Posted 1:37 PM by Robert

Pathetic ... And Bound To Lose IX: Deja Vu All Over Again

Remember just a few weeks ago when the Democrats showed that they weren't interested in nominating that possibly crazy, venom-spouting guy from New England? I thought I remembered that too. But it seems I was wrong. The Democrats seem to have made Howard Dean their presumptive candidate after all. There's simply no other way to explain this report about the presumtive Democratic candidate's recent speech, where he spoke of the Administration (or "his Republican opponents") this way:

"Oh yeah, don't worry, man," the senator from Massachusetts responded. "We're going to keep pounding, let me tell you. We're just beginning to fight here. "These guys are the most crooked, you know, lying group I've ever seen," Kerry added. "It's scary."

Well, something here is sure scary - but Senator Kerry hasn't quite put his finger on "it." Let the media now reheat the old Howard Dean stories and ask: Is Senator Kerry nuts? Just like Howard Dean?

One of Howard Dean's most powerful labor supporters, Gerald W. McEntee, said on Thursday that he had decided that Dr. Dean was "nuts" ... "I have to vent," Mr. McEntee, the often blunt leader of the nation's largest public service union, said in a leisurely interview in his office here. "I think he's nuts." Mr. McEntee, who flirted with endorsing John Kerry and Gen. Wesley K. Clark before settling on Dr. Dean, said his union was probably going to sit it out for a while. "At this point, there's no way we're going to endorse anybody," he said. "I think we need a rest. Maybe in an asylum."

Mr. McEntee will likely be thankful that he took that rest after hearing John Kerry carry on this way.

And the looniness in his campaign machine doesn't stop with Mr. Kerry:

When asked for examples of crooked behavior by the GOP, [Kerry spokesman David Wade] cited doctored photos circulating on the Internet that depict Kerry sitting next to Jane Fonda at antiwar rallies during the Vietnam War and as a young Navy officer shooting a prisoner of war.

But no connection has been even suggested in any responsible quarter - never mind demonstrated - between that doctored John-Jane photo and the Bush campaign or any Republican organization or Fox News (which Mr. Wade also slimes). It is true that many people fell for the fake - regardless of political persuasion. Moreover, the fake photo is similar to the apparently real photo of John and Jane, although in the real photo they are sitting close to each other and not at the lectern. Mr. Kerry's aide thinks the fake photo libels the Senator - what does that say about the real one?

And while I have seen reference to a doctored photo circulating on the Internet that depicts young John Kerry shooting a prisoner of war, I have never actually seen it. I therefore rather doubt that it has achieved wide circulation, or that many fell for it - although I might be wrong. Of course, I can find no reference to any putative connection with any the Bush campaign or any Republican organization or Fox News.

Scary. Yes, "scary" is the word for it.

UPDATE: Reaction.

Kerry met with one-time rival Howard Dean to discuss an endorsement and what role the former Vermont governor might play in his campaign.

Maybe Dr. Dean is up for the roles of Kerry speechwriter and campaign cultural adviser? To judge from the Senators recent comments, those would seem to be perfect fits.