He's No Tony Blair

Jim Geraghty is on Kerry's case, as usual. But this time he's basing it on the blogging work of Instapundit (Glenn Reynolds), whose politics and mine have been flowing the same way the last four years (voted for Gore in '00, "libertarian, pro-gun and pro-gay marriage, ... not exactly a natural Bush supporter"):

Forget missteps like his dissing of our allies in Iraq, Australia, and Poland — which drew a stinging response from the Polish President ("It's sad that a Senator with twenty years of experience does not appreciate Polish sacrifice.") Now even Kerry is admitting that he's not going to be able to deliver on his promises:

Democratic presidential nominee Sen. John Kerry conceded yesterday that he probably will not be able to convince France and Germany to contribute troops to Iraq if he is elected president.

The Massachusetts senator has made broadening the coalition trying to stabilize Iraq a centerpiece of his campaign, but at a town hall meeting yesterday, he said he knows other countries won't trade their soldiers' lives for those of U.S. troops.

"Does that mean allies are going to trade their young for our young in body bags? I know they are not. I know that," he said.

Body bags. This sounds like the John Kerry of 1971. I can't help but think that, for Kerry, every war is Vietnam. And if he's President, I'm afraid that might turn out to be the case.

Yes, and so am I. And then Geraghty flashes the bullet that Bush dodged this year:

Now - picture the Democrats nominating a candidate who takes the war on terror seriously, who wants to finish the job in Iraq, and who doesn't see every foreign policy issue as a rerun of Vietnam.

A Tony Blair-style Democrat would probably be trouncing Bush right now. Karl Rove & Co. are very lucky to have the opponents they do.