Barely Liberal

However, after Bush's attempt to tar him as a bleeding heart, I thought I had it wrong -- so I checked the website of the National Journal, the source cited by Bush as branding Kerry the No. 1 liberal of our time. As is his habit on so many things, Bush had the facts wrong. The career voting record of the "Massachusetts liberal" ranks him as only the 11th most liberal, behind current colleagues from Iowa, California, Illinois, Minnesota, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Vermont and Maryland -- and his running mate is a miserable 27th.

Amen

My God. Still three weeks to go before this glut of shameless hypocrisy called Election 2004 is over, assuming – of course – that we don’t have another debacle that leaves the decision up to the Supreme Court. I’ve been around politics for nearly 40 years and thought I had seen and heard it all, but this campaign comes down to the nastiest, most issue-challenged contest of the past four-decades. On the surface, we should have substantial issues: an unpopular war where Americans die for a cause that’s not quite clear, an economy that can’t make up its mind if it wants to go up or down, millions of Americans without proper health care and a standard of living that can best be described as “nervous.” Instead, the issue comes down to a choice between two deeply-flawed candidates, neither of whom can claim the high ground on honesty, leadership or values. George W. Bush wouldn’t recognize the truth if it walked up and kicked him in the balls (assuming he has any) and John Kerry changes his stories so often it’s doubtful he even knows what’s truthful and what’s not.