I love Kerry’s fact-finding mission. Tour the region, support the troops, actually meet with the leaders of Iraq’s neighbors. Talk about actions over words. While Bush is off playing with his new puppy, Kerry’s at work, and I know a lot of people were pissed at him for not being there during the Ohio challenge, but I think this was a great way to show that he’s actually concerned about the war, about how it’s being fought and what is happening to our troops.

He’s obviously looking at another run and while I’m not sure he’ll be the best candidate four years from now, that actually makes me pretty happy. For too long we’ve treated our former candidates as if they have diseases. We’ve ignored the contributions they could have made if we’d kept them in the fold and acted very ashamed of our losses like good little Republican-dominated submissives. We should have taken a real long look at Carter and McGovern and yes, Dukakis said hey, these guys stood up for our values and have things to say and we voted for them and we’re happy about it so fuck you, okay, you cat-killing, tit-covering, gay-hating freaks?

I think over the next four years, Kerry’s going to become a leader in the party, the leader he really wasn’t before he ran for president. And I also think that instead of deciding it’s finally time to “say it,” and bash him, we might continue to display a little of the progressive unity we were so busy patting ourselves on the backs for just a few months ago, and say hey, regardless of what happened at the ballot box, this is a good man, doing good things, and that’s the kind of Democrat we need.

A.