KERRY, KERRY QUITE CONTRARY

Kerry, Kerry, quite contrary, How do your coffers grow? With 527s and 501s, And ugly little Soros's dough.

For the junior senator from Massachusetts, there's no escaping the fact that August was one long, hot month. (Hum. Maybe that's why he spent so much of it windsurfing.) And the rest of the season could shape up to be even more inclement for John F. Kerry. My clever jingle notwithstanding, the candidate has good reason to be contrary: No matter how rapidly his coffers have grown, his political fortunes are now shrinking at an alarming rate. If this downward trend continues, I forecast disaster. After last week's resoundingly triumphant Republican National Convention, it would now seem that even Soros's treasured billions are going to be inadequate to the task of staving off John Kerry's own personal Hurricane George.

Among the chattering classes, most of the pontificators seem to blame Kerry's plummeting prospects on those ill-spirited, pesky Swiftees, who keep pummeling the embattled Democrat nominee with all manner of negative weather; whereas still others blame the less-than-convincing presidential contestant himself for the sudden turn in the tide of his affairs. After all, he has remained stoically — and, some charge, stupefyingly — mum in the face of the most scurrilous attack of all, an all-out assault upon the very citadel of his honor.

I blame Terry McAullife and the too-clever-by-half strategists who put Kerry in this untenable position in the first place. Regardless of the talking points the paid party rationalizers lay down, the core problem for the Democrats precedes the Swiftees; it precedes climatic conditions; and for that matter, it precedes the candidate himself. The fatal blunder was made the day the party selected John Kerry as its presumptive nominee — period. Dean the Screamer would have been a better choice. And it now appears that the regrettably lackluster Joe Lieberman, who gained the least traction of any Democrat on the primary trail, would have been debatably the best choice of all.

Why? Because, for one thing, the Democrat leadership's arch preference for Kerry now seems in hindsight to have been either over- or under-contrived, depending on how you look at it. This man's personal landscape is fraught with mines, yet no one at the DNC seems to have made any honest effort to defuse them in advance. As a presidential contender, Kerry, the little-known senator and erstwhile controversial war hero turned protestor, is caught in one hell of a Catch-22, a classic humdinger that would make even Joseph Heller think twice: Snagged between the horns of Vietnam and his apathetic Senate record, he has nothing whatsoever in his arsenal that is unequivocally redemptive to run on.

Also, a Dean ticket would have been much more intellectually and morally forthright, crystallizing the clear-cut philosophical divide in the national debate, by setting the anti-war flank firmly at odds with its pro-war opposition. As Tony Blankley, editor of The Washington Times, observed, pitting two nominally pro-war candidates against one another represents the height of tactical madness. And that absurd, doomed stratagem may well result in political suicide for the Democrats.

On the other hand, Lieberman, who was widely dismissed and even scoffed at by the more rabid left-leaning constituency which now dominates his party, rightly divined the strategic reality to which their partisan hatred has all but blinded them: That in this election, the war on terror is the overriding issue, and that, to prevail, the Democrat contender must be strong, consistent, and ethically credible enough to persuade the undecided among us that he can not only command our troops in a manner befitting their chief but also govern in a fashion more sensitive to social and fiscal concerns. (It's worth noting, this is the same hardcore constituency of hate that drove "mad as hell" Zell Miller scowling into Manhattan.)

In other words, our average Joe saw what their sophisticated Terry did not: When it comes to the war on terror, Americans are not divided. Our collective reaction to 9/11 proved that beyond all reasonable doubt. And counter to official DNC cant, most Americans do not actively differentiate the war in Iraq from the larger assault on civilization we call "terrorism." As to the absolute necessity of routing this insane fanaticism in all its pernicious forms, Americans are of one mind, one heart, one purpose. Americans remain united in their determination to decimate deranged militants who plow planes into buildings and gun down defenseless children as they run. And now that the war in Iraq is all but over, who can truthfully say, in retrospect, that the world isn't better off with Saddam Hussein behind bars while some 25 million of his former subjects now live in freedom?

And all this is owing almost entirely to the hurricane-force strength of one man, George W. Bush!

Because of his resolve, that deal is done, and the Middle East now has egalitarianism within its long-range reach. And egalitarianism will bring, trailing in its protracted wake, peace; and peace will bring civility, and civility an end to this senseless reign of terror.

Of the Presidential candidates for 2004, only one adjudges this to be the elevated and noble calling of generations, not the scattershot, rickety creation of a few months' combat. Only George W. Bush is willing to make the lasting commitment of resources that redrawing the world's ideological map requires. And if the president's consistency is arguably his greatest virtue, then the senator's inconsistency is doubtlessly his biggest vice.

