StudioGlyphic

The AP's Ron Fournier has one of the better New Hampshire stories: "Kerry establishes himself as front-runner with N.H. victory."

Fournier's story is better because he actually reports the vote percentages for Kerry and Dean in the third paragraph. Some of the stories I've seen bury the results a bit further down. The New York Times and LA Times use phrases like "overwhelming defeat" and "far-off second," making the results sound worse than they are (in my opinion). Dean had an uphill battle after Iowa, and I think the ground he recovered is well deserved.

Anyway, back to Kerry:

[Kerry] assumes the weighty mantle of front-runner, a title that drew scrutiny to Dean's record and every lapse.

"He hasn't been in that position," Dean said of Kerry in an Associated Press interview. "We'll find out what happens."

Actually, Kerry was in that position pretty early on, and as I recall, he got flak for ordering provolone on his cheesesteak sandwich (apparently cheeze whiz is the appropriate and authentic choice) and for coming across as a man who wouldn't normally eat a corn dog at a state fair. The wingnuts derided him for being "French-looking." All of which is pretty stupid.

But Kerry does deserve flak for a lot of the important things that make him so dislikeable. I won't list them all here. Mickey Kaus has some pretty good anti-Kerry stuff on Kausfiles that shows him as the aloof, political-wind-watching bore that he is.

The man who joined the Navy because he wanted to be President said this in response to some of Dean's criticism:

"I vote my conscience. Unlike Howard Dean, I've fought in a war and I know the responsibilities of commander in chief, of how you send young men and women off to war," Kerry said, touting his service in Vietnam.

One would think that with the experience of Vietnam (the lies about the Gulf of Tonkin, lost friends and comrades), Kerry's vaunted foreign policy experience in the Senate, and his understanding of how the Bush administration operates, Kerry's conscience would have demanded that he vote against the Iraq resolution.

Unfortunately, Kerry is driven by a desire to be President that outweighs his desire to do what's best for his country.

Fuck Kerry. We're taking him out.