"FANTASY WORLD OF SPIN"

For what it's worth, if anybody's living in a fantasy world of spin, it's John Kerry. Only that's not quite the right word. He's fallen asleep in a politically correct and somewhat out-of-date textbook.

Allies on Iraq is Exhibit #1. France and Germany have made it clear that they will not commit more troops to Iraq. Other nations have contributed, admittedly not much by comparison to the total cost, but why should they? It's your classic free-rider problem. As for France, they've insisted that a conference on Iraq must include the insurgents! France wants President Kerry to sit at the negotiating table with mass-murdering thugs like Zarqawi. (Admittedly, he'd be in his element, having done deals with murderous totalitarian thugs in Vietnam and Nicaragua in the past. Coddling dictators seems to be his favorite hobby, after windsurfing.) We won't get more foreign help in Iraq. Not a chance. I'm pretty sure we never could have, indeed I'm impressed that we got as much as we did. But we certainly can't now.

"Just because this president can't do something, doesn't mean it can't be done," says Kerry. An arrogant line. But arrogance isn't the real problem. Arrogance I could forgive. If a presidential candidate is capable, knows he's capable, and tells us he's capable, that would impress me. The problem is unwarranted arrogance. A blustering braggart, with nothing behind the words.

Bush is closer to reality than Kerry. But will the public be smart enough to figure that out, despite Bush's nervous, fidgeting, inexplicably pink face, his exasperating repetition?