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Don’t miss “The Curse of Kerry” by National Review editor, Rich Lowry.

November 2, 2006 — WHAT a pathetic spectacle John Kerry has become. Twenty-four hours after his instantly infamous “botched joke,” he was back in Washington – pulled off the campaign trail as shrewd Democrats hoped he would (please, dear God) stop trying to explain himself.

Radio host Don Imus caught the sentiment perfectly when Kerry made an unsolicited call into his program. “Please stop it,” Imus pleaded. “Stop talking. Go home, get on the bike, go windsurfing, anything. Stop it.”

Kerry embodies the old saw about the Bourbons, “They learned nothing and forgot nothing.” He hasn’t forgotten the Swift Boat attacks on him from 2004, but also has learned nothing of use from them – except the mistaken lesson that he should respond venomously to any and all criticisms.

Hence, his initial rant in response to the controversy, personally insulting Tony Snow (“a stuffed shirt”) and Rush Limbaugh (“doughy”) and lambasting his critics generally as “crazy” chicken-hawks.

Markos Moulitsas, the leader of the left-wing blogosphere from his perch at Daily Kos, pronounced himself much pleased: “Kerry responded perfectly.” It was the blogosphere that encouraged Kerry to believe that what cost him the election in 2004 was that he hadn’t denounced his detractors angrily enough.

Even if that were true of 2004 (it’s not), it was exactly the wrong prescription for de-fusing his “botched joke.”

Read the whole article here. It’s good stuff.

This entry was posted on Friday, November 3rd, 2006 at 12:30 pm and is filed under General, politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.