In a poll of the likeability of 20 prominent politicians (Republicans and Democrats), the junior Senator from Massachusetts was deemed to be the least likeable politician on the list.
That is of absolutely no surprise to anybody, except possibley Sen. Kerry himself.
Shit, even Jimmy Carter hates John Kerry…and Jimmy Carter doesn’t even hate the very Islamist jihadis who would cut his balls off and shove them down his throat moments before they beheaded him and broadcast it all on YouTube.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Democratic Sen. John Kerry, mulling a second bid for the U.S. presidency, finished dead last in a poll released on Monday on the likability of 20 top American political figures.
Among those placing ahead of Kerry were about a dozen potential 2008 White House rivals, including Democratic Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York and Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona.
“This is bad bad news for Kerry,” said Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute in Hamden, Connecticut, which conducted the survey.
“Americans know who he is, and have pretty much decided they don’t like him,” said Brown. He noted the poll found that 95 percent of respondents said they had heard enough about Kerry, who lost the 2004 White House race to President Bush, to rate the Massachusetts Democrat.
I’m sure Hillary is none to pleased to find her name 9th on the list…with four other Democrats ahead of her.
Gaius at Blue Crab Boulevard doesn’t think the story should be that Kerry is last on the list…rather who is first:
The Reuters story chose to focus on that bit of “duh” news rather than on something pretty stunning.
Rudy Giuliani finished first. By a fair amount.
The top of the list:
In the current poll, former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, a Republican, ranked first with a mean score of 64.2, followed by Democratic Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, 58.8, and McCain, 57.7. All three are potential presidential candidates.
While Obama received a high score, 41 percent said they had not heard enough about the first-term senator to offer an opinion.
___________
OTHERS:
- The Expat Teacher at Page 132: “Other things to note are that Gore, President Bush, Bayh, Gingrich and Kerry are finished as politicians.”
- Cranky George: Giuliani and Kerry: Bookends
- Tinkerty Tonk: No One Likes Kerry
I take these lists with a grain of salt but hopefully it has the effect of convincing him not to run for President. One try per customer, please.
As for Giuliani, I suspect we are seeing him at his high water mark. Once the country learns more about him cheating on his wife in broad daylight and more about his mobbed up friends he’s going to seem more like a bad joke. Though, he probably takes from the same crowd as McCain so it will be interesting to see which movement conservative steps up. Brownback? Gingrich?
No to that illegal immigrant loving Brownback.
No to Gingrich – I believe he’s probably smarter than the rest of the pack but he’s not going to win – I don’t think he’s going to run.
McCain – I, like a lot of people, don’t trust him. But, no doubt the front runner.
As I’ve said before many times, Mitt Romney greatly interests me. I don’t care that he’s Mormon. His previous position on abortion and gay marriage may haunt him but I think he can get past that. People change their minds on these issues and I think he can convey that message. Besides that, these issues will be settled in the courts, not in the whitehouse.
Giuliani – I agree with Preston on his moral issues, but people like him. I like him. I think he’d make a great cabinet member.
Allen out. Santorum still has possibilities. Even the democrats liked Santorum. The war is what did in his senate seat.
Once the country learns more about him cheating on his wife in broad daylight
I’m sorry…I lost track…were you talking about President Clinton? Because at least half of the country didn’t seem to mind too much. Hell, Hillary even convinced the entire Feminist movement to forgive and vote for him.
I take these lists with a grain of salt
I do too…I don’t really think this story is newsworthy at all. I just enjoy making fun of Lurch any chance I get.
Great point Robbie about Clinton. But, Hillary forgave him and he stayed with her. Big difference. Still, there’s something about Giuliani that’s so likable that I think all but the die-hards will forgive his past.
I agree Dianne. I didn’t care about Clinton/Lewinsky (except for the resulting perjury that resulted from the affair), and I don’t care that Rudy has fooled around outside of marriage.
This whole (non)likeability pole reminds me of a childhood game… “Duck, Duck, Goose”.
I suppose you can say ‘adultery is adultery’ but the difference between the two cases is pretty startling. Bill Clinton was found out and then raked over the coals by friend, foe, and family. Giuliani, let’s say, was different:
Giuliani informed his second wife, Donna Hanover, of his intention to seek a separation in a 2000 press conference. The announcement was precipitated by a tabloid frenzy after Giuliani marched with his then-mistress, Judith Nathan, in New York’s St. Patrick’s Day parade, an acknowledgement of infidelity so audacious that Daily News columnist Jim Dwyer compared it with “groping in the window at Macy’s.”
Know what Preston, that is disgusting. He just dropped several notches on my likability scale.
Giuliani informed his second wife, Donna Hanover, of his intention to seek a separation in a 2000 press conference.
At least Rudy didn’t pull a Britney Spears, who dumped her husband K-fed via a text message reading, “Ur dumped.”
HaHa.
Lord, I’m glad I’m not a teenager these days- so many more ways for humiliation that we didn’t have before the internet.
you guys are too funny
Dianne-
Before I moved to New York I shared many people’s awe over the tremendous drop in the crime rate here. However, upon closer examination it can be seen that the drop started before he became mayor, continued after he was mayor, and was matched in other cities at the same time that did not use Giuliani’s questionable techniques.
Those other drops in crime came without the outright hostility that Giuliani held for so many New Yorkers. A good comparison is the shooting of an unarmed man, Amadou Diallo, 41 times and the recent shooting of another unarmed man, Sean Bell, 50 times. Giuliani was unable to express any remorse for a needless death- it’s not to say that the police behavior was criminal but obviously something went wrong. In contrast, Mike Bloomberg has been able to balance his acknowledgement of the tremendously difficult job that cops have while simultaneously recognizing that an innocent life was taken (on the man’s wedding day, no less.)
I give all the credit in the world to Giuliani’s humanity on September 11- honestly he was the only public figure to step up on that day and speak so eloquently about the horrors we witnessed. However, I just don’t believe that his commendable press conferences 5 years ago qualify him to be president in light of all his other failings.
the recent shooting of another unarmed man, Sean Bell, 50 times
Unless you count the car that Sean Bell drove over a police officer, and then rammed an undercover police vehicle (twice) with a weapon. In which case, according to the law, he was armed with a deadly weapon: his car.
According to the involved officers, the undercover officer told him to freeze and put up his hands; instead he ran over the officer before ramming the undercover vehicle:
Until the investigation, I’m going to give the benefit of the doubt to the police officers.
Very unfortunate incident in NY. I don’t know what to think about that..will just have to wait for the facts. I don’t think it’s right, however, for Bloomberg to condemn before all the facts are known.
Regarding Giuliani and crime in NY, I don’t profess to be knowledgable about that, but that information is interesting, Preston.
It’s thundering ice here as I write this with a possibility of a foot of snow tomorrow. Yesterday it was 70 degrees. Glad I don’t have to go out.
Robbie- I give my benefit of the doubt to the officers as well which makes the contrast with the Diallo case even more stark.
I agree that ramming the car into the van probably led to the shooting but it isn’t certain what the circumstances that led to the accident were. I don’t know if Bell felt threated by the presence of the undercover cops- it’s possible he thought they were just guys going to mug him.
In any case, I don’t begrudge cops firing. But they are trained to take three shots and reassess the situation. One cop reloaded his clip and kept shooting- and that’s the most suspect aspect of the police behavior in this confrontation in my opinion.
Dianne- don’t get me wrong- Bloomberg wasn’t attacking the cops. He was simply expressing remorse for a needless death.