July 13, 2004
IT'S NEVER TOO LATE FOR FOUR MORE YEARS OF CARTERISM:
With Friends Like Kaus...: Kerry can’t stop the endorsements. (Russ Smith, 7/13/04, NY Press)
A NAGGING SPLINTER in John Kerry's manicured pinky fingernail this past year has been the commentary of blogger Mickey Kaus (kausfiles.com), a former New Republic writer and disciple of Michael Kinsley, who regularly suggests that the senator fares better with the public when he's in seclusion and therefore unable to utter yet another policy contradiction or embarrassing gaffe. Yet Kaus, despite his carping, admitted last week that he donated $300 to the Kerry campaign, coupled with this confidence-inspiring endorsement: "We survived [Jimmy] Carter and we'd survive Kerry (though it will be a long, hard slog!)"This rationale escapes me, considering Carter's image as a doormat abroad and his atrocious economic record, but Kaus is a lifelong Democrat and believes the country needs a "break" from George W. Bush's "swagger" and "apocalypticism."
That's too bad, as well as being humiliating, Mr. Kaus never seemed like that diehard a partisan hack.
Posted by Orrin Judd at July 13, 2004 9:25 PM
Mickey seems to revel in Kerry's numerous faux-pas and may have made his decision simply on the ability to access four years of raw meat as a basis for his weblog entries.
I suppose you could call that enlightened self interest, since it would earn more hits for his website. But given the beliefs of many of the people who would surround Kerry -- including, apparently, the candidate himself -- that we should return to the pre 9/11 policy of treating terrorism as an international police action, self-interest in terms of good copy for Mickey and self-preservation as a resident of Los Angeles (a city no doubt high up on the terrorists' target list) may not be compatable goals.
Posted by: John at July 13, 2004 9:34 PMThe only explanation:
Kaus suffers from Demo-tribalism ..
"You don't have to fall in love," Hillary Rodham Clinton reportedly reproved a top Democratic fundraiser who was recently moaning about Kerry's lackluster performance as a candidate. "You just have to fall in line."Posted by: Uncle Bill at July 14, 2004 9:59 AM