Dana Milbank writes about John Kerry’s Philly faux pax:
[T]he Massachusetts Democrat went to Pat’s Steaks and ordered a cheesesteak — with Swiss cheese. If that weren’t bad enough, the candidate asked photographers not to take his picture while he ate the sandwich; shutters clicked anyway, and Kerry was caught nibbling daintily at his sandwich — another serious faux pas.
“It will doom his candidacy in Philadelphia,” predicted Craig LaBan, food critic for the Philadelphia Inquirer, which broke the Sandwich Scandal. After all, Philly cheesesteaks come with Cheez Whiz, or occasionally American or provolone. But Swiss cheese? “In Philadelphia, that’s an alternative lifestyle,” LaBan explained.
And don’t even mention Kerry’s dainty bites. “Obviously, Kerry’s a high-class candidate, and he misread the etiquette,” LaBan said. “Throwing fistfuls of steak into the gaping maw, fingers dripping — that’s the proper way.”
For Kerry, a Boston Brahmin, this is something of a sore spot. As he seeks to lose his reputation for $75 Salon Cristophe haircuts, Turnbull & Asser shirts and long fingernails to play classical guitar, he has been seen riding a motorcycle and doing other regular-guy things.
Now, I’m no fan of Kerry’s politics. And, as Milbanks points out, George H.W. Bush got into political trouble over being intrigued by a bar code reader. But this sort of thing is ridiculous. Kerry is a combat veteran of the Vietnam War with a Silver Star, Bronze Star with “V” device, and three Purple Hearts. He’s hardly an effete mamma’s boy.
His weblog, however, won’t be appearing on my blogroll any time soon. . .
