Hugh Hewitt explains why Senator John “I voted for it before I voted against it” Effing Kerry will lose this fall.

And I loved this part of Dick Cheney’s speech yesterday, in which he gutted the putative Democrat nominee’s “nuance” like a Rocky Mountain trout.

A few days ago in Pennsylvania, a voter asked Senator Kerry directly who these foreign leaders are. Senator Kerry said, “That’s none of your business.” (Laughter.) But it is our business when a candidate for President claims the political endorsement of foreign leaders. At the very least, we have a right to know what he is saying to foreign leaders that makes them so supportive of his candidacy. American voters are the ones charged with determining the outcome of this election – not unnamed foreign leaders…

… Senator Kerry speaks often about the need for international cooperation, and has vowed to usher in a “golden age of American diplomacy.” He is fond of mentioning that some countries did not support America’s actions in Iraq. Yet of the many nations that have joined our coalition – allies and friends of the United States – Senator Kerry speaks with open contempt. Great Britain, Australia, Italy, Spain, Poland, and more than 20 other nations have contributed and sacrificed for the freedom of the Iraqi people. Senator Kerry calls these countries, quote, “window dressing.” They are, in his words, “a coalition of the coerced and the bribed.”

Many questions come to mind, but the first is this: How would Senator Kerry describe Great Britain – coerced, or bribed? Or Italy – which recently lost 19 citizens, killed by terrorists in Najaf – was Italy’s contribution just window dressing? If such dismissive terms are the vernacular of the golden age of diplomacy Senator Kerry promises, we are left to wonder which nations would care to join any future coalition. He speaks as if only those who openly oppose America’s objectives have a chance of earning his respect.

Anti-semitic loon Mahathir Mohamad has endorsed him.

“I think Kerry would be much more willing to listen to the voices of people and of the rest of the world,” Mahathir, who retired in October after 22 years in power, told The Associated Press in an interview.

“But in the U.S., the Jewish lobby is very strong, and any American who wants to become president cannot change the policy toward Palestine radically,” he said.

[Update at 3 PM PST]

I guess that Mr. Kerry isn’t thrilled with that particular endorsement. In fact, now he’s finally caught a clue, and changed his tune (what a shock):

This is one of the many reasons that I don’t like the Bush administration, though there’s no reason to suppose that a Democrat would be any better (Clinton certainly wasn’t). The “Drug Czar” says:

John Walters, in Las Vegas to push for a crackdown on the abuse of prescriptions drugs, said legalizing marijuana is “not an area for legitimate debate.”

No, it’s only an area for spewing nonsense by imperious federal officials.