From the New York Times, an article on potential John Kerry running mate Tom Vilsack (the governor of Iowa). Reporter Thomas Halbfinger exposes Vilsack's unique appeal to Democrats:
What may be sexiest about Mr. Vilsack as a potential running mate, however, is his life story. Left on a Pittsburgh orphanage's doorstep at birth, he was reared by a father who came from money but lost all of his own, and a mother who escaped into alcohol.
Financial ruin, alcoholism, and child abandonment, now that's erotic entertainment. But I wonder how Vilsack is going to manage to blame his parents' failures on George W. Bush. Maybe taking cheap shots at Herbert Hoover will serve as a sufficient proxy.
Mr. Vilsack knows this story has mass appeal and has grown comfortable talking about it with total strangers. "Some people back in those days would take a belt to their child," he says, "but when my mother did it, it wouldn't be the strap part, it'd be the buckle part, so she'd do it till I started bleeding. She'd just whack me. She was sick. She was frustrated, she was angry."
Does shamelessly exploiting child abuse for political gain have mass appeal? I guess we'll find out. But either way I'm not sure it will help the Kerry ticket. It seems to me the Democrats already have the sick, frustrated, and angry vote locked up.
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