Waffler Hunter D

Saletan gives an interesting defense of Kerry on Slate. He breaks down Kerry's anti-war (for once) speech yesterday. I think Kerry's speech was a move in the direction he should've been going all the time, but he's squandered most of his credibility at this point. Alter hacks up the Shrumite judgment that led to this situation, which would make sense if you viewed Bush as roadkill to be run over. Problem is, Bush has shown nothing but dynamism in his campaign. The wise strategy was ALWAYS to make this about Iraq and Bush's terrible management of it. Remember, half the country disagreed with it in the first place.

The only advantage he has is the obvious Iranian Centrifuge Crisis and Bush's utter delusion and one-dimensional image in foreign policy, that today he is attempting to fight back. Condi Rice's dismal performance on the Today Show against Matt Lauer (who would've thought he would've been the one to pitch hardball questions? Honestly it was the toughest interrogation of Condi I've seen since the 9/11 Commission!) showed just how much bad faith they're acting in. Kerry has a lot to overcome, though. In the Damn Lies And Statistics Department Kerry's got nothing but pressure and trouble

At least this Nader defeat has taken him out of the equation in several states. That's bound to help!