Jon has it right when he says that Kerry is perpetrating a fraud upon those “common people” he wishes to connect with through sports. A blogger called “Son of Nixon” really nailed this (warning, profanity) recently:

Isn’t this a minor transgression, some would ask? After all, the guy merely misspoke (although he never completely corrected himself).

I believe that “Manny Ortez”-gate speaks to a larger issue. Constantly, the networks and left-wing lamestream press have been trotting out polls concerning which candidates are “more in touch” with the Average American.

Meanwhile, Kerry is attempting his best to come across as Joe Six-Pack — when slumming it for this (expletive) is anything cheaper than a $275 bottle of French Sauvignon Blanc.

Which brings us back to the baseball issue. The guy knows (expletive) about baseball, particularly the Red Sox. This is an almost unforgivable sin in a town (make that an entire region) that is obsessed with the fates and fortunes of this team. Men and Women, Young and Old, Black and White…everyone (even if they don’t care) knows about the Sox and could probably speak intelligently about them for a few minutes.

Could John Kerry? I honestly, really don’t believe that he could.

Notice his contrived attempts to seem like a regular guy by insisting on throwing that (expletive) football around on airport tarmacs? He also regularly plays catch with a baseball…ostensibly while killing time.

On [July 21], Kerry actually delayed the take-off of a flight in order to play a little catch. Bush gets hammered in the press anytime something remotely appears “planned” (landing on the aircraft carrier, serving the troops in Iraq, etc.).

Meanwhile, the Boston Herald turned up this nugget:

It turns out there is a very real Manny Ortiz, and he’s one of Kerry’s biggest donors – serving as a co-chairman of the campaign. This Ortiz has helped Kerry collect between $50,000 and $100,000 this campaign.

Guess it’s money over baseball for Man of the People Kerry.