John Kerry: Uppity Rich Guy with a Superiority Complex

George C. Landrith

John Kerry says he represents the forgotten regular folks. He campaigns in plaid shirts, brags to autoworkers that he proudly drives a truck, bowls, and shoots guns for the newsreel – all to convince voters that he’s a regular guy. But, it is not genuine. It is simply for show. The real John Kerry is an elitist patrician.

The dictionary defines patrician as “a member of an aristocracy.” In modern usage, patrician means “uppity rich guy who thinks he’s better than everyone.” John Kerry is the poster boy for uppity rich guys with superiority complexes. Thus, his campaign is attempting an extreme makeover so that Kerry will appear as if he were a regular American who shares our values. This extreme character makeover will involve a lot more than botox.

In Boston, where the junior senator from Massachussets lives when he’s not skipping Senate votes, John Kerry stories are commonplace. Most of these stories involve Kerry pulling rank on a “little guy,” cutting to the front of the line, expecting special treatment, or demanding something for free. When confronted about his behavior, Kerry defiantly asks, “Do you know who I am?” Evidently, Kerry believes that once the “little people” understand how important he is, they will simply back down and shut up.

John Kerry went snow boarding this winter and when a reporter asked if he fell, he blamed a Secret Service agent for knocking him down and cursed him – calling him a "son of a b*tch.” There was no evidence the Secret Service agent accidentally knocked Kerry down, but even if he had, couldn’t Kerry muster even a little respect for the man who was willing to take a bullet for him? By Kerry’s way of thinking, a man risking his life to protect Kerry is just a “son of a b*tch.”

His political allies and friends joke that John Kerry’s initials, JFK, stand for “Just For Kerry” because he is self-absorbed and views himself as smarter and better than others.

This is why Kerry supports legislation to make it more difficult for regular American families to buy and drive SUVs and minivans, while he and his wife drive SUVs and will always be able to. This is why he brags to autoworkers that he drives American-made SUVs, but brags to environmentalists that he has led the charge to effectively ban SUVs and minivans because they’re too big.

He demanded Boston move a fire hydrant from in front of his Beacon Hill mansion so that he could park his SUV. His neighbors must live with the fire hydrant, but not John. He’s too good for that.

John Kerry holds Americans in contempt. To Kerry (and the French), we are stupid fools. This explains why he says one thing and does another. Kerry rails against "influence-peddlers and special interests.” Yet, the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics found that Kerry accepted more money from lobbyists than any other Senator over the past 15 years.

Kerry denounces corporations and “Benedict Arnold CEOs [who] send American jobs overseas." But the wealth of his billion-dollar wife came from the Heinz Co., which operates 22 factories in America and 57 in foreign countries where labor is cheap. Kerry says he believes life begins at conception, but has voted repeatedly in favor of partial birth abortion.

Kerry’s wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry, recently gave a speech about the importance of civility in political discourse in which she referred to some harsh political talk as un-American. Minutes later when asked by a reporter what she meant by “un-American,” she denied saying it and left in a huff. A few minutes later, she returned to tell the reporter to “Shove it.” So much for civil discourse.

This is what patricians do -- hold the “little guy” in contempt. They call the man who protects their life a “son of a b*tch.” They cut in line and expect special privileges because they’re more important. They say things that aren’t true because they’re smarter. When someone asks why they behave this way, the patrician demands, “Do you know who I am?” or tells them to “Shove it.”

This is John Kerry’s true character. An extreme makeover may not be sufficient.

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Mr. Landrith is a graduate of the University of Virginia School of Law, where he was Business Editor of the Virginia Journal of Law and Politics. He had a successful law practice in business and litigation. In 1994 and 1996, Mr. Landrith was a candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives from Virginia's Fifth Congressional District. He served on the Albemarle County School Board. Mr. Landrith is an adjunct professor at the George Mason School of Law. He is recognized as an authority on constitutional law and jurisprudence, federalism, global warming, and property rights.

george@ff.org