oh john kerry, why couldn't you be this man two years ago?

Kerry Sharply Criticizes Bush on Several Fronts

my favorite part of this article:

A Roman Catholic who has struggled at times to talk about his own faith, Mr. Kerry also told the group that he believed "deeply in my faith" and that the Koran, the Torah, the Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles had influenced a social conscience that he exercised in politics.

"I will tell you, nowhere in there, nowhere, not in one page, not in one phrase uttered and reported by the Lord Jesus Christ, can you find anything that suggests that there is a virtue in cutting children from Medicaid and taking money from the poor and giving it to the rich," Mr. Kerry said.

i have to wonder, where was this "tough" (meaning, tougher than what he offered then) talk during the last election cycle? this morning Kerry appeared on Meet the Press, and Tim Russert read a statement made by John Edwards (you'll remember him as the Ken Doll-ish man who ran with Kerry). Edwards said, quite strongly in the statement, that he was wrong to vote to authorize the war in Iraq. The intelligence was wrong, there were no weapons, and on and on and on.

I have held, and may have said here before, that Kerry could have easily combated his image as a "flip-flopper" by taking the offensive, and saying "I am not", rather than attempting to educate the American populace (who pay little attention to politics as a whole) on the nuances and message contained in each of his votes. For example, voting to authorize the war, and then voting against more funding; the public saw it as flip-flopping. Kerry wanted us to understand his reasoning: 1., he could not vote against the war retroactive one year, meaning he could not now vote against a war based on faulty intelligence. 2., he didn't agree with the method of the war, as in the way the money was being spent, the fact that the war was continuing, etc.

anyhow, i still believe all mr. Kerry had to do was say, a la Oprah on James Frey, "I was duped." I would have said, "I was lied to, presented a very convincing case by Colin Powell. Had I known the intelligence amounted to lies, as I know now, I would never have authorized this cluster-fuck we now find ourselves in. But I was duped. And you, America, were duped as well. You should be outraged, as I am, that our leaders would deliberately mislead us; join with me in assuring this will never again happen. "

i suppose i could console myself with a "better late than never" outlook; but no, this simply reminds me that i have a lot of work to do before the next round of elections.