There’s an article in The Times today about two Tory MPs who are ready and willing to go and help out John Kerry’s campaign against George Bush in the upcoming US presidential elections.
From what I’ve read of Kerry’s own words he seems perhaps the most vacuous politician ever; calling for Iraq policy to be ‘internationalized’ without specifying anything to achieve that end or indeed commenting on the ongoing drive for international involvement and legitimization of the June 30th transfer of sovereignty. He seems completely unwilling to nail his colours to any mast and doesn’t seem to stand for anything yet - presumably waiting for a time when he can choose his policies to grab the most votes. Indeed Mr Kerry seems to be a real-life manifestation of the ‘phony Tony’ caricature of Tony Blair that is so favoured by many Tories, which is what makes this news so entertaining.
Finally I think something needs to be said about the Conservative Party’s less than stellar campaign efforts of recent years. The only Conservative campaign that people talk about today is the old 1997 one, featuring the ‘Evil Blair-eyes’ that failed to stop a Labour landslide victory.
Kerry has spent the past 4 months campaigning against a Bush Administration which has been almost silent on the PR front and has been the sole target of a media war greater in strength and malice than anything in living memory. If Kerry’s the hunter then his quarry has been tranquilized, had a massive bulls-eye painted on its hide and is being held down by 5 burly woodsmen. Yet the man who is the de facto Democrat candidate still can’t hit the mark. It certainly doesn’t inspire the greatest confidence in his campaigning skills, so the addition of a couple of members of a party who’s own parliamentary, european and district council campaigns practically embody the term ‘lacklustre’ wouldn’t seem prudent by any standards.
Later
John
Posted by John Swaine at May 26, 2004 09:33 PM