Call To Service [Hardcover]

Regarding the book, it still has all the forethought of Hop on Pop with the integrity of Jayson Blair to boot. It's amazing that the most liberal member of the Senate would write such a "moderate" book! Now, hmm...why would he do a thing like that? Certainly Republicans haven't seen this sort of flip-flopping before from the other side of the house! The man will not be the next president. Use the pages from this tome to dry your tears if you must, but John Kerry will not be president. Too vanilla, too much hair circa 1968, and too ill-defined, even after this "definitive work".

Howard Stern once suggested that Michael Jackson's book would be better titled "Turd-Burglar". After reading Senator Kerry's book, I feel that political preferences aside, Mr. Stern gave that title away too soon.

Anyway, the book itself is written from a moderate point of view. I suppose it would be pointless to ask Dems to compare Kerry's actual voting record with how he tries to bring himself across in this book.

He is self-serving, self-promoting. He refers to his service in Vietnam at every turn, failing to point out that he testified that his same "fellow soldiers" were murderers and rapists. Well, he can talka bout his service all he wants, but I agree with him that actions speak louder than words. The only problem is, Kerry's words and actions are so at odds as to negate each other.

There are several other galring omissions. His personal/public stance on aborition is not adequately explained, nor are his bizarre changes on the Iraqi war. His economic proposals are, at best, vague; at worst, disjointed and classist hate speech.

Upon reading this book, one would believe that Sen. Kerry is not only a Democrat, but a Republican, Green, and Libertarian at the same time! Quite a feat! I wonder if he will be nominated at any other party conventions this summer.

I had hoped for an accounting from John Kerry, but this book is a vanilla, cliched view of the same tired arguments that didn't win in 2000, and will not win in 2004. The Democratic party just can't meet America in the center, no matter how "moderate" they try to appear.

In short, a tired old book from a man being pushed by a tired old party. All the college students and fringe elements in the world can't save this one from going down as a very, very unsatisfactory work.

2. On economy "I urge people to move up economically using my simple technique of finding an heiress to a food empire."

3. On his image "I am whoever you want me to be."

4. On technology "I think it is marvelous that they can use chemicals to make Heinz ketchup green to appeal to kids. When I was a kid we had to leave it in the sun for a week to make it turn green."

5. On the environment "I think consuming mass quantities is good."

6. On the space program "Earthlings should be controlled by a conehead from Romulac that passes for a human to become the ruler of Earth."

7. On music "I think rap is important. Hip hop to the jiggy and get some quick relief from a bottle of Heinz ketchup."

8. Confession "I do not like Heinz ketchup, I do not want it in my house, I do not want it with my spouse, John I am."

9. On himself, "I am very diverse, I like Bette Middler and Toto too, I like to be dainty and I like to throw royal hissy fits and shreik I want a my size Barbie."

10. On priorities "I think The Next Generation is the best of all the Star Trek shows but I like Temptation island the best."