About That Midnight Kerry Rally

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Don't you think it is spelled this way:

D-E-S-P-E-R-A-T-I-O-N?

Why would a presidential campaign take sucn an unprecedented step? Probably because the campaign's chieftains said to themselve, "Uh-oh, this is slipping away from us; we need to do something to get into the news cycle and stop Bush from getting a bounce. Let's hold this rally and make some outrageous statements about Bush and Cheney's Vietnam war era service, and then the news stories will focus on what we said rather than on Bush's speech. Maybe we'll look desperate, but at least we'll divert attention from the GOP and slow down their momentum."

Can anyone doubt that's why Kedwards is doing this?

Here's how John Podhoretz saw it:

Still, the president didn't go for Kerry's jugular by any means. Yet, only
an hour after Bush finished, there was John Kerry live at a midnight rally in
Ohio, going for the throats of Bush and Cheney himself.

In a speech angrier than Zell Miller's, Kerry raged: "The vice
president even called me unfit for office last night. I guess I'll leave it up
to the voters whether five deferments makes someone more qualified to defend
this nation than two tours of combat duty."

Several problems here. First, Cheney said no such thing. Second, Kerry
sounds rattled, and that's just not a very attractive quality in a presidential
candidate or a president.

I have a feeling it's going to be a long couple of months for John Kerry.

You can read the rest of the Podhoretz column here.