Hugh Hewitt - "This race is not about attack ads, " the New York Times quotes John Kerry as saying yesterday. "It's not about the destruction of personality."
Cue the video. This sort of whining means Kerry knows he's in for an awful week, and sure enough, he spoke those words yesterday and this morning brings word that a story is back from 33 years ago.
It is the medals story.
John Kerry's web-site says that it is a "right-wing fiction" that Senator Kerry threw away the medals awarded him for service in Vietnam during a 1971 anti-war protest. But the New York Times and ABC's Good Morning America have both launched attacks on Kerry's credibility on this issue, and reports from viewers in the east that have already seen the GMA show say that Kerry badly mishandled an interview this morning, lamely attempting to use the president's National Guard service as a diversion from the questions about the medals.
Many folks predicted that Kerry would melt down as soon as the friendly confines of the Democratic primaries gave way to the general election contest, but few predicted it would happen as early as April. The Washington Times reports that Kerry is trailing Bush in two key states that Gore won in 2000 --Michigan and Pennsylvania-- and that Bush is very close in other Gore states, including Iowa, Oregon, and Maryland --yes, Maryland!
To the bad's news from the medals front and the bad news from the polls, Kerry responds with another attack on his opponents, which does not impress voters. Karl Rove didn't throw the medals away, and Karl Rove didn't tell Michigan that he would make Kerry raise fuel efficiency standards to automobile-industry-destroying levels. No one at Bush-Cheney '04 made Kerry deny owning an SUV, and the Republicans can't be blamed for the public thinking it is deceptive and very bad form to try and distance yourself from the family car.
Then there is the foreign policy mess, and the Boston Globe reports this morning that Kerry's foreign policy team is struggling to figure out how to persuade America that they guy from the left edge of the Democratic Party, the one who was wrong about the Viet Cong, Pol Pot, the Sandinistas, the Soviets and now is wrong about the terrorists, how that guy is better equipped to protect the United States and lead the war. The Globe erroneously calls this a "PR fight over foreign policy," when it is in fact the central issue of the campaign, and the very definition of a substantive battle over crucial qualifications. Voters don't trust Kerry to prosecute the war against the terrorists, with fronts in Iraq, Afghanistan and around the globe. They do trust Bush.
So expect more whining from Kerry throughout the week about the Republican attack machine and attacks on his patriotism. When you hear those, keep this Washington Post piece from this morning in mind: "Democrats to target Cheney."
Whining is not a good quality in a candidate for the presidency. Neither is hypocrisy. |
