The Columbia Journalism Review's Campaign Desk continues to embarrass itself. They wrote a long, indignant post early this morning insisting that the race is "too close to call" and castigating Fox, NBC, and MSNBC for doing so. This is nonsense. The proof, of course, is that nothing has changed since last night and Kerry is nonetheless conceding the race. Will the Campaign Desk now jump all over John Kerry for his reckless "rush to judgment"?
The other, bigger news is that Kerry is conceding. Good for him. John Kerry ran this whole race on borrowed time. He was left for dead just a few days before the Iowa caucuses and he shocked the world with an amazing comeback. All things considered, he ran a good and honorable campaign. Today he leaves the Democratic party beaten, but, I would argue, in better shape than it was last winter when he rescued it from Howard Dean.
He ran a good race, and is now passing the test of defeat. If his concession speech is as gracious as I think it will be, then I think he'll deserve to be remembered fondly by America.
I hope the rest of America will applaud Sen. Kerry and thank him for his service. We tend to forget that even people who lose elections are doing good work for our republic. John Kerry deserves our gratitude and well-wishes.
52 minutes ago
3 comments:
what i fail to still understand in all of this is what is it that bush will do for this country which makes him more of an american? i ask this with the utmost respect and sincerity. i no longer understand, besides birth, who is and is not an american. i can not grasp the state of mind of a true american. who is the quintessential american?
I'll come to Jonathan's defense to a degree (though I do not share his unnatural Kerry lust).
Kerry did the right thing in the manner in which he conceded (though it could have been timelier...it was clear late last night that they were done). His campaign was nasty, insinuating, vacillating, dishonest, disfigured American Catholicism, and cultivated some of the fever swamps in politics. He deserves no good memory for that. However, given the Gore precedent, he could have made this a lot uglier than he did. Just listen to Edwards' speech to hear a faint echo of the rancor that could have been.
So as bad a candidate as he was, he was a good loser. That's worth a thank you, even if we can simultaneously be glad to see the back of the man and recall his candidacy with odium.
Well, Drew, I don't take Kerry seriously. I believe he will likely return to reactionary liberalism in the Senate. I think he's a pretty dreadful person, callow, with a boundless sense of entitlement, and a preening moral vanity and inability to reconsider any decision he's ever made. He thinks he's the smartest, best guy who ever lived.
BUT, what I'm saying is that in this instance, for whatever reason, he did the right thing. I don't know if I'd piss on him if he were on fire, but this one action goes into the credit column. He could have pulled a Gore, and one gets the sense that Edwards wouldn't have minded doing so. But Kerry, to his credit (even if it's the sole credit you give him ever), did the right thing in not dragging this thing out. (Though, as I said, he should have done so last night.) Even if he only did it because he thought the cause was hopeless. I don't care why he did it or what evil may lurk in his heart, but the action was correct. So I credit it to him. Even if I'm not likely to agree with him again during his public life.
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