Then there’s Mark Steyn’s view that “Kerry is this year’s Bob Dole – the guy you make do with.” I prefer the Internet line – anyone know who coined it? – that sums up the Dems predicament: “Dated Dean, Married Kerry, Woke Up With Bush.” The most entertaining Kerry-phobe, however, is Mickey Kaus. His blog will be unmissable this year – now that Mickey doesn’t have to deal with minor issues, like whether the country is going to be blown to smithereens by Islamist terrorists, and he can focus instead on the more pressing matters of Kerry’s past fudging on welfare reform. Go, Mickster! Jon Keller, in TNR, offers another version of Kerry’s potential:
Kerry wants to reimpose outdated Vietnam Syndrome on American foreign policy, reestablish an international order that collapsed on 9/11, and return Clinton-era phoniness to the White House without any of Clinton’s redeeming brass and Third Way creativity.
That just about sums it up. I wonder if there’s any Boston political journalist who isn’t a hopeless Democratic hack who has a kind word for Kerry? All the ones I come across don’t just dislike Kerry. They loathe him. I still think Howard Dean is a far better candidate for the Dems and actually more electable than Kerry. But, hey, I’m not a Democrat. And at the rate things are going, Kerry won’t even have to win this election. He can just hang around and wait for Bush to lose it.
TOTAL FRAUD: But of course, Kerry is on a crusade against “special interests” and lobbyists and all that uplifting sludge you hear spewing out of Bob Shrum’s Blackberry. Hmmm. If you’re spending a scintilla of a second considering whether this line is genuine, read this article. Money quote, which is, surprisingly enough, the lede:
Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.), who has made a fight against corporate special interests a centerpiece of his front-running campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination, has raised more money from paid lobbyists than any other senator over the past 15 years, federal records show.
If you’re a lobbyist, Kerry is the Real Deal. Please, Dems, take a second look at Howard Dean. He is the only candidate – including Bush – who has any intention of doing anything to restrain the current fiscal mess.
THE CULTURE OF DEATH: A couple of hundred people are dead because they were a little too enthusiastic about stoning the Devil. This happens every year. Is it culturally insensitive to ask whether there isn’t something profoundly awry about a religion that sends so many to their deaths as part of a religious duty? The Hajj minister in Saudi Arabia comments: “All precautions were taken to prevent such an incident, but this is God’s will. Caution isn’t stronger than fate.” Excuse me? God’s will to commit hundreds to their deaths? At the same time, Islamist fanatics murder scores by killing themselves in Iraq. What we have on our hands is, in some instances, not that far from a death cult.
AXIS OF EVIL WATCH: Gas chambers in North Korea. But Bush, according to the New York Times’ book reviewers, is more morally suspect than Kim Jong Il.
The Dish 