John Kerry has it tough. As I've mentioned before, he's been trying to send a positive message on the war when many people in his own party are actively rooting for the other side.
The problem is of long standing (as my earlier post noted) but it got worse for him this week, when the St. Petersburg Democratic Club ran a rather unattractive newspaper ad on the war. The ad got a lot of attention, and most of it was focused on the ad's violent language directed at Donald Rumsfeld:
"We should put this S.O.B. up against a wall and say 'This is one of our bad days,' and pull the trigger."
But, sadly, there was more. The ad also praises the "Iraqi insurgents" who are trying to kill American troops:
The Bush Bunch calls the Iraqis insurgents. Did you know that Britain called the American revolutionaries insurgents and traitors? The Iraqis aren't insurgents. They're Iraqi patriates [sic] who want us the hell out of their country, and we should get the hell out of their country now!
Once again, siding with the enemy like this isn't opposing war, it's, well, siding with the enemy. (Not to mention flunking spelling.) And Kerry has trouble even talking about trying to win the war:
During a question-and-answer session with the audience, retired college professor Walter Daum angrily accused Kerry of backing an imperialist policy in Iraq and called on the candidate to demand the immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops.
"You voted for this," Daum shouted. As he spoke, a group stood silently and unfurled a large sign that read, "Kerry take a stand: Troops out now."
"You're not listening," an exasperated Kerry said at one point.
Later, speaking with reporters, Kerry dismissed the notion of withdrawing American forces and indicated that if U.S. generals and other senior officials say they need more troops, he would back such a move. Bush at his news conference Tuesday night said he would support an increase in the military presence in Iraq.
"I think the vast majority of the American people understand that it's important to not just cut and run," Kerry said. "I don't believe in a cut-and-run philosophy."
Kerry's problem is that a lot of the Democratic base -- and in particularly a lot of the noisy Democratic base -- sees things differently. He's gotten into the race by stressing his differences with Bush on the war, but he's going to have a hard time being elected if he can't stress his differences with the anti-American elements within his party.
As this example demonstrates, that's going to be hard. But it seems certain that Kerry can't be elected President if he's seen as the candidate of a party that can't even spell the word "patriot."
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