"Stop crying in your teacups..." - John Kerry [View All]

[Meldread]

“Stop crying in your teacups. It isn’t going to change. Get over it.”

That was the response of John Kerry to a liberal who condemned the theft of the presidency by George W. Bush. If the sentiment sounds familiar, that’s because it isn’t original. Kerry borrowed his words from America’s vapid conservative posse for whom chanting the phrase “Get over it” constitutes a dazzling display of wit.

Plagiarizing witticisms from Ann Coulter is not an endearing trait for a potential Democratic presidential nominee. It is one thing for liberals who are still incensed about the stolen election to be treated contemptuously by right wing banshees – it is an entirely different matter to incur such disdain from a man who seeks to be our champion.

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Siding with Bush on the theft of the election, supporting an illegal war, gutting the Bill of Rights, voting to confirm extremist judges, and misusing education money to buy favorable news coverage for Bush comprise a track record that is unlikely to inoculate nominee Kerry from a crippling third party challenge. His record of accommodating the Republicans will prevent him from easily moving to the middle - where elections are won - because a significant number of liberals will hesitate to throw their support behind a candidate who has so frequently abandoned them.

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During his years in Washington, he has been a bloodless technocrat who has watched passively as three Republican presidents have lied and cheated and broken the law. He was a warrior in the battle against Vietnamese communism, but he has been a conscientious objector in the fight against American fascism. While he was undeniably brave in opposing his enemies on the battlefield, his conduct in the Senate has frequently been craven. He has not been a leader, he has been a follower, and all too often he has followed the wrong party.

The upcoming presidential campaign will require extraordinary vigilance on the part of the Democratic nominee. Bush is a con man who will tell Americans anything they want to hear. The Democrat cannot win by politely reciting policy positions – he must repeatedly confront his deceitful opponent in order to show voters that they have been swindled. It will be an arduous process requiring an advocate who can persuasively convey a sense of righteous indignation, and John Kerry has never demonstrated that he is capable of summoning the indignation necessary for the task at hand.

Read it all here.