Say Anything Blog

MSNBC is reporting that purported Vietnam veteran and US senator from Massachusetts, John Kerry, will endorse the candidacy of Barack Obama this afternoon.

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. - Barack Obama is being endorsed by fellow Sen. John Kerry, the Democrats’ 2004 presidential nominee who lost to George W. Bush that year with John Edwards as his running mate and gave up his own plans for a 2008 run a year ago.

Kerry, a senator from Massachusetts, planned to announce his support Thursday at a rally with Obama at the College of Charleston, arguing that the Illinois senator can best unite the country, said a Democrat familiar with the decision. Kerry was timing his announcement before South Carolina’s Jan. 26 primary, a contest that has taken on extra importance for Obama after Hillary Rodham Clinton beat him in New Hampshire…

Besides any potential help for Obama, the endorsement was a slap at Edwards, Kerry’s former running mate. The two had their differences during the campaign over strategy and spending, and Edwards has said he would have been more aggressive in challenging the unsubstantiated allegations of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth questioning Kerry’s military record.

What Edwards never really understood was that the Swift Boat Vets “allegations” were indeed substantiated, focused as they were on Kerry’s unfitness to serve as Commander-in-Chief.

Kerry, perhaps the most hapless presidential nominee in recent history, has yet to release his entire military records file as promised.

This is most likely an endorsement that Barack Obama could easily do without… and that’s being charitable.  But Kerry, who has yet to do something meaningful or substantial, couldn’t help himself, and Obama couldn’t stop him.

What’s interesting is that the practice of stabbing one’s former running mate in the back is becoming positively epidemic among Democrat candidates.  Bill Clinton stuck it to AlGore, who then put the knife in Joe Lieberman’s back.  And now Kerry passes the “favor” on to his former running mate, John Edwards.

There’s another Democrat convention this summer and another election in November.  Stay tuned.