No blarney: Kerry to pass up St. Patricks Day roast
By Steve Leblanc, Associated Press, 3/12/2003 16:22
BOSTON (AP) Maybe the doctors missed John Kerry's ''aloof gland'' after all.
It's jabs like that that are sure to fly at this year's St. Patrick's Day Breakfast, an annual rite of passage for Massachusetts pols and one that Kerry has decided to take a pass on just as he's been ''outed'' as not Irish after all.
It's a decision that is playing into Kerry's reputation for standoffishness.
When he announced his prostate surgery last month, Kerry referred to that perception, joking that doctors were going to remove his ''aloof gland.''
Mix in recent newspaper reports about Kerry's ethnic heritage which dispelled long held beliefs that he had Irish roots and it's all adding up to a most-certain caustic roast at Kerry's expense at the annual ribald event.
''The last thing you want to be is the last story in the news before the roast,'' said Lou DiNatale, a Democratic policy analyst at the University of Massachusetts. ''You want to get in there and tough it out and knock it down, but there's always the danger of someone getting a wicked one-liner off on you.''
Many Massachusetts voters, long accustomed to politicians with Irish surnames, have assumed Kerry also had Irish roots. But a recent newspaper report exposed that Kerry's own background includes a grandfather born to Jewish parents in what was then Austria, but no Irish ancestors.
Kerry has said he never tried to mislead anyone about his background, and never claimed Irish heritage. He said he's unable to make it to this year's roast because he is continuing to recuperate from the surgery and because of demands from his presidential campaign.
Kerry's absence could backfire, according to state Sen. Jack Hart, who is hosting this year's breakfast.
''If he were to show up and make fun of himself, people would enjoy that. Self-deprecating humor is so important in this business,'' he said.
Kerry aides note that Kerry has appeared at the breakfast in the past, including a 1996 visit where he jousted and sang songs with then-Massachusetts Gov. William Weld, a political rival.
''Anyone who has witnessed the self-deprecating antics of John Kerry and Bill Weld at these breakfasts knows that John Kerry would have loved to be in Southie on Sunday to laugh at himself in the face of what will surely be some good-natured ribbing,'' said Kerry spokesman Kyle Sullivan.
Kerry will be attending a similar St. Patrick's roast in Manchester, N.H., next week, Sullivan said.
For half a century, the St. Patricks Day roast in the working class Irish enclave of South Boston, has been given novice and veteran pols a chance to test their quip quotient, endure verbal elbow-jabs and, hopefully, give as good as they get.
Weld, a Republican with deep Yankee roots, endeared himself to the largely Democratic crowd by mocking his wealth and any perceived ''Boston Brahmin'' snootiness.
Still, the experience can be daunting. Pols without the gift of gab have even resorted to hiring professional joke-writers.
''It's all in good fun. It's lighthearted banter,'' Hart said.
Over the years the breakfast, a throwback to Boston's rough and tumble political heydey, has played host to local and national heavyweights, from House Speaker Thomas ''Tip'' O'Neill to Vice President Al Gore.
President Reagan and the first President Bush phoned in their jokes. Last year, the current President Bush also made a surprise phone call.
In 1996, President Clinton joked about the backgrounds of Kerry and Weld. Kerry, whose middle name is ''Forbes'' is married to Teresa Heinz, who took over the Heinz ketchup fortune when her husband, Pennsylvania Sen. John Heinz III died. Weld's wife is the former Susan Roosevelt.
''Massachusetts is the one place in America that class warfare is still alive and well,'' Clinton quipped over the phone. ''You've got the Forbeses and the Kerrys and the Heinzes against the Welds and the Roosevelts. I like that. That's real class warfare.'' |
