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a berlin blog |
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Thursday, February 26, 2004 EndorsementThe New York Times makes a solid argument for John Kerry next Tuesday -- he has gravitas and experience, write the editors, and we need those qualities in the White House for once -- while my wife, a New Hampshire Yankee, says she's impervious to "that whole Southern charm thing." She doesn't trust John Edwards.But the thing about Edwards is how hard the press and conservative blogosphere have fallen for him. Sullivan (scroll down) thinks "Edwards is winning the smart vote." Still, whatever Sullivan thinks he means, "smart vote" here just means sharp, with it. Because not much divides Kerry and Edwards in substance: Their voting records are parallel. (Links are to Vote Smart Senate histories.) They both voted for the Bush tax cuts, but against making them permanent (a decent combination), for the Patriot Act (pfui), and in favor of trendy, lawyer-full-employment-act things like expanding the definition of "hate crime" (useless). Both have back-pedaled on the Patriot Act, but Edwards did it first, in urgent, convincing language. Kerry has a war record and talks with more authority about foreign affairs. I reject his blather about September 11 as a "crime" — it was an act of war — but at least he recognizes better than George Bush just who the enemy is. "One would think," wrote Kerry in an op-ed piece for Forward, "that an American president who threatens the world by announcing 'you're either with us or you're with the terrorists' would be particularly troubled by the actions of the Saudi regime. But then one would be underestimating the hypocrisy that has become the hallmark of the Bush administration." Which almost tilts the balance. I want a president who talks like that about the Saudis, and about alternative energy sources (later in the piece). I just can't tell how serious he is. I suspect Kerry will be a business-as-usual Democrat — a relief from Bush, but still more hat than cattle. Edwards is young and energetic enough to pull a Gavin Newsom: He just might do something terrific and new. Combine that with his crossover appeal ("Edwards wins Independent-Republican votes without alienating Democratic voters," claims a pro-Edwards site, convincingly), not to mention the likelihood that Kerry will win the nomination anyway, and you have a first-ever Radio Free Mike endorsement, in the spirit of boosting the man's chances to be VP: John Edwards for President! posted by Michael Scott Moore | 6:43 PM | |
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