TV CAMERAS are brutally unforgiving - especially during high-stakes election debates. They amplified the angst on Nixon's brow, the inexperience in Quayle's eyes, and the vulgarity of Gore's visage.

How will Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry hold up under the spotlight tonight? Beneath the Christophe-coifed hair, unnaturally taut skin and artificial tan, there are some naked attributes Kerry cannot conceal:

His spite. His haughtiness. His condescending core.

John Kerry detests his opponents. He detests his own staff. He detests anybody and anything that interferes with his political ambitions. Since returning from Vietnam, his main contribution to public discourse has been contempt, not courage. He possesses resentment, not hope. He does not inspire. He sulks.

Much has been said about Kerry's debating skills. His GOP opponents in Massachusetts have praised his quick recall and rhetorical agility. This will no doubt impress the lefties in the newsrooms and Hollywood salons. But in our living rooms, a man's character - how he treats others, how he responds to adversity - speaks louder than the platitudes and factoids that come out of his mouth.

Throughout the campaign, Kerry has demonstrated a holier-than-thou hubris that continues to alienate security moms, Reagan Democrats and swing voters of all types. It's not just his vacillation on foreign policy (for the war before he was against it, but he'd vote the same way) that bothers folks. It's not just the Kennedy-esque sports photo-ops that scream vanity, not vigor. It's the ugly things that pile up and create the image of a Royal Jerk:

• Publicly calling a Secret Service agent a "son of a [bleep]" for accidentally knocking him down on his snowboard during a press availability in Ketchum, Idaho. "I don't fall," Kerry sniffed to reporters as he cursed the agent.

• Bad-mouthing NASA for releasing routine publicity photos of Kerry, dressed in a goofy-looking "bunny suit," while on a campaign visit to the Kennedy Space Center. After the pictures caused embarrassment, Kerry sent his spokeswoman out to suggest that it was a NASA dirty trick.

• Burning his own staff over his failure to counter the claims of the Swift Boat Veterans. "The candidate is furious," a longtime Kerry adviser told the New York Daily News. "He wanted to go after the Swift boat attacks, but his top aides said no."

• Ridiculing President Bush for remaining with schoolchildren for a few minutes after learning of the Sept. 11 attacks, while neglecting to mention his own emotional paralysis at the Capitol.

• Using a magazine question about what his favorite gun is to tout his Vietnam status, then faulting his staff for fabricating the weapon he named. "My favorite gun is the M-16 that saved my life and that of my crew in Vietnam," Kerry was quoted as saying. "I don't own one of those now, but one of my reminders of my service is a Communist Chinese assault rifle."

Now, according to Monday's New York Times: "Sen. John Kerry's campaign said yesterday that Mr. Kerry did not own a Chinese assault rifle, as he was quoted as saying in Outdoor Life magazine, but a single-bolt-action military rifle, blaming aides who filled out the magazine's questionnaire on his behalf for the error."

This is the paragon of strong moral leadership who will bring victory in the War on Terrorism and restore America's values? This Botox-ed egomaniac? This serial waffler? This ruthless buck-passer?

Proverbs 18:12 counsels: "Before destruction the heart of man is haughty, and before honor is humility." It's a lesson Mr. Perfect will learn too late.

This article was published by The Philadelphia Daily News.