The Food Corner

Wendy's for an Appetizer
On the morning of July 30, 2004 fresh off the convention, Sens. Kerry and Edwards set out from Boston by bus on a two-week "Believe in America" tour. As it happens, the Edwardses have a tradition of celebrating their wedding anniversary at Wendy's.¹ Arriving in Newburgh (Orange County), NY the caravan, including ten buses, assorted campaign staff, actor Ben Affleck, and over 100 reporters, made a stop at Wendy's. As described in various news accounts, the Edwardses each ordered a Classic Combo Single (hers without cheese, his with) and a soft drink and they shared a Frosty while the Kerrys (perhaps recalling the chili feeds from the NH primary) had a bowl of chili and a Frosty. The candidates' efforts to chat with several marines in the restaurant did not turn out well as they were Bush supporters. Further, the Wendy's stop caused Kerry and Edwards to arrive an hour and a half late for their rally in Scranton. Kerry's critics were quick to suggest the Wendy's stop was a "charade"--not "the real deal."²

Cementing the Wendy's story entrance into the realm of campaign lore, MidHudsonNews.com reported on Aug. 1 that, "A member of the Kerry advance team called Nikola's Restaurant at the Newburgh Yacht Club the night before and ordered 19 five-star lunches to go that would be picked up at noon Friday." The meals, which included shrimp vindaloo, grilled diver sea scallops, and prosciutto-wrapped stuffed chicken, came to about $200. That revelation of course set off a new round of talk among Kerry's critics and kept on-line forums humming.

1. The Edwardses explained their Wendy's wedding anniversary tradition in a July 15, 2004 appearance on NBC's Today show:

Mrs. Edwards: “When we got married, the weekend before, on Saturday, and I started work on Monday. So when my job was over, a year later, it was also our anniversary time again. And we were in the middle of moving. We were grungy and awful. And so instead of trying to go some place fancy – my parents were helping us move – we just went to Wendy's. And then the next year, for some reason, we found ourselves at Wendy's.”

2. Consider for example a couple of postings on the conservative Free Republic site. "duckman" wrote, "How cute. Just 4 ordinary people, having and ordinary meal at a ordinary fast food place. Where is my air sick bag?" "Doug from Upland" was inspired to post song lyrics:

(intro)

John and Elizabeth's celebration...it's twenty-seven years of sweet bliss
Where they had stopped had caused a sensation...they're chowing down at Wendy's

John and Tereeza joined in the meal...they want to show they're regular folks
Tereeza said, "Look, people, we're real"...she never heard of Wendy's

Elizabeth loves their fries...she always gets Biggie Size...you know what they do to thighs
Her buttons pop...she just can't stop...her buttons pop...she just can't stop

It is a bus campaign trip that's phony...will little people buy the charade
While eating burgers, they spout baloney...they celebrate at Wendy's

Elizabeth loves their fries...she always gets Biggie Size...you know what they do to thighs
Her buttons pop...she just can't stop...her buttons pop...she just can't stop

Tereeza always has been above it...eating with riff-raff's really too much
To a Republican she says, "Shove it"...she's getting sick at Wendy's

Kerry gets something that's funny looking...he tells Tereeza, "Chili's its name"
She says it's something she's never cooking...she can't relate to Wendy's

It is a bus campaign trip that's phony...will little people buy the charade
While they're eating burgers, they spout baloney...as they celebrate at Wendy's

And some later comments...
Jay Leno on "The Tonight Show" on Aug. 2: "On Friday, it was John Edwards' wedding anniversary; Edwards, Kerry and their wives all stopped at a Wendy's to eat. That's a tradition with the Edwards to always go to Wendy's on their anniversary because that's where they went on their first date [sic] so they brought the Kerrys with them. I don't want to say that Kerry's wife Teresa had never been to a Wendy's before, but she ordered the pheasant."

Mark Steyn wrote a column on the episode in the Telegraph (United Kingdom) on Aug. 3 ("Could Kerry slum it in the White House?"). He compared the incident to President George H.W. Bush (41)'s 1992 encounter with supermarket scanner and opined that Kerry's "faux lunch order captures the essence of his crowd-working style: chilli and Frosty."

The Bush-Cheney communications office on Aug. 13 issued a summary of Kerry's post-convention tour which noted: "After leaving Boston, everyman John Kerry stopped in a Wendy's for a much publicized bowl of chili and a Frosty. Interestingly, this caloric juggernaut didn't seem to suppress his appetite. Why else would he have a boxed lunch of shrimp vindaloo prepared by a local yacht club waiting for him back on the campaign bus?"