All of which is understandable. What prudent Democratic office-seeker now
wants to be seen with John Kerry? Not even John Kerry wanted to be seen with
John Kerry. Passing up interviews, he was soon hightailing it back to
Washington. And to think, till only a few days ago George W. Bush was the
man to avoid in this campaign.
To quote one Democratic strategist on the subject of Sen. Kerry: "He has
already cost us one election. The guy just needs to keep his mouth shut
until after the election." The best thing the senator can do for his party
at the moment just now is to disappear. The man is a verbal danger to
himself and others.
The senator's disappearance from the news would certainly disappoint
Republican strategists. At this point, John Kerry may be one of the GOP's
few rays of hope in an election many pundits and pollsters have already
handed the Democrats without waiting for a mere formality like counting the
votes. But let him deliver more speeches like this one, and Sen. Kerry may
yet be able to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
The man has a genius for what the pols call Energizing the Base - the
Republican base, that is. A few more replays of this affair on Fox News, and
the GOP may still be able to pull this one out of the fire.
Never complain and never explain, said Disraeli. John Kerry does little
else. First the senator explained that it was all a misunderstanding, an
accident, a botched joke, a case of a politician's wandering away from his
prepared remarks. Nice try. Pity he wasn't writing instead of speaking. Then
he could have resorted to the newspaperman's favorite out and claimed it was
a typo. (Hey, it works for me.)
Then he started complaining about his critics: "It disgusts me that a bunch
of these Republican hacks who've never worn the uniform of our country are
willing to lie about those who did."
The way Franklin D. Roosevelt, another wartime leader, never served in
uniform? And didn't FDR's more fervid critics back then accuse him, too, of
"lying" us into war? Is the senator saying that only veterans have the right
to discuss war and peace? Or does he just think free speech ends where
Republicans begin? And is this the level of civility a once again Democratic
Congress will exemplify?
I know politics ain't beanbag, but does it have to be mud-rasslin'?
Apparently so. But this time the mudslinger muddied himself. John Kerry has
provided the GOP with the grist it needed in a campaign that appeared all
but lost. No wonder his Republican critics must be sorely disappointed to
hear that he's giving up the campaign trail. This guy is better'n Howard
Dean.