Front page of the L.A. Times Calendar section. What's really important about the campaign:
Kerry's face. Cripes.
When discussing this, it is important to separate Kerry the man from Kerry the face. (I don't know what my face is doing half the time and have concluded I can't be responsible for its actions. My face has a mind of its own.)
Kerry the man talks about the botched execution of the war in Iraq, about the rising cost of prescription drugs. But often Kerry the face can't quite get on board with the urgency of the message. When "60 Minutes" correspondent Lesley Stahl gushed that Kerry's energy level seemed boosted by Edwards' sudden companionship, Kerry responded, "Well, certainly I hope so. I want it to. I love it." As he spoke, Kerry's face looked on. The face had no comment.
"But he's definitely got energy without me, you know," Edwards chimed in helpfully. He and his face seemed to have gone out drinking and become buddies ages ago.
Who knows how Kerry feels, going through these pro forma TV rituals of appearing menschy and at ease? On "60 Minutes" he claimed not to worry much about his charisma problem; this face had gotten him elected four times. And rhetorically, anyway, Kerry's most alive when attacked by the opponent. Challenged by Stahl about the Republican charge that his populist economic policies contradict that he is a mega-millionaire, Kerry retorted: "Is this coming from millionaire George Bush? And millionaire Dick Cheney? And millionaire Rumsfeld?" His back was up, he was apparently indignant, and he was showing off a quick-witted fearlessness; there was nuance in his answer. Meanwhile, that face didn't move.
Small redemption at the end of the article, but Paul Brownfield still needs to make his point.
In York, Bush gave a stump speech that went pretty well with his face. As always, however, he displayed his troubling habit of grinning at inappropriate times. Like when he talks about Al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein and how we're safer now. If Kerry has difficulty physically accomplishing a smile, Bush smiles too much, constantly, as if to say, "See? See what I mean?" It's a patronizing habit. But it will be Kerry who will wind up branded as the candidate of condescension.
"Sen. Kerry is the most liberal member of the Senate," Bush said, repeating a line he'd use all week. "And he chose as his running mate the fourth most liberal member of the Senate. In Massachusetts, that's what they call balancing the ticket." Somewhere, perhaps, Kerry was looking on. Ready to respond, expressionless.
Face face face face face face face. It's true. They can't find anything else to talk about here.
