I was going to post more about the uber-meaningless Kerry story, but August pretty much said everything I want to say (and he said it gooder with lotsa purty words):

There's an unwarranted hate of John Kerry from a lot of people on the left, and it defies all the other rhetoric they've made for so long to the point of making me wonder if a lot of them are just hypocrites. Howard Dean gets digital fellatio on a daily basis for his long-term, 50-state strategy. Yet Kerry may very well have opened the door to a new trend where- gasp!- Democrats actually fight back against right-wing bullshit, and it's deemed as detrimental to a week from now. You have no right to praise a long-term strategy if you don't admit that if all the Democrats from here to '08 start responding the way Kerry responded yesterday, we'll take the country in a landslide.

After '04 a lot of you savaged a man for not punching back against a smear job. If you're saying today that the same man would be a dangerous candidate for finally being willing to do it, you should admit you've been a liar for the last few years. And if you're pissed that I'm accusing you of lying, well, bite me. Because I'm not really angry at John Kerry today. I'm angry at the guys cancelling their appearances with him and proving they're just the weak-kneed Democrats Republicans need to win elections against. And that a lot of you aren't angry at those guys too when you were angry at Kerry up until 24 hours ago for the exact same reason is telling.

There’s much more here.