"We've got better vision, better ideas, real plans. We've got a better sense of what's happening to America -- and we've got better hair," Kerry said, laughing."

I'm no Kerry yesman, but I have to admit I find something vaguely endearing about the above statement. At face value it's sort of puerile and shallow, but, I think Kerry's willingness to say something like that demonstrates that he has a command of the nuances of speech and public rhetoric that Dubya lacks, e.g. he's capable of saying something that has text and subtext, and that he has a sense of humor, another trait seemingly surgically removed from our current fearless leader at birth along with his heart, his brain, and I'm willing to wager, his genitals (since there's been no-one in history so desperately in need of getting laid).

The statement is interesting insofar as it is self-deprecating on the one hand, and on the other hand, quite true. Kerry's playing with a signifier, a hairdo as representing one's cultural placement or stance--in being willing to address this aspect of his own character Kerry is demonstrating that he knows something about American culture and is not cut off from the concerns of the everyman. Political posturing is easy, but I think such subtle gestures evince the true nature of the person in question. It's in this way that Dubya so often resembles a kind of antagonistic robot or smug zombie, he's cut off from humanity and incapable of feigning that connection (just as he's incapable of feigning a facility for the English language or foreign policy.)

Kerry is growing on me a little bit. Obviously, I've planned to vote for the Democratic candidate in this election since about December 2000, but at this rate I'll be cringing a little less as I do so. A little less. It still feels like opting for the blow on the head instead of the kick in the balls, but...