new Charlie Pierce article on JK 2004 and 2012

[MBS]

BOCA RATON, Fla. — What a strange time it must be to be John Kerry. Absent a few thousand votes, and not a little chicanery, in the state of Ohio, he might be wrapping up his second term as president right now. He would have won election in the first place partly by virtue of having won all three of his debates against the incumbent, George W. Bush. That turned out not to matter at all. Instead, he is playing the challenger, Willard Romney, in debate practice on behalf of the incumbent, Barack Obama, who clearly won two of the three debates, and that is turning out not to matter very much at all in an election that may come down essentially to... Ohio. Late Monday night in the spin room here, after Romney's preposterous performance in a debate that was ostensibly about foreign policy, Kerry's persona seemed locked halfway between sheer incredulity and utter gobsmackery.

"What you saw tonight was the difference between a commander-in-chief and a campaigner in confusion," Kerry told a group of us. "Mitt Romney was able to recite Wikipedia facts about a country, but he had no policies. . .
. . .Kerry, of course, is said to be in line to replace Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State in the eventuality of a second Obama term, so a lot of what he was saying was pure good-sailorism on behalf of the ticket and (to be completely honest) in advancement of his own career. But as a serious man who's taken on serious issues in his time — Google "Kerry + BCCI" some time — his astonishment at Romney's apparently bottomless well of cynical opportunism seemed utterly genuine.. .
"It's always a tight race for president. Look at Gore. Look at my race. It's always tight. The country is divided."
It must be a strange time to be John Kerry. Eight years ago, he got tagged as a flip-flopper who was for things before he was against them. This year, on behalf of a Democratic incumbent, he has been tasked with embodying a man who has turned being for things before he was against them, and against them before he was for them, into a kind of political performance art. And it's selling. Strange time to be John Kerry, indeed.

Read more: http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/john-kerry-debate-2012-14022079#ixzz2A8xzwzYL

[politicasista]

1. Kick.

The articles and you all have said things better than most. Was wanting to post about this, but it was beating a dead horse, so deleted it.

Just going to say it seems that Senator Kerry can't win either way. Glad he is able to be himself, despite the naysayers.