Kerry Can Be Slow to Decide But Quick to Act

[kskiska]

Sunday, March 7, 2004; Page A01

John Kerry cliché No. 1: The single-engine plane plunged toward the Nevada desert. The pilot had tried a barrel roll and miscalculated. Ten thousand feet, six thousand feet, two thousand feet and falling. Young Kerry, sitting next to the pilot, reached for the controls. "Give it to me," Kerry said over the scream of the engine. He pulled the airplane out of the dive.

Kerry cliché No. 2: About 30 years later, in his office at 2 a.m., Sen. Kerry hovered over a dictionary, torn between two words: "Is it 'venal'? Or 'venial'?" Hours before he would deliver his Senate floor statement on President Bill Clinton's impeachment, Kerry was stuck in the V's, trying to decide.

Both stories, though cartoonish, actually happened. They are part of the lore that paints Kerry as alternately too rash or too cautious. Conventional wisdom has tried to reconcile the apparent contradiction with words such as "complex." But a closer examination of his style, based on dozens of interviews, shows that he makes decisions with simple consistency. He researches and analyzes aggressively before choosing. He always deliberates, even if only for a second. What differs in each case is how close he is to the ground.

(snip)

"George Bush is, 'I know what's right, and I know what's wrong,' regardless of the nature of reality," said Jonathan Winer, Kerry's counsel from 1983 to 1994. "John takes the opposite approach: 'Don't assume you know where I am. Don't assume I know what I think. We'll talk it through.' It's a deliberate suspension."

Kerry is a man who studies the menu at restaurants, even when he knows what he's going to order. Entering a room, he pauses and looks around, as if to weigh his options. He is so fond of the phrase "tough choices" that Senate staffers routinely inserted it in his speeches because they knew he would say it anyway.

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A36917-2004Mar6.html

[lastknowngood]

1. It takes him longer to frame a question than most people take

to fix the problem. Sorry but he needs to speak clear and quick or he will lose almost everywhere. The shrub gets this he doesn't think or use big words he just says something short easy to understand and usually stupid but the sheeple understand him and so to them he makes sense.

[sandnsea]

4. Nope, people are hungry for it

A real thinker. Someone to really explain to them what the hell is going on. People are desperate for someone to not only tell them where we're going, but why. That's why he keeps winning.

[yardwork]

5. I think a lot of people are sick of W's snap judgments.

W isn't decisive, he's pig-headed. He isn't courageous, he's rash.

People like strong leaders, but a lot of people now see W as a loose cannon.

W's in much bigger trouble than he thinks he is, and that's good.

[mobuto]

10. No, Kerry frames questions very quickly

the problem is making a decision on an issue. And Kerry will take all the time to do that he's alloted. He'll make the decision, and he'll make it in time, but he'll always do so after as much deliberation as possible. That's a good thing - we've seen how Bush makes decisions without thinking about them in advance, and that's not a good thing.

[Duck90MPH]

2. Almost Godlike

If you believe in that sort of thing.

[David Dunham]

3. We need serious leadership, for a change. Kerry's it.

[MrSoundAndVision]

7. YOU ARE A MEDIA SLAVE

(as monotonously said as you can imagine)

[MrSoundAndVision]

6. Nothing like that WP oil...

it's so slick and I like the fragrance too.

[Crachet2004]

8. He has reacted to Bushco attacks,

sometimes before they even get the words out of their mouths.

Where is Rove's vaunted attack machine? Roadblocked or sidetracked at every turn. It hasn't been an issue, because Kerry makes it look easy!

No, he thinks and moves fast enough for me. And I figure he has another 'gear' too! That halfwit Bush is already running his ass off all over the country...wait till money is not such a problem for John Kerry...Bush will never be able to keep up! His tongue is hanging out, ALREADY!

What some people might call vascillation, Kerry would probably call 'keeping his alternatives open'. Nothing wrong with that. Given his very liberal voting record, we already know where he stands, on most issues.

John Kerry is a far better candidate than any I thought we would have. I think he is a winner!

[David Dunham]

9. I agree Kerry can win, but he does need money to fight Bush.

[kskiska]

11. Remember the big show the W.H. put on

with * mulling over his "decision" on stem cell research? And all the time he claimed to be deciding whether to go to war with Iraq, while our troops were amassed at the border and the weather was getting hotter? What a nail-biter that was! Who could have guessed he'd decide to go to war?