| Submit your comments on this article | |
| Home Front: Politix | |
| "Kerry Fever" breaks out in Tampa | |
| 2004-06-04 | |
| "The Prowler" at The American Spectator. EFL. Perhaps even Sen. John Kerry is beginning to sense the total lack of enthusiasm for his candidacy. Kerry seemed alarmed by the complete absence of applause, or other audience interaction, he was receiving from a small crowd in Tampa, Florida, on Wednesday. Kerry was there to accept the endorsement of a national union of emergency first responders, and to hold a "conversation" with local residents about his plans for protecting the nation from bio-terror attacks. On several occasions, Kerry paused, seemingly expecting applause for his lines. For example, at one point he said, "I will do what I think is best for the country," then waited for applause that only developed after one of his advance staffers began leading a weak round of applause. His lukewarm reception was so bad that Kerry lost his cool, telling his audience, "I know you don’t want to be here anymore."
Reminds your humble narrator of Bill Clinton’s nominating speech for Mike "Tank Commander" Dukakis at the ’88 Democratic convention. It was a long, droning, interminable mess. (Clinton is a good speechmaker today, but he was still learning the craft back then.) The #1 applause line: "In conclusion, . . . !" | |
| Posted by:Mike |
| #13 how assured Mondale was of victory... Then reality must of sunk in because the final state-by-state poll on ABC had: Reagan 525, Mondale 3 (DC of course) too-close-to-call 10 (Mondale's home state of MN which he ended up winning by 2500 votes.) I remembered looking at that and was surprised myself. |
| Posted by: BigEd 2004-06-04 1:44:27 PM |
| #12 mhw: I have an old copy of Harper's from 1984, which I saved because there was a good article in it on the prospects of a Soviet invasion of West Germany. (I played a lot of 1:285-scale Micro-Armor tank battles back then.) It includes a Nicholas Von Hoffman essay on how Reagan's fanatic conservatism and cruel disregard for the poor had all but assured that Fritz Mondale would be our 41st president. So there was at least some punditry in that direction back then. |
| Posted by: Mike 2004-06-04 1:15:45 PM |
| #11 If this is the kind of response our campaign is getting elsewhere, we’re dead. This was awful. He was awful." Yeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrggghhh! |
| Posted by: Rex Mundi 2004-06-04 1:12:09 PM |
| #10 I remember when the same thing happened to Dan Quayle. (For those disinclined to click, I was at a speech Quayle gave. Since it wasn't a political speech, we didn't know we were supposed to applaud at the end of every sentence. Halfway through it suddenly dawned on one of our officers that this was expected. If you don't click, you'll miss my theory as to Kerry's diabolical campaign strategy.) |
| Posted by: Angie Schultz 2004-06-04 12:43:07 PM |
| #9 Mike, I can't remember any 'Mondale is a lock' coverage. I do remember, however, a Saturday night live skit taking place the night before the election where the Mondale HQ was celebrating and the candidate asked what the good news was. The campaign team said that the networks had agreed to use the same color for Lake Superior as for MN (thus about doubling the Mondale area on the election maps). |
| Posted by: mhw 2004-06-04 11:38:40 AM |
| #8 One of Mondale's chief constituencies was "the sad". |
| Posted by: eLarson 2004-06-04 11:07:19 AM |
| #7 "...how assured Mondale was of victory..." Yes, I certainly remember that. Heh, heh. I also remember that Mondale-- as dreary, depressing and lifeless as he was-- was an absolute firecracker compared to Kerry. |
| Posted by: Dave D. 2004-06-04 10:38:13 AM |
| #6 Don't get too excited, he's still just the "presumptive" nominee. |
| Posted by: anon4716 2004-06-04 9:41:54 AM |
| #5 Can't for his acceptance speech at the convention -- when the dimocrats realize how *farked* they really are...... |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2004-06-04 9:41:22 AM |
| #4 ..I'd like the Rantburgers of A Certain Age to remember back to the '84 elections, where the media was telling us home much everybody hated President Reagan, how bad the economy was, how assured Mondale was of victory...and how much it felt just the way it does now re the Democratic candidate's inability to fire anybody up. Mike |
| Posted by: Mike Kozlowski 2004-06-04 9:37:11 AM |
| #3 the greatest revenge for all the bush-hate and bush-bashing is that the Donks will have to listen to this idiot's droning condesencion til November |
| Posted by: Frank G 2004-06-04 9:33:04 AM |
| #2 Is this happening elsewhere? Is the national media carrying this guy this much? |
| Posted by: Douglas De Bono 2004-06-04 8:33:25 AM |
| #1 "That line actually generated more real cheers," says a bemused Florida Democratic Party official. "If this is the kind of response our campaign is getting elsewhere, we’re dead. This was awful. He was awful." 2004 is gonna be soo much fun. |
| Posted by: badanov 2004-06-04 7:19:06 AM |