That's right. Everybody's favorite hipster networking/dating/hooking-up/band-forming/whatever site Friendster has brought John Kerry into the fold. To date, Kerry's got over 800 friends, many with plenty of nice things to say about him in their testimonials.
Here are some of my favorites:
"Thanks for giving us someone to believe in bro."
- Roman
"Take it to the White House, Johny Boy!"
- Lucas
"You rock my socks."
- Claire
"You've got my vote anyday, you grey fox."
- David
You may think I'm making fun, but I'm serious about this. I'm not sure if it's actually because of who he is or just because of who he's running against (probably a bit of both, leaning slightly toward the latter), but for many people, John Kerry is not just the guy they're going to vote for--John Kerry is the guy they really want to win.
One of the things I kept saying in 2000 was that, from the looks of things, between Bush and Gore, Bush was the one you'd want to hang out with at a ballgame. That, of course, was nonsense, but that image really resonated with people. Most voters are not as political as the Kossacks or the Freepers or the Deaniacs or the Young Republicans. Most voters have a natural lean to their politics, but they're not afraid to break from that to support someone they perceive as a likable, (relatively) trustworthy winner. (See also: Clinton, Bill; Reagan, Ronald)
John Kerry, despite his relatively ritzy heritage and image, has so far been pretty successful in portraying himself as a regular guy, at home with his buddies in the firefighters' union and the VFW. And he's also cultivating an image as a hip progressive, palling around with Moby and playing up the fact that he's an avid windsurfer while his campaign has been much more subtly reminding us that, before he was a war hero, Kerry played bass in a high school garage rock band called The Electras.
And then, can anything really top this?
John Kerry is unavoidably cool.
posted by Scott |
3/08/2004 |
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