Kerry then an now. Photos in honor of JK's speech on Saturday.

[Island Blue]

JK in 1971.






JK in 2004.

[WildEyedLiberal]

1. OMG, which is more beautiful?

I can't decide!!

Swoon. :loveya:

[globalvillage]

2. The second one.

He just gets better. How about these?

[globalvillage]

3. Now I'm not sure.

I still prefer older Kerry, though this first pic makes me question that.






edit: I still like him older. He really doesn't look to have changed much in these two pics.

[karynnj]

4. I like the older better too

I think it's that he looks more content, confident, and wise. In the 1971 pictures, he looks like the world was on his shoulders, while he was obviously working just as hard to fix the world in 2004, and 2005, he looks more comfortable with himself - and looks so openly, and honestly at the world.

[WildEyedLiberal]

5. I tend to agree

Those are some super hot pix of him as a young man, but he gets more gorgeous with each passing year.

I must be the weirdest 21 year old EVER to prefer the 62 year old version of a man to the 27 year old version.

He has always been beautiful, and amazingly, just keeps getting more so all the time. :loveya:

[ProSense]

6. Very nice!

Kerry then is :loveya:






Kerry now is :evilgrin:

[whometense]

7. Okay, ladies,

I have to share with you this howler I came across today from a 2004 Salon review of Going Upriver.

Mostly the review is very positive, and I generally like the reviewer's work a lot, but this one killed me:

http://dir.salon.com/story/ent/indie/2004/10/01/going_upriver/index.html

One of the main points of "Going Upriver," I think, is that questioning your country is one of the most democratic -- small "d" -- acts you can undertake, and one that Kerry, whether you love him or hate him, didn't shy from. And that footage of the youthful Kerry, handsome in that Jay Leno-ish way but far too serious to be anything close to sexy (at least not in an obvious way), opens up some other questions about how we choose our leaders, what makes us "like" or "dislike" them, even aside from the specifics of policy issues. What do we look for in a president, in the person we elect to serve A good-student type? An articulate and passionate spokesperson? A person with a sense of fairness and a sensitivity toward injustice?

I know I'm preaching to the choir here, but since when is serious not sexy????

Here are my 1971 v. today picks (though I think IB's 1971 pick is to die for - where did you get that one???):








But this one's still my favorite:





Gorgeous at any age.

[JI7]

8. yup, serious is sexy

[ProSense]

9. They don't know! Serious is the stuff of

serious fantasies! Kerry delivering his 1991 speech before the first Gulf war? Yum!

[jenndar]

10. Um...

maybe I'm crazy, but isn't being LESS like Jay Leno sexier than being more like Jay Leno?

[wisteria]

11. I absolutely love that third picture. Now that 's a President. n/t

[whometense]

12. Yeah, me too.

Never get tired of looking at it.

How about this one?



or this:

[wisteria]

15. They are both great, but the second one shows a personal side

of him that -well is unique to JK. He looks relaxed in that setting yet, so dedicated and focused.

[ginnyinWI]

16. the Alpha Male Factor!

He was hot then and is still hot now! Then, he had his youthful good looks. Those of us closer to his age, I think, agree with this more. If you younger ladies could take a 27 year old Kerry and give him a contemporary look, you might agree--like shorter hair or something? To me he would have been my ideal in a boyfriend back then: tall, dark and handsome, shaggy-haired and intellectual!

But now, any youthful handsomeness has been replaced by his major Alpha-Male handsomeness and appeal: his brains, his decisiveness, his greater ability to connect--in short, his greater confidence and gravitas.

[karynnj]

24. Ginny, I think you're right

I bet the person writing this is not from that time. I actually did a double take on the Kerry/John Lennon picture when I first saw it - he easily looked like a Beatle. Without looking closely, I would have thought it another of the millions of John and Paul. That was exactly what people wanted to look like then. On the Cavett show, he wore a beautifully cut suit, his hair was only slightly long and wavy and the look on his face was fantastic when he answered O'Neil, as to what law made the free fire zones illegal, "the Geneva Conventions, have you heard of them"

I do see what he might be saying. Kerry in all the interviews and speeches was extremely serious and very dignified. In the interview Whome posted, he grins only once, probably to lighten the answer. (He was asked if he was a hypoctrite for going to war as some said. he responded that they said worse than that. Then gave a great answer.) There was no flirtatiousness, teasing or joking with people, he was very much on a mission to end the war and to get help for the veterans.

[sandnsea]

13. And historically inaccurate to boot

He was a heart throb on the talk circuit, for a really long time. They didn't describe him as Kennedyesque just because of his accent for pete's sake. He made my little teen-age heart go pitter-pat. This must have been written by the same nut who didn't understand the difference between supportive 2nd husband and asshole.

Complete rot.

[whometense]

22. Oh, yeah.

My little teenage heart too. :loveya:

[Inuca]

14. "at least not in an obvious way"

Maybe the author deserves some slack after all :-). I tend to agree (no rotten tomatoes, please)... in some of the pictures when he was young, he does look goofy in an endearing kind of way. Ages beautifully, though. The older we get, the more the way we look (especially faces) are a reflection of who & how we are on the inside, and I think this shows plenty in his case. Thanks for the great pictures, everyone!

[ginnyinWI]

18. well, all men tend to look a bit goofy under 30 or so

I mean they can be "cute" and all, but aren't their fully developed selves until they are a little older. Same with women, by the way. Although I think JK was very mature for his age even at 27, given all the had been through, both pleasant and unpleasant.

Riding a bike behind the Iron Curtain as a kid?
Taking a boat from Sweden to the U.K. for a solo camping trip as a teen?
Going to a strict Swiss boarding school?
Being shipped across the Atlantic from his parents to go to school in New Hampshire in his early teens?
Meeting JFK and dating Jackie's sister?
Being a pilot at college age?
Yale-- debate champ, sports, etc etc.
Being in the military all those years, ending with Vietnam? It wasn't only four months on the Swift Boats, remember.

Yikes--and this is only a few things that come to mind out of what I've read about him.

[ProSense]

21. Do we need Vek's picture

to prove Kerry is hot?



Kerry's looks aside, his sex appeal is based on a lot more, and he has a lot more of it than most men.

His eyes melt me.

[Inuca]

23. "all men tend to look a bit goofy under 30"

They do, don't they :-)? Interesting facts, I knoew about almost none of them.

[ginnyinWI]

25. I know about them from reading "Tour of Duty".

I read it right after the election, and it helped me somewhat with the disappointment, at least over feeling badly for him personally, because I realized what a fantastic life he's lived, regardless. By the time I read to about where he was 21, I thought, wow--even by that age he'd had more great life experiences than the average person gets in a lifetime.

Of course I also realized, all the more, what a good president he'd be right now because of it.

[_dynamicdems]

17. I love the way a true leader wears his experience on his face.

The years have given depth to the youthful idealism. He has gained experience and wisdom and it shows. Maybe I'm odd, but I truly see beauty in the lines in a person's face. Who would want a president with an unlined face? It's more than about looking distinguished (which he does). As we age, who we are, who we have been and what we believe begins to show on our face. Look at the eyes. His eyes tell the story of his life. This is a man you can trust to lead the free world.

[ginnyinWI]

19. in direct contrast to--

the current president, who I can hardly stand to look at anymore. His evil nature shows all over his face. It's like looking at something obscene. The look in his eyes shows it all.

[TayTay]

20. I agree with that Ginny.

Bush has that vacant, nobody's home look in his eyes. Kerry has always had great eyes. Very interesting and full of depth.