Last Thursday the online bathroom wall picked up a new number. The great rumor, thus far, for this campaign was that Sen. John F. Kerry had an inappropriate relationship with a young AP staffer by the name of Alex Polier.
We learned all this courtesy of the Drudge Report, the Web site famous for initially reporting the Monica Lewinsky scandal, which almost brought down Bill Clinton’s presidency five years ago.
Now Matt Drudge has not always been entirely accurate with his reporting, indeed, most of it is sensationalist in the style of a British tabloid (one of which, The Sun, was the only major paper to truly accept the story and run with it as at least partially accurate when it first broke). Still, whether he is accurate or not, Mr. Drudge has a large enough audience to create the tempest that is now unfolding around the almost certain to be nominated Kerry.
Two questions must be asked about this alleged affair. The first is whether it is true or not. The second is, if it is true, is a man of Sen. Kerry’s quality fit to be president of the United States?
As to the first question I remain agnostic. John Kerry has had the reputation as a ladies man throughout his life time, but he has also been reported to be a consummately driven individual with a lust for power and the presidency.
It would stand to reason that a man who has apparently made becoming president a goal from an early stage in his life would not make the mistake of having a fling with a young woman (Miss Polier is currently 24 years of age) before and during his presidential campaign.
Still, the corruption and arrogance that power brings to a man cannot be overlooked. In the back of his mind perhaps the Senator reasoned that the American people, or at least a large plurality, still voted for and like William Clinton, despite his years of infidelity, and therefore would judge him to that standard.
Miss Polier herself isn’t talking, although her father has called Mr. Kerry a “sleaze ball”, and is currently living in Kenya with her fiancé. The background seems to suggest that there was not an affair in the classical sense, but a categorization as an undignified pursuit by an older man of a younger woman may well be appropriate.
One may ask, however, if any of this is true, whether it disqualifies Massachusetts favorite non-Kennedy from the Oval Office. Clearly, if it is true, then one should question the intelligence of the good senator, although as our current president has shown, having brains isn’t a necessary quality to be president.
Kerry, however, would certainly not be alone in the department of liaisons. Jefferson, Cleveland, Harding, Franklin Roosevelt, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, and Clinton were all known to have affairs, though Cleveland and Eisenhower’s were before they became president (and Jefferson’s is conjectural). Clearly, then, cheating on one’s wife does not disqualify one from gaining office, no matter whether it is viewed as right or wrong.
However, if there is any truth to the rumor it may well give a shot of adrenalin into the heart of Sen. Edwards and Gov. Dean’s candidacies, the former, which sits in intensive care and the latter, which is currently on its way to the morgue. Both candidates need something to blow the treads off of the Kerry tank in order to have a shadow of a hope of getting back into a competitive race.
The Republicans, meanwhile, must be salivating over the prospect of battling it out with a potentially morally compromised liberal senator from Massachusetts. If the allegations are true than Kerry can pretty well sign off the south and central states to the incompetent, yet personally moral President Bush.
In the end, it will be up to the voters to decide the merits of the charge, not just the pundits. However, the qualities of a man are often reflected in his leadership, something all of us must keep in mind on this coming November.