Had Enough?

After four years of lying to the American public and the press acting as his accomplish, the media may have decided they have a backbone. A few in the media are starting to question whether they should question a politician when they are making obviously dishonest statements.

That idea has to be of utmost concern to Republicans who rely on the press to push their manufactured statements which have no basis in the truth. The question is whether this will be a fleeting thought or reality.

If it is a fleeting thought the Democrats are going to have to decide if they are willing to get in the muck the GOP and fight. Susan Estrich, who saw her candidate in 1988 lose by not fighting back said "You can't just answer the charges. You can't just say it ain't so. You have to fight fire with fire, mud with mud, dirt with dirt."

The trouble with Democrats, traditionally, is that we're not mean enough. Dukakis wasn't. I wasn't. I don't particularly like destroying people. I got into politics because of issues, not anger. But too much is at stake to play by Dukakis rules, and lose again.

Over and over this year we heard that this wouldn't be a repeat of 1988. Too often it seems like it is. The only way to beat Bush is to play by his rules. In the movie The Untouchables, Sean Connery plays Malone, the old hand who teaches Elliot Ness how to beat the mob - "They pull a knife, you pull a gun. They send one of yours to the hospital, you send one of his to the morgue."

Advice John Kerry should take.