Way back when it looked like Kerry was a very strong candidate and had a good shot at the nomination. And Rush Limbaugh and his minions started swinging away at him. The first description was "French-Looking" (as in the "French-Looking" John Kerry) which came from The Bush Administration.
Another descriptor used by Rush and others is "who served in Vietnam," as in "the French-looking John Kerry, who served in Vietnam." This one was a rare attempt to use subtlety (well, what passes for subtlety in Limbaugh Land). As we all know, John Kerry served in Vietnam. His service in Vietnam was a formative time for him, so it shows up in his speeches. And it's clearly a political asset running up against a guy who served in the National Guard, and may have failed to show up for duty for part of his term. So using the phrase "who served in Vietnam," they are trying to inoculate people from being impressed, by suggesting that Kerry's service to his country was nothing more than a political ruse.
Well the Wall Street Journal suggested another sobriquet for John Kerry on the front page of their paper. Of course being the staid and meaningful Wall Street Journal they aren't too upfront about it. But they do point out in the second paragraph of a front page story on Kerry that he served as Lieutenant Governor under Michael Dukakis. How much do you want to bet that we hear that a lot? It plays right into the idea (false idea in my mind) that Kerry is a joke and unelectable.
All this by way of stating the obvious; if Kerry is our guy, expect the right wing press to slam into him like there's no tomorrow. Although come to think of it, if there were no tomorrow, maybe they wouldn't bother, since the actual election isn't till November.
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