Back of the Envelope

Kerry is infamous in Massachusetts for using his status as a Senator to pull rank on unfortunate civilians, and is well known for using the DYKWIA (Do You Know Who I Am?) phrase. I don't have any stories myself, but you've got to figure that it's pretty bad if even Dave Barry has a Kerry DYKWIA story:

In conclusion, I want to extend my sincere best wishes to all of my opponents, Republican and Democrat, and to state that, in the unlikely event I am not elected, I will support whoever is, even if it is Sen. John Kerry, who once came, with his entourage, into a ski-rental shop in Ketchum, Idaho, where I was waiting patiently with my family to rent snowboards, and Sen. Kerry used one of his lackeys to flagrantly barge in line ahead of us and everybody else, as if he had some urgent senatorial need for a snowboard, like there was about to be an emergency meeting, out on the slopes, of the Joint Halfpipe Committee. I say it's time for us, as a nation, to put this unpleasant incident behind us. I know that I, for one, have forgotten all about it. That is how fair and balanced I am.

This story is from Dave Barry's September 14, 2003 column, "Staying Fair and Unbalanced in the Election Season," which unfortunately is only available for pay.

Update: In case you missed it, I mentioned Dave Barry's own presidential candidacy below.

Update: Welcome, Corner readers. Although you're just here for the Dave Barry story, you may want to check out the FMA alternative debate between myself and Doc Rampage.

New Post: Dave Barry's Research Assistant responded to my e-mail, and I pass on the facts above. Plus, I share where the column is still available for free.

Jonah Goldberg at The Corner linked to my post of Dave Barry's DYKWIA encounter with Kerry. Unfortunately, the link is broken, but you can find the post here.

Update: The link's fixed now. Thanks, Jonah! And thanks for the Cornerlanche!

Old Post: Dave Barry's Kerry story is quoted below.

Dave Barry's Research Department, Judi Smith, replied to my e-mail to tell me that (1) the Kerry story below matches Dave Barry's high standards of journalistic integrity, at least in the sense that he didn't make this one up, and (2) he won't be sending his high priced lawyers after me, for which we can all be grateful.

Update: Dan McLaughlin of The Baseball Crank e-mailed to let me know that the New York Daily News still has the complete column available with no fee.

New Post: More above.

Old Post: My most recent mention of Dave Barry's Kerry DYKWIA story is here.

It looks like Dave Barry's Kerry story, which I dug up, is getting a lot of play on the Internet, including in a comic from Chris Muir's Day by Day. It makes me feel all warm inside.




Day By Day© by Chris Muir. Used with permission.


Update: I revised the post a bit to give clearer credit to Chris Muir.

Mickey Kaus at Slate has linked to my Dave Barry Kerry DYKWIA story in order to support his argument that Democrats should be focusing on social equality rather than financial equality. While I certainly think the Democrats can try that, I believe that the idea of social equality is too deeply seated in the American psyche for one party to really take ownership of it. At least, not without a fight. They've certainly tried, and folks such as Howard Dean are not at all shy of painting Republicans as elitist. Kaus may be right that ceasing to equate financial equality with social equality might make the attempt more effective, but I have a hard time imagining them achieving much success as long as the Limousine Liberal is so iconic of the American Left for working class Americans.

In any case, I'm grateful for the link, as it resulted in over 400 visits yesterday and likely over 500 today. I'd like to know how Mickey found the story, given that he linked to my new blog rather than my old one, which would have been the case if he had followed it from the larger blogs who initially linked to it. I'm wondering if I can once again thank Google's inexplicable love for me.