By the end of the 2004 elections I was persuaded that John Kerry would make a good president. I still think that's true. But he'll clearly never be a good candidate, and for better or worse, that's a prerequisite. How the fuck did he let this become front page news less than a week before an election the Democrats actually have a shot at winning?
If there's a silver lining, maybe it's that this will convince the party to shut him out in 2008. Now if only Hillary would shoot herself in the foot before the Republicans have a chance to shoot her in the head.
I'm still holding out hope for Edwards -- and I'm even willing to give the New Al Gore of a few months ago a look -- but Blank Obama may be the best bet. I wonder if he'd be as good a president as he is a candidate.
Update: It should go without saying that the Republicans are cynically making a mountain from a mole hill here. That's what they do (or, less partisanly, that's what happens in politics). That's why I blame Kerry fault for making the mole hill in the first place, and for handling the response so ineptly. First, the joke itself was a cheap attempt to generate attention. Congratulations, it worked. Second, if you're not capable of telling a joke, don't attempt it. Third, the joke wouldn't have been funny if it landed, and didn't even have a sound premise. Even if you're of the Bush-is-dumb school (and I'm not), it was clearly not his lack of intellect that got us stuck in Iraq. The chief architects of the war -- Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, et al -- are all indisputably smart folks. Then Kerry botched his counter-response, first refusing to apologize, then doing so repeatedly and lamely, setting up the genuinely funny line that he was for the joke before he was against it. But what really pissed me off was his insulting first try at a response. "The White House�s attempt to distort my true statement is a remarkable testament to their abject failure in making America safe. It�s a stunning statement about their willingness to reduce anything in America to raw politics.� Yes, how dare they reduce my joke about the president at a campaign rally to raw politics.
