It is utterly ironic that Kerry, who has by and large co-opted Howard Dean's populist message and anti-special interest stance is shaping up to be not just A major player in cash and carry politics, but THE front runner (again, ironically) in special interest donations. Remember, his stump speech culminates in the words "I have spent my entire career fighting the special interests, and I've only just begun." Seems his rhetoric has run into a brick wall of truth:
"Yesterday, the Washington Post reported U.S.
Senator Kerry has collected more money from special interest lobbyists than any other U.S. Senator in the last 15 years. Today Newsweek reports Kerry met with and personally corresponded with Johnny Chung who later pleaded guilty to illegally funneling money to Kerry's campaign. The Associated Press reports today that Kerry's tax-exempt political committee gathered donations from groups with direct interests before Kerry's Senate committee."
Imagine, of all the corrupt bastards in Washington, Kerry has the WORST record of them all (you can also see his voting record during this same time period
here). Can there be any more debate of substance over whether or not Kerry is not only the worst and most shameless candidate on the stage in terms of 'business as usual' politics, but by and large the WORST candidate to go up against Bush? Rhetoric can only take you so far, and given that he may very well be even MORE beholden to special interests than Bush, he cannot successfully attack against Bush on these issues or other key issues such as No Child, Patriot act, war in Iraq and all the other bills he voted for. Kerry is a serious liability to the Democratic party, and if he is nominated I predict a crash and burn that will leave Bush in power and Democrats looking dumber by the minute.
During the course of this debate I have said all along that Kerry is not only co-opting the popular themes of the Dean campaign, but that words alone mean nothing and therefore this tactic will ultimately be his undoing. Hopefully the media will run with this and prove me right.