The way a slave used to whisper in a conquering Roman general's ear, "You are a mere mortal," Democrats have been whispering in Kerry's ear, "You must be angrier." So he responded to the Swift Boat ads with an attack on Dick Cheney's draft deferments and Bush's Guard service, emphasizing Vietnam just when it was clear Vietnam was the wrong subject for him. Kerry has been advised at every turn to make the race about George Bush, natural advice from people who are motivated above all by their animus toward Bush.
What they are missing is that a challenger must offer his own compelling and substantive vision. Bill Clinton didn't just bash the first President Bush in 1992, he sold his own detailed budget and economic plan. As Kerry has spent more and more time criticizing Bush, unfavorable impressions of his candidacy have steadily increased. He has been driving his own campaign into the ground.
Which in turn has led to more flailing on the left. MoveOn.org has taken to running attack advertisements against the Gallup Poll for conducting surveys that show its candidate is behind. Talk about blaming the messenger! In a perfect distillation of its work this year, the ad isn't even accurate, suggesting Gallup's survey is skewed by the evangelical Christianity of executive George Gallup Jr. -- but he retired from the company back in May, well before Kerry's numbers began to tank.
And so it goes. St. Augustine said the wages of sin are sin. Similarly, the wages of the left's impotent rage this year just might be the occasion for yet more impotent rage: a Bush re-election, even after he looked so beatable for so long. Come on, everyone, all together now for a good Dean screech: YAAAAAARGHHH!