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# Posted 12:27 AM by Ariel David Adesnik

THE ENIGMA OF JOHN F. KERRY: His politics are liberal, but his behavior is conservative. He carefully weighs the evidence before making decisions. He balances his positions in order to offend as few audiences as possible. Or at least that is how I thought of John Kerry before his interview this past Sunday on Meet the Press.

This new John Kerry advanced a bold proposition sure to bring an avalanche of criticism down on his head. Tell the Iraqis they must form a government by May 15, or our troops go home. Period.

In a sense, Kerry is following the precedent set by Al Gore. Liberated by his defeat at the polls, he no longer must bear the burden of his party's hopes. No longer will his every word be dissected on the front page of America's newspapers.

Like Gore, Kerry has taken advantage of his liberation to stake out a position far to the left of the one he established as a candidate. So is this now the "real" John Kerry? Or is this simply a John Kerry who inferred from his defeat, as numerous Democrats have, that the American voter prefers men of conviction and self-confidence, rather than deep thinkers? In other words, is this just the old Kerry conservatism in a new guise, reflecting the Senator's most current analysis of how to be popular?

I don't have answers to these questions. I think any answer would be speculative at best. What I do know is that Kerry's new position on Iraq amounts to utter nonsense. In the next post, I explain why this is the way I feel.

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Comments:

John Kerry politics are sort of like a drunk guy hitting on a woman. It doesn't work all the time and people often laugh at you, but every once in a while you get laid. (laid being the senate equivalent.)

# posted by

Anonymous : 1:14 AM

Mebbe he still wants to be President, and figures the only way to do that is to outflank the junior Senator from New York on the left.

# posted by

Anonymous : 12:02 PM