Bad Day for Democrats

John Edwards is Kerry's running mate. Yawn. I think he is a safe choice, he is known to the press so there won't be any surprises a la Eagleton and McGovern in 1972. Otherwise I think that the value of running mates is over sold. Edwards will be OK.

I am more concerned about the Democratic party decision to be Republican light. Democracy Now reports that the platform committee is too chicken to call for support of the Kyoto Treaty on global warming.

I know that Kerry is better than Bush, but isn't that too low a standard? How hard is it to be better than Bush? I prefer Kerry judicial appointees to Bush judicial appointees, assuming Orin Hatch allows any appointments. I have decided to go with the convictionless Democrat who doesn't know how to give anyone a reason to vote for him.

I do expect Kerry to walk the walk should Bush mess up enough to help him get elected. In 2000 Bush pretended to be a moderate and promptly came out of the closet as the most right wing president in American history. If Kerry lives up to his current lame approach progressives must not take it lying down. I think we will have to fight in January no matter who wins.

The biggest fight on our hands is going to be over the Middle East. If Kerry believes that "Israel's fight is America's" then Israeli oppression of Palestine will only worsen and Arab and Muslim world opinion of the U.S. will also sink even further. Kerry's plan for Iraq is Bush's plan for Iraq. Edwards also voted in favor of the occupation.

A Kerry administration will be better domestically but if we don't speak up about the Israeli elephant in the living room then the deaths of Afghans, Iraqis and American troops will have been for naught. Our country will be as susceptible to terror as it was on 9/11 and millions of people around the world will hate us even more than they do now.

By the way, Democracy Now also has good information on the phony Saddam statue toppling and the erosion of our right to speak with an attorney confidentially.