[SunkenCiv]

Excellent!

The Trouble With Kerry
by Mickey Kaus

It doesn't help that Kerry is not well-liked in Massachusetts ("We're all trying to put our arms around him," said one beefy Irish pol at the Kerry victory party in Manchester, N.H.) or that he has broken his word when it's in his interest to do so--as when he broke a heralded spending-cap agreement with his GOP rival, William Weld, in the closing days of his 1996 race... Kerry protesting the Vietnam war by throwing someone else's medals away resonates uncomfortably. Kerry wasn't willing to take the risk of parting with his own medals. They might come in handy some day! Even in his moment of maximum political bravado he was cautious... It doesn't help that Kerry has a tendency to play the voters for fools--letting them think he's Irish (when he's not) or letting them think he's cleaner, in the campaign contribution department, than he really is.(e.g., saying he takes no PAC money but accepting unlimited "soft money" contributions to his Citizen Soldier Fund.) Or letting them think he gave up his own medals.

[hunter112]

One of the things I appreciate about Mickey Kaus is his coining of a word that will come in handy for the next seven months, to describe Kerry's behavior -- the word is panderflip.