Ridiclueless

Don't read further in this story without first listening to this brief excerpt from John Kerry's comments on the Republican convention (play audio).

Ooops, sorry - that was Doug Neidermeyer from Animal House. I'll find the Kerry audio later.

While I'm searching, read Susan Estrich again:

You can't just answer the charges. You can't just say it ain't so.

You have to fight fire with fire, mud with mud, dirt with dirt.

The trouble with Democrats, traditionally, is that we're not mean enough. Dukakis wasn't. I wasn't. I don't particularly like destroying people. I got into politics because of issues, not anger. But too much is at stake to play by Dukakis rules, and lose again.

That is the conclusion Democrats have reached. So watch out. Millions of dollars will be on the table. And there are plenty of choices for what to spend it on.

I'm not promising pretty.

What will it be?

Will it be the three, or is it four or five, drunken driving arrests that Bush and Cheney, the two most powerful men in the world, managed to rack up? (Bush's Texas record has been sealed. Now why would that be? Who seals a perfect driving record?)

After Vietnam, nothing is ancient history, and Cheney is still drinking. What their records suggest is not only a serious problem with alcoholism, which Bush but not Cheney has acknowledged, but also an even more serious problem of judgment. Could Dick Cheney get a license to drive a school bus with his record of drunken driving? (I can see the ad now.) A job at a nuclear power plant? Is any alcoholic ever really cured? So why put him in the most stressful job in the world, with a war going south, a thousand Americans already dead and control of weapons capable of destroying the world at his fingertips.

It has been said that in the worst of times, Kissinger gave orders to the military not to obey Nixon if he ordered a first strike. What if Bush were to fall off the wagon? Then what? Has America really faced the fact that we have an alcoholic as our president?

Or how about Dead Texans for Truth, highlighting those who served in Vietnam instead of the privileged draft-dodging president, and ended up as names on the wall instead of members of the Air National Guard. I'm sure there are some mothers out there who are still mourning their sons, and never made that connection. It wouldn't be so hard to find them.

Wow - an insult to the many fine men and women of the Guard. Nice work. (I know - you're thinking Karl Rove plant - me too. But you know those Republicans are just a bunch of drunken frat boys.)

Here, I found the Kerry quote I was looking for (play audio).

Crap - sorry, Neidermeyer again. Wait, be right back. While I'm searching read this AP story.

WEST ALLIS, Wis. - President Bush on Friday wished Bill Clinton "best wishes for a swift and speedy recovery." "He's is in our thoughts and prayers," Bush said at a campaign rally. Bush's audience of thousands in West Allis, Wis., booed. Bush did nothing to stop them.

Powerline has more, including a roundup of links detailing the spread of the story.

But here, I finally found the Kerry audio clip. It's a powerful message to America, and likely to be the underlying theme of his inaugural address (play audio).