Wow.

The business of (unsuccessfully) discrediting Kerry goes back a long, long time. You know, in my mind, that's pretty impressive, that Nixon, of all people, bothered to assign somebody to discredit Kerry. That's, like, some serious antiwar street cred. (Said in my best Old-Hippie-speak, even though I was eleven in 1971 and thus am not really quite old enough to be an old hippie.)

And speaking of hippies, The Nation has some stuff to say on the subject of liberals and values:

"Values" is one of those bland, spongy, good-for-you words that are the verbal equivalent of tofu: It means whatever you want it to mean. As for "conservative," in certain key states that's a synonym for "not a crazy hippie," and by that definition Kerry undoubtedly qualifies.

And that's the thing - Kerry may have been a war protestor, but he was the straightest of war protestors, a genuine decorated vet. A crazy hippie he's definitely not.

Bush has been on a roll the last couple of days:

We actually misnamed the War on Terror. It ought to be the Struggle Against Ideological Extremists Who Do Not Believe in Free Societies Who Happen to Use Terror as a Weapon To Try To Shape The Conscience Of The Free World.

to which Wonkette replies:

And this lengthy sound bite also reveals a real rift between Bush and some of his supporters. Apparently, 9/11 is sort of incidental to his foreign policy -- the hijackers just "happen to use terror as a weapon." Like they picked up some airplane tickets at the checkout stand or something. Whether or not they use terror, it's the "ideological extremists who hate free societies" that Bush has a problem with, and in that case, we look forward to his upcoming invasion of the Justice Department.

I kind of love Wonkette.