(not so obscure reference to this hilarious piece)

updated: Don't just take my word for it, go see what Lawrence Kaplan at The New Republic says along these same lines, but far more eloquently than I can.

So Kerry says he "knows what to do" about Iraq. I am glad HE thinks he knows, since he didn't bother to enlighten us as to what should be done. He delivered his entire thoughts on the matter in two sentences. Many are wondering how he can be taken seriously on this when he hasn't presented his plan. They are falling into the thought pattern Kerry and company hopes they will. They are buying into the hawkish tone emanating from Kerry and believing he is prepared to deal with this issue seriously and effectively. The truth is that he has no position. Or several, contradictory positions. He is trying to sound hawkish so as to win some votes from those who believe that national security is the biggest issue in this election. But he can't elaborate to much, lest he offend some of his base since a large part of it is very much anti-war.

Which brings us to Kerry's real problem. He is the most liberal senator we have, but he needs centrist votes to win the election, therefore he has to hide from his biggest backers. The MoveOn, Michael Moore, and Answer crowd are anathema to middle America. So, even though you know for a fact that he supports gay marriage (ed. - being libertarian minded on social issues, so do you! granted - yahoo), he has to pretend not to. Even though he supports abortion rights, he has to use his religion to try to moderate it by claiming to believe life begins at conception. Even though Fahrenheit 9/11 is wildly popular with his backers, he has to distance himself from Michael Moore. Even though his "final answer" seems to be that the war in Iraq was a mistake, he has to sound like he will handle the ongoing conflict better than Bush.

Since Kerry couldn't talk about any of these issues that he really believes in and that his supporters believe in, we get to here all about his Vietnam service. Funny, when it was Dole vs. Clinton, Vietnam was an ancient past issue. Of course it was - and still is. Lucky for him to, since he came home and accused his fellow troops of atocities and threw somebody's medals away. The only thing else left for him to talk about was the usual Santa Claus crap: Kerry will wave a magic wand and provide health care for all, fix social security, find a treatment for AIDS, Parkinson's, and diabetes, and fully fund our first reponders and schools - all while balancing the budget by taxing the evil rich. Funny thing is, I quit believing in Santa Claus after a few years of not getting even some of the stuff I asked for.

I will go on record to predict that Kerry is going to discover that middle America sees through all of this. Even if they don't yet, do you honestly believe that the Bush people aren't going to make hay out of this? The Dems would have been far better off nominating Edwards. Unlike Kerry, he is charismatic and has no record. Kerry has to live down a vote for a $.50 gas tax, a vote against every weapons system, a vote for the war Iraq, a vote against funding the war, a vote for the Patriot Act (which is unpopular among libertarians and true conservatives), a vote against welfare reform, a vote against banning gay marriage, and too many flip flops to list here.