Sen. Kerry's Late As Usual

Jack Kelly today in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:

Sen. John Kerry always seems to be a day late and a dollar short.

On Thursday, Sen. Kerry traveled to South Carolina to endorse Sen. Barack Obama for president: "Who better to turn a new page in American politics?" Sen. Kerry said at a rally with Sen. Obama at the College of Charleston. "We are electing judgment and character, not years on this earth."

There is nothing wrong with the choice of Sen. Obama to endorse, or (for Democrats) the reasons Sen. Kerry gave for endorsing him, which included Sen. Obama's opposition to the war in Iraq "from the beginning."

But the timing was weird.

Had Sen. Kerry endorsed Sen. Obama on Monday, on the eve of the New Hampshire primary, the endorsement might actually have helped Sen. Obama. Sen. Kerry crushed Howard Dean there in the 2004 primary, 38.4 percent to 26.3 percent, so his endorsement might have swayed some Democrats.

And if Sen. Kerry had endorsed Sen. Obama then, it would have been a major feature of the last news cycle before New Hampshirites went to the polls. Instead, it was dominated by Hillary Clinton's crying, and by her put down of two sexist hecklers, both of which apparently helped her a great deal.

Sen. Kerry got creamed in the South Carolina primary in 2004, and this year Democrats won't vote in South Carolina until Saturday, the 26th. His endorsement has much less value here than it would have had in New Hampshire.

All that it really does is torque off his running mate in 2004, Sen. John Edwards, who is the guy who creamed Kerry in South Carolina. […]

The rest of Kelly’s column is here.

COMMENTS:

Yes, Kerry's late again

He’s years late on his promise to release to the public all his Navy records.

And remember in 2004 Kerry telling us about those European leaders Kerry said whispered to him they wanted him to be President?

Kerry still hasn't named even one of them.

He said months ago he was finally going to prove that what the Swift Boat Veterans said about him wasn’t true.

Well?

I’ll end now. I don’t want any of you to be late for something yourselves.

Hat tip: Realclearpolitics.com