yuk). So Kerry and the Mrs. doesn't ever go to Wendys, like Dawn said, so what. I couldn't tell you the last time I ate at a Wendys. So the Kerry or whoever decided to buy a nice yacht type dinner that they can well afford, who cares. Are you going to tell me because someone eats well they are not qualified to be president? They decided to use the event of the Edwards' anniversary to reach out to the public - gee, seems like that is a thing called politics and running for office. Now if they had landed on an air craft carrier in flight suits ---
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#223177 - 08/03/04 10:23 PM Re: John Kerry - Regular Guy?
Paragon Offline
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Oh well, I guess it's easier to pick on them for being rich than leave them alone.




Wow, I'm a little taken back - leave them alone? One wants to be President of the United States! I know that you would prefer that this type of photo op goes well for the John's, but they are fair game at every level.

As an aside, do you realize that you look a lot like Tuh-reza, just a little younger?

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#223178 - 08/03/04 10:23 PM Re: John Kerry - Regular Guy?
QuestionQuest Offline
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Well, I'm not going to stand up for the quality of Wendys food. Again, I think that the point is that they were caught trying to send out a phony image. I only brought up the yacht club set because it was, in fact, a yacht club they arraged the meal through. I don't have any problem with where ever they chose to eat, and I really don't care much about this. That said, this was an appearance and no appearance in a presidential campaign is by acident. They were there to send a certain message to prospective voters. Just like the New Hampshire pancake breakfasts in the primaries, the food is probably not that good, but you choke it down to send your message. Again, I don't think this is a big thing. As Jokerman said, a tactical error. They just got caught doing what many politicians probably do, sending phony messages.
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#223179 - 08/03/04 10:31 PM Re: John Kerry - Regular Guy?
HRH Dawnie Offline
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Anchorage Alaska
Oh ya I get it, it’s snobbery through and through. Only the snobbery part is because these folks are rich, so obviously we have to make fun of them at every chance purely due to the fact that they have money.

Couple of lines that point this out:

Here’s the problem with John Kerry: it's not that he's rich, but that he's rich in a very un-American way. His swank has a European air about it.

Yes, he eats good food, how horrible “European” can one get!

Kerry went over to say hi to some marines, who turned out to be Bush supporters and resented the interruption to their lunch.

Rude on the part of the marines. Many folks around here stop by tables of obvious military people and thank them for their service to this country. I’ve yet to see one be rude and brush them off because of their voting choices.

More telling was Teresa Heinz Kerry. She pointed to the picture of the bowl of chili above the clerk's head: "What's that?"

Tell me you’ve never been to a restaurant and wondered what something was. I for one didn’t have a clue what “grits” are and had to ask. So she’s never had chili, e gads the horror!

It then emerged that Wendy's had just been an appetizer. The campaign advance team had ordered 19 five-star lunches from the Newburgh Yacht Club for Kerry, Edwards, Affleck and co to be served back on the bus: shrimp vindaloo, grilled diver sea scallops, prosciutto, wrapped stuffed chicken, etc.

So they pre-order their meals, and they choose good food? This could have easily been the Petroleum Club, Jens, whatever, but a restaurant with good reviews that had the ability to produce a decent meal to go. You spend weeks on a bus and tell me you don’t want to eat some decent food verses the standard restaurant trash. They order in advance to save time, again, huge crime.

He may not enjoy eating at Wendy's, but his faux lunch order captures the essence of his crowd-working style: chili and Frosty.

Did they announce that they do a full LUNCH at Wendy’s or just stop by to remember fondly an old experience? They stopped, had a snack and left.

The other night we went for a walk with the neighbors. We stopped into the Tasty Freeze and ordered ice cream. As we took a couple of bites outside we realized it was pretty bad so we quietly left our picnic table and walked over to a four star restaurant for a treat and some port. My walk was innocent, not a big deal, but basically the same thing. Thank god I don’t have you prejudice republicans watching my every mood! Oh dear…I was walking with republicans…they might tell on me!
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Dawn Coursey VP/CRA Queen

CRA Rating is in...Oh who cares...I'm home with the baby.

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#223180 - 08/03/04 10:37 PM Re: John Kerry - Regular Guy?
HRH Dawnie Offline
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Anchorage Alaska
Quote:

Now if they had landed on an air craft carrier in flight suits ---




Quote:

As an aside, do you realize that you look a lot like Tuh-reza, just a little younger?


An adult would know her name is Teresa. An adult would not make fun of her accent by spelling her name in exaggerated forms. (Very indicative of a strong prejudice) An adult argues about an issue, and would find a better way to make his point than to bring it to this personal level with an attempted insult.

She's quite a bit older than me, but not an unattractive woman, so while you didn’t mean this as a compliment, thank you anyway. I also prefer caviar to French fries and good wine to Coors. This probably makes me a bad person in your book.
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Dawn Coursey VP/CRA Queen

CRA Rating is in...Oh who cares...I'm home with the baby.

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#223181 - 08/03/04 10:42 PM Re: John Kerry - Regular Guy?
QuestionQuest Offline
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I did not intend for my replies to be taken as heating this thread and I hope they did not. I guess that I am just cynical enough to believe that the last three months of both parties campaigns are scripted to the nines. Henceforth I doubt there will be anything that isn't posed. That said, I still think they just got caught with their script showing. No biggie. I think at this point, both candidates are fair game.
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#223182 - 08/03/04 10:42 PM Re: John Kerry - Regular Guy?
Paragon Offline
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So, Kerry has your vote?

