Kerry reaches out to key Mideast ally

John Kerry shows us all how to reach out to other nations:

"The prime minister and the president are here obviously to put their best face on the policy, but the fact is that the CIA estimates, the reporting, the ground operations and the troops all tell a different story."

In case PM Allawi didn't understand that Kerry was accusing him of lying, Kerry advisor Joe Lockhart spelled things out in greater detail:

While Kerry was relatively restrained in disputing Allawi's upbeat portrayal, some of his aides suggested that the Iraqi leader was simply doing the bidding of the Bush administration, which helped arrange his appointment in June.

"The last thing you want to be seen as is a puppet of the United States, and you can almost see the hand underneath the shirt today moving the lips," said Joe Lockhart, a senior Kerry adviser.

Welcome to the Kerry Administration's foreign policy. Oppose us, take every opportunity to thwart us, and we will grovel before you. Stand with us, support us, and you're a coerced, bribed puppet. John Kerry must not have read Thucydides when he was being educated in Europe: "We secure our friends not by accepting favors but by doing them."

As crass and insulting as the Democratic response to Allawi is, I think this strategy is not only destined to be a ballot-box loser, I think it was designed to be exactly that. Joe Lockhart, along with fellow Kerry advisors Paul Begala, James Carville, John Podesta, and Mike McCurry are all former aides to Bill Clinton. Early in the campaign liberals scoffed at claims by conservatives that Hillary and Bill were plotting to sabotage John Kerry's candidacy in order to pave the way for Hillary 2008. Lo and behold, a team of Clintonites swoops in to "invigorate" the Kerry campaign, and what happens? The wheels completely fall off.

The pathetic thing is, I doubt Kerry even realizes what is going on. He is surrounded by people who have a vested interest in making sure that an incumbent will not be on the ticket in 2008, and he doesn't have any core beliefs or ideas which he can stake out and claim for his own. If his advisors tell him one demographic wants to hear one thing, he will say it. If they tell him another group wants to hear something else, no problem, he'll take that position too. I think the Clintons knew this fatal flaw in Kerry's character, which is exactly why they sent in their old advisors. Kerry will do whatever he is told if he thinks it will help him win, regardless of any prior statement or position he has taken. I can just imagine Carville and Lockhart huddled up and giggling to themselves, "Let's see what we can get him to say next!"

You can almost see the hand underneath the shirt moving the lips. Ah, sweet irony....