A Ray of Hope

My main reason for optimism, vis a vis the November election, is John Kerry. You probably remember his snowboarding vacation, which we posted a photo or two of last week. But Mrs. Rocket called my attention to this picture, which I hadn’t seen:
capt.efa10303232102.democrats_kerry_efa103.jpg
Mrs. Rocket pointed out a detail which had escaped my fashion-oblivious notice, namely, the yellow flower-power zipper pull. The whole look, of course, is appalling: the vest, the gloves, the botox. It is Mrs. Rocket’s opinion that the American people will not elect as President a man who wears a vest with a flower power zipper pull.
I think she may be right.
UPDATE: A reader adds: “Thanks for posting that picture of Kerry today. Right now the French are pursing their lips and narrowing their eyes in shrewd appraisal: ‘Daisy zipper pull, snowboard with mural graphics, sunglasses hanging from fleece shirt, thin vest-like outer garment. Yes. Clearly this man is the true Alpha Weenie.”’
MORE: A reader from Kentucky writes: “I think I shall be ill. My niece has a flower just like that one. She’s seven.”
HUGH HEWITT writes: “Just the man to instill fear in the hearts of our enemies.”
STILL MORE: Another reader thinks the photo is very funny, but wonders whether the daisy might have been Photoshopped into it. Fear not; the photo is straight from the Associated Press. Her question, though, did cause me to run a search for all photos of Kerry with his snowboard. And it appears that this picture is the only one that shows the flower-power zipper pull. I infer from this that shortly after the photo was taken, a horrified aide noticed the flower and removed it from Kerry’s get-up. Leaving only the sunglasses, the vest, the gloves, the board itself and the botox as evidence of Kerry’s Alpha Weenie status.
A FINAL NOTE: Glenn Reynolds thinks the daisy is a ski-lift ticket. I can’t rule that out, but I saw a post on another site somewhere by a guy who claimed to have called all the ski areas in the Sun Valley area and verified that none of them were using yellow flowers for lift tickets. I’ll link to it if I can find it; of course, I can’t vouch for that guy, either.
A REALLY, REALLY FINAL NOTE: I don’t think it’s a lift ticket. Most of the other photos of Kerry actually snowboarding on the same day (March 23) don’t show him with the yellow flower–for example, this one. And in the only photo I’ve seen of Kerry wearing the yellow flower while snowboarding, the other snowboarder visible in the picture is not wearing a flower, which he should be doing if it were a lift ticket. My conclusion: it’s a sartorial choice, not a lift ticket.

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