Kerry as McGovern
It looks as though the Kerry as McGovern meme is officially out of the bottle.

Stanley Kurtz describes the basic battle in the upcomming election as a competition between two 'ideas'. In full:

1. Knowing President Bush has no positive achievements to run on, and desperate to prevent revelations under a Kerry presidency of the cooked intelligence and profiteering behind the disastrous Iraq war, the Republican attack machine has orchestrated a professional hit job on John Kerry's character and military record. The story of Kerry's wartime heroism puts the Vietnam-era cowardice of the president and vice president to shame. In doing so, the Kerry story exposes Bush's sham connection between "tough" foreign policy and patriotism. So to win the election, there was no choice for Bush but to destroy Kerry's reputation — by any means necessary.

2. Knowing that a post-9/11 America will never elect a president with his McGovernite views, John Kerry has deliberately obfuscated his beliefs on war and foreign policy (as he obfuscates nearly all his liberal views). To distract from his dovish Senate voting record and its origins in his radical antiwar activism, Kerry organized the Democratic convention around his Vietnam exploits. Kerry's fellow veterans had been stewing for years over the fact that he'd thrown away his medals and built a political career by accusing them of atrocities. The thought that Kerry might now become president by actually bragging about his medals, and his plucky band of brothers, was too much for them to take. With the help of the blogosphere, these vets are now forcing the truth about John Kerry's dovish views onto a liberal media that would rather change the subject.

Now forget about what you may feel about el Shrub and examine Kerry's Senate voting record. Now that you've read all of that, which scenario above appears to be more accurate?

Shame
Is this real? I don't know. But if it is I expect lots of people to spend a long time in jail. We are better than this.

The Mirror, Mirror Kerry.
This 'alternative historical fantasy' by Glenn Reynolds precisely illustrates what I wanted to hear from the opposition candidate. And you know what? There was a candidate making these sorts of noises: Liebermann. Unfortunately, the 'Deaniacs' and the 'Naderites' would have openly revolted at this message. What I wouldn't give for a Democratic party who's agends wasn't scriped by Michael Moore. Maybe if Kerry gets trounced the Democrats will remember again why Clinton worked, and Gore didn't.

Then again, maybe not.

So who thought this whole Vietnam thing was a good idea for Kerry anyway?
Here is a timeline of the Kerry campaign for the month of August, collated by Chris Lynch. I think the term everyone is searching for is 'unmitigated disaster'.

I think Bob Dole sums things up effectively:

"One day he's saying that we were shooting civilians, cutting off their ears, cutting off their heads, throwing away his medals or his ribbons. The next day he's standing there, 'I want to be president because I'm a Vietnam veteran."

"Maybe he should apologize to all the other 2.5 million veterans who served. He wasn't the only one in Vietnam,"

More from Kerry, trying to 'help' I guess:

KERRY: "... in '92, I said to all the swift guys that I wasn't talking about the swifties [in the Winter Soldier testimony], I was talking about all the rest of the veterans."

Endgame?
One of the constant themes of this past millennium was the conflict between Islam and Christianity on the world stage. The Crusades were and attempt at unilateral intervention by the western powers at the request of the Eastern Roman Empire against the Caliphate of Islam. The Ottoman Empire carried the banner of Islam to Vienna. The Reconquista of Spain was at the expense of Al'Andalusia.

For the past couple of centuries, things have gone rather downhill for Muslim polity. Central Asia was divided between China and the Russian Empire. The standard bearer for Islam for 500 years, the Ottoman Empire, was carved into statelets by the West. Even worse, Kemal Attaturk made Turkey into a secular 'western' looking nation by charging his military to control the extreme adherents of Theocracy.

But then, in 1979, the tide began to turn.

Throughout recorded history there is one Nation, one Empire, one region that has been the chief adversary of Westerrn civilization: The Empire of Iran and Not Iran, or Persia thanks to Herodotus. Agamemnon. Darius. Xenophon. Xerxes. Marathon. Thermopalyae. Later in history there was the first Cold War, between the Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantium) and the Sassanid Emprire of Iran.

More important than the names, or the dates is the fact that the People of Iran remembered. And when Khomeni promised them renewed greatness by overthrowing the 'American puppet government' of the Shah, well, we know the results of that.


But in many ways, that single event can be considered the resumption of the war of ideas between Islam and the West that was the inheritor of a much older conflict.

Now things have changed again.

The other day, Iran delivered an outright ultimatum to the 'EU-3' group in regards to nuclear disarmament. Instead of halting their pursuit of Nuclear weapons in a negotiated, reasonable, 'nuanced' manner, they have effectively told the EU-3 group to take a hike.

Why would they do this? With the American military on all sides and an Israel ready to strike at the first sign of imminent danger? The only reasonable conclusion is that Iran all ready has working nukes. And now, they have a ballistic missile system that can hit Israel directly.

In my opinion, this means the Theocrats of Teheran are ready for their final gamble. A winner takes all roll of the dice. If they succeed, if they destroy Israel and survive the experience (we know that Israel will vaporize as much as she can as she goes down), they will inherit all that remains of the Muslim world. If Teheran declares war on Israel, every Muslim government that fails to do so as well will most likely fall to internal revolution, and join the jihad - and yes, I'm including Iraq in this. We may be about to witness a pointless orgy of destruction ranging from Cairo to Islamabad. And to be frank, I'm not certain there is anything we can do at this point. The IAEA has failed. Non-proliferation has failed. The West has ultimately failed.

I think, given time, the people of Iran would have removed the Theocracy that they stumbled into. But 'time to let things develop' is a luxury in the Middle East that may have just expired.

McGovern makes another appearance on the National Stage
Tacticus over at Red State had dissected an interview of Kerry and Edwards by NPR. He clearly and convincingly illustrates Kerry's plan for Iraq: complete withdrawal.

Do people really think this is a viable plan of action at this point? That Iran will simply recork their nuclear ambitions? That because there is still violence instigated by Baathists holdouts, fundamantalistic jhadis and Sadar's militia that this is the 'Will of the Iraqi People'? In spite of all evidence to the contrary?

Iraq can and will be our greatest ally and asset in reforming the middle east away from pre-Reformation Islam. All we need to do now is Stay. The. Course. Anything else will simply prove what a paper tiger we are, and we should simply start taking lessons in Mandarin now.

The beginning of the End for Kerry?
Swift Boat Veterans for Truth has created a scathing 'political ad' about Kerry's Vietnam service. To say it is 'extremely damaging' for someone who has been so strongly touting their qualification based on their military service is an understatement to say the least.

I've been wondering for a while if Kerry's contributions to the anti-war effort once he returned from his service would 'come home to roost'.

The take-home quote from the site:

For more than thirty years, most Vietnam veterans kept silent as we were maligned as misfits, addicts, and baby killers. Now that a key creator of that poisonous image is seeking the Presidency we have resolved to end our silence.

UPDATE: Aparently, the Kerry campaign has decided the best way to deal with this is through legal action. Developments to follow...