It remains to be seen whether a very contrary Kerry, whose midnight off-color tirade fades aside his rival's soaring primetime rhetoric, can pull his swiftly beaching hull out of the ground. Frankly, I think this old soldier's gone soft. True, a lot can happen between now and November, but I'm willing to go out on the plank: I predict the Democratic challenger will take a bath.

And as far as I can see, all the 527 and 501 spongy dough the other George can deliver will be insufficient to resuscitate this drowning man's hopes, nor will it match the real George's authentic high seriousness. I now pronounce the Kerry candidacy DOA — though, in truth, it never lived.

Although no one could have foreseen it at the time, the idea of John Forbes Kerry as president went down finally and forever with his supremely hapless brethren some 35 years ago in that murky Mekong Delta.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Karen Hathaway Pittman is a freelance writer and published poet whose work regularly appears on Wednesdays on A. M. Siriano's websites, www.amsiriano.com and www.amgoodnews.com. She is also a Guest Writer for Opinion Editorials, a featured columnist for The Rant, and opines for numerous other websites as well, including ChronWatch and MichNews. Several of Karen's commentaries have been recognized by Townhall and added to its archives. Her article "Goodbye Natalie: Dixie Chick Eats Crow" won Opinion Editorial's Best of 2003 Award, and further earned the distinction of being the most popular (most widely-read) op-ed in that e-zine's history. Her rants typically generate considerable attention and no small amount of controversy. Her style is as acerbic as it is witty. Occasionally resplendent, often raucous, always refreshing, her no-holds-barred, tell-it-like-is commentary not only informs — it entertains. She's the Lay's Potato Chip of political punditry: You can't read just one! Enjoy!

It would be interesting to know if "ugly little Soros" actually shelled out the dough he promised to the DNC. Soros is a cutthroat skinflint and he always expects a return on his investment. Soros may not be happy that his boy, Kerry, is floundering.

But we mustn't make the critical error of being over-confident and relaxing, because the election is not untill November. Also the Dems are certainly capable of trying to steal it again. If you can't win at the ballot box, you can try for the electronic vote.

This author is well spoken for the most part, and clever. The only thing is that she's preaching to the choir, when it's the undecided, the independents, that need to be reached.

And all this is owing almost entirely to the hurricane-force strength of one man, George W. Bush!

Hurricane analogies are going to go over big in Florida...:)

Of the Presidential candidates for 2004, only one adjudges this to be the elevated and noble calling of generations, not the scattershot, rickety creation of a few months' combat.

Sheesh, I'm going to vote for Bush already, but an undecided might be turned off by the purple prose. This is just my opinion, and the author does have great talent, on the whole.

Democratic strategies.
The turning point came two years ago with the election of Jeb Bush, whom Mc Auliffe announced defeated at great fanfare and dubbed: One Bush at a time.
Jeb Bush's win caused a in his face explosion and uproar threatening the firing of Mc Auliffe.
This defeat blamed on Mc Auliffe led to the realization that the upcoming election to depose the other Bush can not be won with conventional election strategies and means.
What followed was a hate Bush strategy. The insider Edwards so precisely explained this as the splitting up into two America's.
The Iowa primaries needed to be corrected by Mc Auliffe when Howard Dean the far out frontrunner announced he would fire Mc Auliffe.
High alarm set in, as Clinton's control over the Democratic Party could be maintained only through Mc Auliffe.
Never mind that Howard Dean was the real true representative of Democrats.
All taxicabs to be rescinded, out of Iraq, end the war, pass things along to the UN. include Europeans before decisions are made.
Former Presidents Carter, Clinton; Ted Kennedy, Gore, interst groups, joined in all out defamations. Media support materialized.
The Clintons toured Europe and created anti Bushis'm or current anti Americanism over there which Kerry later used as justification for his Presidency.
What followed was: Kerry got a $6.5 million bank loan backed by Teresa's heritage, then gunned down Dean with slander in Iowa.
Most important, the main stream media suddenly and mysteriously dropped the way out front leader and previous darling: Howard Dean.
Currently, Kerry when facing the limelight, shudders as several of his campaign claims can not stand daylight.
On top of it, the electorate over these two years of slander, defamation, belittling developed a solid case of immunity similar to what happens when antibiotics are abused over extended periods of time.
Kerry recognizes that he is howling into the wind, as his wails no longer resonate.
The upcoming two months period will be one of a Kerry reinvention by appealing to basic instincts.
Telling people that they would be much better off when this new Kerry Government lends support to individuals, unions, interest groups, disatvantaged, aged, etc. with "sufficient" monetary dosages.
The promise of a Kerry fata morgana will pulled up to reverse Kerry's fall-off and demise.

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