The Billiken's Bluff

John Kerry's not too busy alienating America to have a little fun. According to a recent Fox News report, Senator Kerry will be holding a set of fundraisers in Los Angeles and New York next month, headlined by Barbra Streisand, Neil Diamond and Bette Midler. And as if their starpower wasn't enough, Whoopi Goldberg, John Mellencamp, Sheryl Crow and Robin Williams are all expected to attend as well. It's not yet clear what Kerry's role will be in these events or if he will even be in attendance.

What is clear is that Mr. Kerry can count on a sizable chunk of campaign funds from these shows. Hollywood's love for the Dems is nothing new; Clinton and Gore each held similar fundraisers during their campaigns with similar celebrities in attendance - Babs in particular. Previous events have brought in millions of dollars to those campaigns.

Unfortunately, while they may be key sources of campaign funding, these shows highlight everything that is wrong with the Democratic party. They will be full of rich, bourgeois liberals who get together to pat each other on the back and tell everyone how great they are and how much they've done for their communities. Fuck them. Little, if any, constructive discussion will occur but I'm sure everyone will get in some easy potshots on the mess of an administration that currently occupies the White House.

With each passing day, it becomes more and more evident that John Kerry and the Democrats don't have what it takes to defeat the Republicans. Bush lies on a daily basis about everything from WMDs to economic growth to what he ate for breakfast. But he does in a charming, affable way, so America lets it slide.



Kerry, amazingly enough, tells the truth much of the time. Even his ridiculous statement about voting for and against the $87B war bill was technically true. But Kerry lacks a fundamental necessity that he will need to find if he wants to become president: charisma. Kerry is hostile, combative and generally cold. Bush defeated Gore in 2000 in large part due to the charisma gap between the two. A similar result seems in the cards this year.

It's just baffling to me how inept the Democrats are. They have so many issues to come at Bush with, yet they can't seem to rally anyone outside their base. So many Americans have been alienated by the administration since it came to power, yet many of those folks still won't vote for Kerry. Bush's regime is full of arrogant, ideological bullies who have dictated to America how we should live our lives, yet Kerry can't seem to do anything to stir American outrage.

During the 2000 election, I didn't believe that either candidate was worth voting for. This time around, it's much of the same. At this point, it's pick your poison, choose the lesser of two evils and all the rest of the political cliches. The competence of leadership in 21st century America is as bad as it has been in a long time and I can't blame anyone who's disinterested with this campaign before it's even truly begun.