In Gore's case, the creation of the image of a phony opportunist took years of work, work that originated primarily in the world of conservative pundits and the Republican National Committee press operation. Indeed, Somerby has demonstrated that several of the most prevalent myths about Gore -- such as the claim that he said he invented the Internet, and that he grew up in a fancy hotel -- originated in RNC press releases. Conservatives were so successful in framing coverage of Gore's persona during his later years as vice president that their version was in place in time for the 2000 campaign. In Kerry's case, right-wing pundits such as Emerie have already had an impact on mainstream press coverage. But the Gore-ing of Kerry has been helped along significantly by the hostile coverage of his hometown newspaper, the Boston Globe.
It was the Globe, in fact, that signaled this past February that press coverage of Kerry was going to follow the Gore pattern. That's when the paper ran a front-page Sunday story with a new revelation about Kerry's roots. After an exhaustive investigation conducted by a genealogist hired by the Globe, it revealed that Kerry's paternal grandfather was Jewish, a fact the senator never knew. The article did not specify exactly why this investigation was valuable to the public, but hinted at the rationale when it noted that some media outlets have incorrectly reported that Kerry, who shares a name with a county in Ireland, is Irish -- an influential credential in Kerry's home state, where Kennedy nostalgia still holds a certain sway.
A month later, the Globe went on the offensive with the revelation that, in 1986, Kerry entered a statement into the Congressional Record that began, "For those of us fortunate enough to share an Irish ancestry ..." However, the fourth paragraph of the Globe's article makes it clear that the statement was written by a Kerry aide and the senator never actually saw it, let alone read it aloud. Nonetheless, the Globe made this nonrevelation front-page news, stating, "Some observers have suggested a lack of clarity about his family origins reflects Kerry's ill-defined identity and tendency to leave misimpressions that are politically advantageous to him." That observation mirrored an earlier comment by Globe columnist Joan Vennochi, who wrote, "Kerry's confusion about his heritage mirrors a larger confusion about his essence: Who is he? What does he believe in?" Just as Gore was constantly accused of "reinventing" himself, Kerry supposedly lacked a core "essence" because he didn't know his grandfather was Jewish.
It's also notable that while the Globe seemed to blame Kerry for this identity confusion, the only evidence that Kerry ever claimed he was Irish was the Congressional Record statement, a draft of remarks prepared for him in 1984, and a 1993 interview with the conservative pundit John McLaughlin in which, when asked if his father had any Irish ancestry, Kerry replied, "I don't know the answer to that." Indeed, that Globe article at least pointed out that Kerry's spokeswoman said the senator "has corrected any misstatements he became aware of," and that the Globe itself had made the false assumption that Kerry was Irish three times over the years (a figure the Globe later upped to eight).
A few days later, the Globe took Kerry to task in another article for not publicly discussing his family background before its investigation -- although it's not at all clear why voters need to know the intricate details of a candidate's family background. "Never in his 21-year career in public life has Kerry gone out of his way to explain his complex roots," Globe reporter Anne Kornblut wrote, "even though he discovered some 15 years ago that his paternal grandmother was Jewish, a point he has mentioned only occasionally in public." The implication is clear: Because Kerry did not preemptively reveal personal information of questionable relevance, he had been deceptive.
Next page: Waiting to inhale -- and a hint of "scandals" yet to come