I finally did it.

[whometense]

My first blog post about the beer-with-Kerry moment. Nearly two weeks late, but what can you do?

Please be honest.

http://toughenough.org/2005/12/john-kerry-nearly-two-weeks-later.html

[Luftmensch067]

1. Awesome!

You write so well!

Your adjectives: "warm, affectionate, witty, curious, intelligent -- and -- sincere" on top of "deep voice and serious demeanor" have left me weak in the knees. :-)

Excellent post with links and thoughts I hope many will explore.

[whometense]

2. Thanks.

It was SO HARD to write. Even two weeks later I'm struggling to put my impressions into words - and I feel like I left so much out. But you have to start somewhere, right?

I'm thinking my next post may be about Teresa.

[Luftmensch067]

3. You put in what was important

Who the man is...and what he means to you (us.) I can't wait to read what you write about THK!

[TayTay]

4. This was great!

You put down how you felt. (That is always the best place to start.) I thought it was a great piece. Your own sense that this is a good man who is also human and easy to be around (and funny and warm and witty, etc) came through.

Nice job lady! Can't wait to read about THK. (I love her.)

[WildEyedLiberal]

5. I still haven't been able to write about it

Not sure I can, either... it was too perfect, too dreamlike to put into words.

[whometense]

8. I completely understand how you feel.

It still has that dreamlike quality for me too. And that makes it hard to write without getting all sappy.

Within the past few weeks I've had several experiences that brought me up short. I was telling a few coworkers about the experience. These were Kerry voters, mind you, and MA residents, and they greeted my story with, "Too bad he didn't show that while he was campaigning." D'oh.

And then I was checking out at Trader Joe's one day, and the cashier (pretty definitely a lefty freeper type) spotted my Kerrycrat button, and peered in to look at it. When he realized what it said, he kind of shook his head in mild disgust.

Both of those incidents upset me more than they should have. But if what I'm trying to do is help JK I realize I have to learn something from them, and not just dismiss these people as idiots (though they are idiots). Obviously, if people in freaking Massachusetts are saying things like this, we have a long steep hill to climb in correcting misperceptions. And the media is stacked - way stacked against us. I figure the very least I can do is to put out there what I know. Every little bit helps.

[WildEyedLiberal]

10. How depressing

Whenever I'm around people who say anything negative about Kerry, I feel this hideous mixture of despair coupled with anger, and I have to bite my tongue hard to not explode at them. I don't know if I have the right temperament to engage the doubters and haters one on one, because there's a point at which I think people just willfully choose to be blind - and at which point I seriously start losing respect for them as intelligent individuals.

[whometense]

14. Someone posted a few days ago

something I thought was incredibly perceptive about the way people who are not fully engaged in politics make their voting decisions. If people aren't ideologically locked in already, they sort of comb impressions from the air - from what they hear on the tv and radio, read in magazines and newspapers and online, and from scattered comments from neighbors, friends, etc. It's a very scattered way to get an idea of who to vote for, but considering the media bias that exists today, it's probably no worse than listening to CNN all day long.

Short of having a personal conversation with each and every voter, what is the best way to combat this? I don't know. Possibly google-bombing may have a place in the process. My Google, Topix, and Yahoo news alerts are pulling up as much garbage as ever, and the few blogs that they turn up seem to be inevitably right wing.

Anyway, these people may be stupid, or prejudiced, or they just may not be paying much attention. Sometimes a heartfelt post can do a lot. And it seems to me, Kerrybot accusations aside, the best thing we can do is bear witness to what we know to be true. Make "I" statements. People tend to respond well to strongly expressed feelings, as long as they're not accusatory.

[beachmom]

16. Take Bono's advice then. He said that when you have writer's block

then you should WRITE about the fact that you have writer's block. I'm not sure if you are more creative on paper or on a computer, but you can start an essay entitled "Why words fail me when talking about meeting John Kerry", and just write and write. You will be surprised what may come out of a free form writing session. Are you done with your exams yet? I suppose that and the holidays will also delay you from getting it down on paper. If anything, you need to do it for yourself so that you can pass it on to your children and grandchildren one day. I have a letter from JFK (1960) to my grandpa thanking him for his work on the campaign. How much I would give if my grandpa had written a journal on his experience!!

[ProSense]

6. Excellent job! You make a great case, and this clinches it:

"He is warm, affectionate, witty, curious, intelligent - and - sincere. And I have ten witnesses who will back me up on that."

[ray of light]

7. cool! should I post over there?

[whometense]

9. Sure!!!

We have not been updating much lately, and it appears most of our faithful readers have deserted us - with good reason - nothing new to read.

I'm going to try to get back to at least a post a day, and maybe we can build back up again.

[ray of light]

13. yeh, it's hard to keep blogs active.

[Blaukraut]

11. a great read, Whome!

It was heartfelt, and so true. Like others have stated, it still feels like a dream sometimes, and reading your account brought it all back again. Thank you :-)

[ginnyinWI]

12. nice account

And so true.

I've been realizing more and more, as the reaction to *'s latest atrocity comes out in public, that a certain percentage of voters simply did not want an intelligent, decent president. They wanted a thug-- one without scruples, willing to lie, cheat, and kill in order to keep us "safe". They wanted one who would lash out blindly and brutishly rather than use diplomacy and brains. What they don't get is that many times it is the smart and subtle strategy that does the most good.

It's so sad how people can be made so fearful that they are willing to give up everything else. To some, anything can be justified when they swallow all of the fear-mongering put out by this WH. It's possibly the worst kind of betrayal--lying and manipulating a vulnerable public into doing your bidding.

It's so sad that I avoid dwelling on it, and it makes me so angry. Most of the more educated people can see through the hypocrisy and lies, but not the rest. We can only hope that it will become obvious to a majority in time to turn things around. You would think they'd already done enough--but people have short memories. I don't even hear Katrina brought up much anymore, even by those who are critical of * and listing out all of his failings.

[beachmom]

15. Thanks, Whometense! That was a great read.

I liked that you talked about how is deep voice and serious demeanor don't translate well on TV, because once in a while, the looser Kerry will show up (especially on radio), and that guy is easier to relate to than the SENATOR. The Friday before you met him, he was on Imus, and he was just great. I laughed watching him and Imus trading barbs. I also thought there were moments in that "Inside the Bubble" film where I thought he "came to life". The story that I passed around was that jury story because it showed that people had got him all wrong, and then regretted voting for *.

Thanks again for the story, and I look forward to your next installment!

P.S.

I just ate up the part where you said that he openly showed his appreciation with emotion. I feel like I had a small part in that by signing the card!

[Island Blue]

17. Wicked awesome Whome!

You're an excellent writer and you really captured the experience well. Large chunks of that evening still seem surreal to me. Thanks for sharing your thoughts!

[MonteLukast]

18. That was lovely.

I've seriously missed out on commenting about your Kerry birthday party. (Gee, I wish I'd gone! ARRRGH!) But this is a beautiful, moving account of experiencing JK... and that reply above about how to sell people on Kerry's outstanding qualities?
Word of mouth, word of mouth, word of mouth.
Exactly right.