Thanks, Howell. I guess Kerry's REAL friends write for the Journal!

You hoped he would have the class to slink away and shut up forever. Instead Howell Raines proves the depth of his cynicism about US politics in this piece from The Guardian. Also the displaced but unashamed former editor comments on The Presumptive Nominee:

"I personally find him easier to talk to than Al Gore, but there's no denying that he's ponderous. And he's pompous in a way that Gore is not. With Gore, you feel that if he could choose, he would have been born poor and cool. Kerry radiates the feeling that he is entitled to his sense of entitlement. Probably that comes from spending too much time with Teddy Kennedy, but it's a problem. The TV camera is an x-ray for picking up attitudinal truths, and Kerry's lantern jaw and Addams Family face somehow reinforce the message that this guy has passed from ponderous to pompous and is so accustomed to privilege that he doesn't have to worry about looking goofy. It's as if Lurch had gone to Choate. "...