Say Anything Blog

Ellen Goodman, nationally syndicated columnist for the Boston Globe, is a liberal icon, no small accomplishment in a state that boasts Ted Kennedy and John Kerry as its two US Senators… that is, if “boast” is the proper term where those two are concerned.

Goodman brags that she has been a Kerry supported forever. Or at least since the Red Sox shipped the Bambino off to the Yankees, whichever came first. According to Goodman, she has voted six times for John Kerry (which suggests that she should have paid closer attention to the fact that Kerry had no plan for dealing with the impending Social Security crisis.)

But in her column this past Friday, Kerry’s most voluble journalistic supporter announces that "every Democrat's favorite second choice" as she refers to Kerry, is really a pretty lousy presidential candidate. Reviewing the wreckage of the last presidential campaign, Goodman notes,

This time, the stalwarts were convinced they'd found a moderate who couldn't be polarized. But he was. They thought they found a decorated veteran -- three Purple Hearts, a Bronze Star, and a Silver Star -- who couldn't be trashed. But he was.

Kerry is not the only one…who cannot believe he actually said of Iraq war funding, ''I actually did vote for the $87 billion before I voted against it."

But he did. And that’s the point. Goodman again,

Kerry is a politician who has more policies than ideas. Ask what he believes in and the answer is a 10-point plan. He ran a cautious campaign against a reckless commander in chief. And while caution is not a moral failing, Kerry's gut seems to have a surgical bypass through his cranium.

Watching Kerry get cranked up for another run in 2008, the speeches, the obligatory OpEds in all the right papers, the public appearances, Goodman notes,

Watching his warm-up, I'm reminded of a parking place in my neighborhood. It looks open and tempting. But over it is a sign that warns: Don't Park Here. Don't Even Think About It.

John, please. Don't even think about it.

That it has taken a Democrat doyen like Goodman nearly 3 years to figure this out speaks volumes about the modest intelligence and sparse rationality of today's liberal left. Doesn't anyone over there know how to play this game?