I'm really taken back that you do not appear to understand the selling of Kerry/Edwards versus reality that is so clearly outlined within this story. That's not really a problem, as we will save America for you as well as for us. I'm just so pleased that I will personally be cancelling out your vote with my vote.

God Save the United States of America from people like the Kerry's.

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#223183 - 08/03/04 10:49 PM Re: John Kerry - Regular Guy?
HRH Dawnie Offline
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Anchorage Alaska
Well what if they'd done this: Now if they had landed on an air craft carrier in flight suits ---

Bush isn't exactly hurting for cash. They don't live like the standard Texan but we don't feel the need to beat the hell out of them for it now do we?

I don't know who has my vote. I'm still weighing the pros and cons, but I won't be swayed to vote one way or another due to prejudice and bias.
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Dawn Coursey VP/CRA Queen

CRA Rating is in...Oh who cares...I'm home with the baby.

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#223184 - 08/03/04 11:00 PM Re: John Kerry - Regular Guy?
Paragon Offline
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Oh, I think it's known how you will vote. That's fine as your John’s will be on the losing side. Those that intend to vote that have no idea who they will vote for at this point are more than passingly strange people.

But it just goes to show you, in some cases, the only thing that separates us from the animals is our ability to accessorize.

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#223185 - 08/03/04 11:03 PM Re: John Kerry - Regular Guy?
QuestionQuest Offline
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I agree, there is nothing wrong with being well off and they shouldn't be beat up because of it. Their staff does need to be more careful of things like this, though, because this is the political sniping season. I do think that the same thing would have happened if the roles were reversed.
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#223186 - 08/03/04 11:18 PM Re: John Kerry - Regular Guy?
HRH Dawnie Offline
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HRH Dawnie
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Anchorage Alaska
Quote:

Oh, I think it's known how you will vote. That's fine as your John’s will be on the losing side. Those that intend to vote that have no idea who they will vote for at this point are more than passingly strange people.


I'm sorry, you're obviously having a bad day and just wanted some sympathy from folks who agree with your point of view. Ok, because I'm a nice, predictable kind of gal, I say we take those evil caviar eating scum and beat them to a pulp!

Bush has benefits to my state that you are unable to comprehend obviously, because if you understood the issues you'd know that there are concerns which make Bush look good even to a democrat. But in this republican state, the general concensus is that he can't get re-elected. Because of this view folks around here are selling off large assets with the view that taxes will be easier on the wealthy who take gains now, than the wealthy who take gains under Kerry. E gads, republicans who are wealthy! I'd never considered how evil that could be.

As to those who already know their mind, great. I applaud them for their conviction. I for one like to know ALL of the issues and wait until quite close to election day to make a final decision. One never knows what might come out that might change my mind, but if I was set in stone, I'd be making a less informed vote than one that holds out until the end.

Again with that whole "insult" thing. You're far better to let it go, despite the fact that your bad day is making you crabby. It looks childish and is better left for the AOL chatboards than this one.

Animals by the way, are quite liberal. They love everyone until given a reason not to. Novel concept isn't it?
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Dawn Coursey VP/CRA Queen

CRA Rating is in...Oh who cares...I'm home with the baby.

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#223187 - 08/03/04 11:19 PM Re: John Kerry - Regular Guy?
Paragon Offline
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I agree, there is nothing wrong with being well off and they shouldn't be beat up because of it. Their staff does need to be more careful of things like this, though, because this is the political sniping season. I do think that the same thing would have happened if the roles were reversed.




And it should happen. But, Bush is not selling the regular guy routine.

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#223188 - 08/03/04 11:23 PM Re: John Kerry - Regular Guy?
Paragon Offline
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Actually, I'm having a good day - but I'm thinking about you sitting there keying in all the BS, so I've come up with an avatar that is a vision of how you look when posting to a political thread. It will be to the left in a few seconds. Now that is you!

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#223189 - 08/03/04 11:37 PM Re: John Kerry - Regular Guy?
HRH Dawnie Offline
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HRH Dawnie
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Anchorage Alaska
::Reaching down and grabbing Paragon's collar as he slips off the path:: Woops a’daisy, you were sliding down the low road there dear. Lets get a firm balance on the high road and keep it civil You never know what happens when you travel too far down that slippery slope!
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Dawn Coursey VP/CRA Queen

CRA Rating is in...Oh who cares...I'm home with the baby.

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#223190 - 08/03/04 11:41 PM Re: John Kerry - Regular Guy?
Paragon Offline
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Paragon
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Once again, as a moderator - you should not be participating in this type of thread and issuing threats against posters that simply disagree with your opinions is unprofessional, at best, given your thread management position within BOL.

Why not simply place me on your ignore list? That would make me a happy camper.

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#223191 - 08/03/04 11:46 PM Re: John Kerry - Regular Guy?
HRH Dawnie Offline
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Anchorage Alaska
I meant to lighten up the situation with a literal pull up from the low road. I'd erase the threat but I can't find it We've had this discussion before so I'll leave you to finish it on your own. It's just so much nicer to do without all the personal insults. Crazy idea, but I'm goofy that way.
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Dawn Coursey VP/CRA Queen

CRA Rating is in...Oh who cares...I'm home with the baby.

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