A fascinating little tv moment.
Was just watching Judy Woodruff interview Rep. Norm Dicks (D-WA), a Kerry supporter, about Kerry being "weak on defense," and citing the RNC talking points on how Kerry "voted against 16 different weapons systems."
Woodruff runs down the list of weapons systems in her most snide tone, saying "the list goes on and on...." Dicks, very calmly, takes her head off by pointing out that all those weapons systems were included in a single defense appropriations bill against which Kerry had voted, not 16 different votes which is what the RNC (and Woodruff) are trying to suggest. Woodruff, sensing humiliation, tries to cut him off with a raised voice, asking incredulously, "Are you trying to claim that all these weapons systems were part of a single appropriations vote?" Dicks replies, again, "Yes, that's what I'm telling you." Judy, in obvious panic, quickly changes the subject, but Dicks' (sadly) unspoken accusation lingers over the broadcast like a foul odor: "Are you a real journalist or do you just read off the RNC blastfaxes?" Alas, we all know--even Judy, now--the answer to that question.
Three other unrelated points, while I'm here and spending one of my two allotted daily diaries:
First, apropos of kid oakland's diary a few days back on Kerry and Catholicism, I thought it was interesting that in the CNN footage of Kerry talking about fighting Social Security cuts today, you can clearly see the smudge of ash on his forehead from attending Ash Wednesday Mass. Not hugely significant, but it does help to underscore kid o's point.
Second, there's an interesting (if a little sloppily written) postmortem of the primary campaign by Elizabeth Drew in the NY Review of Books, which emphasizes in particular the way Clark got screwed by the process and the press. Drew was a fairly prominent Clark-booster in the press, so her pro-Clark perspective is not exactly a surprise, but for this mourning Clarkie, it's still nice to see the General get some props.
Third, I posted this in an earlier thread, but I thought it was worth posting again here: Check out this incredibly harsh editorial cartoon about the gay marriage issue running in the most prominent (and broadly conservative) newspaper in the South. It gives one hope that this thing could turn into a major disaster for Bush.