PUBLIC SERVICE: “Well, he is sort of a phoney, isn't he?”

«Mr Kerry is hard to define because he lacks a centre of gravity, any deeply held set of convictions. He has shown personal, not political courage. He wants to straddle both sides of every issue. On his return from Vietnam, he dramatically threw his medals over a fence in protest against the war. Only later did it turn out that he kept his Silver and Bronze stars, throwing away his ribbons and the medals of a fellow veteran.

He voted against the first Iraq war, in favour of the second, and against the $87 billion Iraqi reconstruction package. He opposes gay marriage personally but favours its legalisation by states. He described affirmative action as “inherently limited and divisive”, but then supported it. There is much about Mr Kerry that does not quite add up. He is war hero and war protester. A notable political comeback, he is determinedly unexciting. He is a policy expert who sells himself on his biography. As Richard Nixon remarked in 1971, “Well, he is sort of a phoney, isn't he?”»

[Who is John Kerry?, Jul 22nd 2004, The Economist]