Mens Journal Article on Kerry from July interesting:
The article was mostly a personal look at Kerry and a description of his hobbies (riding his Harley, playing ice hockey, sail boarding). It also touched on his Vietnam experience and how that experience affected him for the rest of his life.
There were two interesting things revealed in the article that I did not know previously. One is his close friendship with John McCain. Here is a hand-typed quote from the article:
The partnership [between Kerry and McCain] is so tight, in fact, that insiders in both camps are speculating about the pair teaming for a 2004 presidential ticket, according to a source close to the buzz -- even without McCain switching parties, as Beltway rumors have previously hinted. As one well-placed Democratic strategist says "Kerry and McCain together would form an almost nonpartisan 'unity ticket' that would keep the attention on Vietnam heroics, something sorely lacking in both Bush and Cheney." Mind you, the move wouldn't be wholly unprecedented; at the height of the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln, a Republican, tapped Democrat Andrew Johnson for a running mate. When I [MJ reporter Jonathan Miles] ask Kerry about the prospect, he doesn't nix it. "I've seen enough in my life to know tomorrow can be a completely different world from today, and I think John McCain would tell you the same thing," he says. "I wouldn't rule out or rule in most anything, other than you learn to do what feels right in your gut." And although a McCain advisor dismisses the idea as "summertime chatter," McCain recently shouted, "Kerry for President," as he was leaving a Washington luncheon in their honor -- perhaps a clue, or perhaps a glib wisecrack
Wow. If Kerry and McCain ran together in 2004, I don't see how they could be beat by Bush and Cheney. All the "Massachusetts Liberal" gobbledygook that the GOP would try to hang on Kerry would vanish, especially if McCain did not change parties. And, oh boy, what a way for McCain to get a bit of sweet political revenge for Bush's below the belt campaign tactics in the 2000 primary!
John McCain is one of those Republicans who, while I don't agree with everything he says, I respect and, to be quite honest, admire a great deal. I have to admit, as a left-leaning dude, I would be very excited by this presidential ticket. I wager that a lot of your more centrist Democrats and Republicans would be as well.
Let me be the first to say Kerry/McCain in 2004! |
