Kerry, Kerry, Quite Contrary...

Jeez. Ol’ J-Frickin’-K sure lit off a firestorm, didn’t he? At one point yesterday fully half of memeorandum’s page was nothing but Kerry, Kerry, Kerry. And the poor SOB actually made things worse with his “statement” about how the Republican Smear Machine misquoted him; that he didn’t insult the troops, he was actually insulting Dubya, Dubya’s war policy, the President’s men, yadda, yadda, yadda. And the usual suspects rose up to defend Kerry for “fighting back.” (no links, I’m sure you know who I mean) One of the funnier things I read is that this lil flap is Kerry’s “Fox News Moment,” referring to Bubba’s calculated blow-up vis-à-vis Chris Wallace on Fox News Sunday a while back. The key difference, of course, is that Clinton has more political skill in his little finger than Kerry will ever have. Proof? Kerry is withdrawing from the field, temporarily or otherwise, canceling all of today’s political appearances in Minnesota and one with/for Bob Casey in Philadelphia this evening. Kerry’s cancellations came after Iowa congressional candidate Bruce Braley cancelled Kerry’s invitation to appear at a rally, a fact not noted in the CNN link, above. CNN would like you to believe Kerry did the canceling. But, I digress. CNN:

Kerry's office said two House campaign appearances by the senator also have been canceled -- by mutual decision -- so as not to "allow the Republican hate machine to use Democratic candidates as their proxies in their distorted spin war in which once again they're willing to exploit brave American troops."

The SOB Kerry really is tone-deaf, isn’t he? Republican hate-machine exploiting the troops. Oh, that is just SO rich! That aside, I think the Dem (Dim?) power-brokers just might have been in contact with J-Frickin’-K last night. Just sayin’.

Stealing a line from Bill O’Reilly, I’ll “give the last word” on this subject to Jonah Goldberg, who wrote an op-ed in the Salt Lake Tribune:

But whether or not it was a joke, it certainly sounded like Kerry was talking about the troops, because that's the way Kerry talks about everything. Kerry's a bit like one of those cavemen from the Geico commercials, only he's a throwback to a slightly more recent era: Vietnam. All of his ideas were formed from his experience as an anti-Vietnam crusader. He may have run as a born-again war hero in 2004, but his political career was founded on his activism against a war he repeatedly labeled a crime.
That's why few gave Kerry the benefit of the doubt. The idea that the military is the last refuge for the lumpen-proletariat is a Vietnam-era chestnut that continues to pop up in liberal talking points. It wasn't very accurate during Vietnam, and it's even less so now. A timely study of the demographics of enlistees in our all-volunteer military found that the share of recruits from the poorest American neighborhoods has declined steadily since 1999 and throughout the war. Moreover, "U.S. military enlistees are better educated, wealthier, and more rural on average than their civilian peers."
 

Kerry thinks it's unfair for Republicans to seize on his comments, and to an extent he's right. He obviously didn't intend to insult America's servicemen and women. But Kerry fails to understand that he -- like so many fossils of his generation in the Democratic Party -- sounds like he's frozen in the past. The Democratic position on Iraq is that it's Vietnam all over again, and the only time Kerry ever seems sure of himself is when he's reprising his anti-Vietnam schtick.

Goldberg is correct. OLD liberals still believe that ol’ chestnut, as Jonah calls it. The younger ones? Not so much, I think, but that’s my gut call. But Kerry is an OLD liberal, and he’s repeatedly demonstrated old-line Liberal thinking, to his detriment. And by the way, that study Goldberg quoted? It’s here.

This is very interesting. Ruth Marcus, writing in the WaPo:

If Democrats win control of the House next week, Nancy Pelosi's first test as speaker will arrive long before the 110th Congress convenes. Her choice to head the House intelligence committee -- unlike other House committees, this one is left entirely up to the party leadership -- will speak volumes about whether a Speaker Pelosi will be able to resist a return to paint-by-numbers Democratic Party interest-group politics as usual.

Pelosi is in a box of her own devising. The panel's ranking Democrat is her fellow Californian Jane Harman -- smart and hardworking but also abrasive, ambitious and, in Pelosi's estimation, insufficiently partisan on the committee. So Pelosi, once the intelligence panel's ranking Democrat herself, has made clear that she doesn't intend to name Harman to the chairmanship.

The wrong decision, in my view, but one that's magnified by the unfortunate fact that next in line is Florida Rep. Alcee Hastings. In 1989, after being acquitted in a criminal trial, Hastings was stripped of his position as a federal judge -- impeached by the House in which he now serves and convicted by the Senate -- for conspiring to extort a $150,000 bribe in a case before him, repeatedly lying about it under oath and manufacturing evidence at his trial.

Ordinarily, that might doom Hastings's chances, but the situation is further inflamed by racial politics: Hastings is African American, and the Congressional Black Caucus has made it clear that it will not tolerate his rejection. Another black lawmaker, Georgia's Sanford Bishop, was passed over to accommodate Harman, who reclaimed her seniority when she returned to Congress in 2000 after a gubernatorial run. And the black caucus is still smarting over Pelosi's move to oust Louisiana's William J. Jefferson from the Ways and Means Committee after the FBI found a freezerful of cash in Jefferson's home.

Ms. Marcus goes on to detail the specifics of Hastings’ trial and the subsequent congressional investigations that ultimately led to his impeachment, conviction, and removal from the federal bench. What troubles me is the intransigence of the Congressional Black Caucus. Their backing of Hastings as the potential head of the Intelligence Committee, and their anger at Pelosi’s appropriate actions against Representative Jefferson sure as Hell doesn’t look good. Not at all. From where I sit, the CBC’s actions look much more like “defending their own,” rather than serving the needs of the country. I have a problem with that. And so does Captain Ed:

The CBC's spokesperson told the Post that its first order of business is to protect its members. Apparently, that takes precedence over protecting America, and the CBC views Intel as just another means to divide spoils. They also insist that Hastings has the knowledge and the experience in intelligence work. If they're referring to his clandestine work, they certainly have a point.

This is what a Democratic majority will bring.

What he said.

 

Today’s Pic: One of those guys Kerry insulted in his Class A Uniform, taken last month in San Antonio. Lookin’ Good! As always, click the pic for the larger version.

BTW, The Captain posted his quarterly update, in case ya missed it.