SLIMING KERRY


John Kerry has all but wrapped up the nomination and drawn to a dead heat with Bush in the national polls. All of a sudden, a salacious rumor about Kerry and an intern comes to light. How conveeeeenient.


I of two minds on this one. On the one hand, it would a shame for this country to decend once more into the Clinton-era slimepit of picadillo politics. The stakes are simply too high - we are after all in the middle of a war. Is our collective amnesia so great that we forget the "Wag the Dog" circus that spun Clinton's strikes against al Qaeda as a overreaction to the threat. By sticking with Kerry, Dem voters can send a message to the GOP that we're not playing by your rules any more.


On the other hand, unlike Clinton who brought far more to the table than his electability as a centrist governor, electability is pretty much all Kerry brings to the table. Without a doubt, the freshest domestic policy proposals have been put forward by Edwards, while the only serious foreign policy proposals came from the now defunct Lieberman and Clark campaigns. And for all of his foibles, Dean has provided a breath of fresh air. So, if the only reason to nominate Kerry is that he can beat Bush, and this most likely Rovian piece of "gutter politics" has worked as intended and therefore makes him less likely to beat Bush, shouldn't Dem voters have second thoughts about handing him the nomination? Is denying a victory for GOP tactics really worth risking a victory for GOP policies? It's gotten ugly and its only going to get uglier.



IN ALL FAIRNESS ......


I wasn't being particularly fair to Kerry in that last post, so I want to set the record straight. I think there are a number of areas where Kerry would do a fine job as president: fiscal policy, trade policy (an issue where I actually prefer him to Edwards, who has come out against a free trade pact with Australia. Australia?? Is there any country sufficiently developed that we can have free trade with?), and the environment (especially climate change). But with respect to foreign policy, I've made it pretty clear I think he'll be as succesful as Jimmy Carter circa 1979, and I find him as inspring as coffee table. But I'd much rather him go down on his merits than have the country distracted by weeks of tabloid nonsense.