DRIVING MR. DUKAKIS

In virtually every Presidential race, there comes a moment in time when it becomes abundantly clear that a certain candidate is absolutely unfit to be the Commander-in-Chief. It isn't necessarily lights out. Instead, it is more like the third and final notice from the power company. This point in time manifests itself in some sound bite or video image that seems innocent enough when first revealed by the media until consumed by the voting public. By then, the thin line between the night before and the morning after is crossed. It is too late to take the image or sound back and every person who is paying even scant attention has a clear demonstration of the pathetic shortcomings of the candidate. Without a doubt, the most notable example of this phenomenon is the 1988 Beetle Bailey ride of Michael in the Abrhams tank. As he motored along, his helmeted head bouncing about, his handlers had to know in their hearts that this was a big mistake. He didn't look like a President but instead resembled our enemies.

From the Dean-key Hee-Haw, to Gore's claim to have invented the Internet, to Dole's hip-crushing fall from the stage, to Mondale's promise to raise taxes, to Carter's entire presidency; the media has always been there to witness these moments of slow motion implosion. However, the handling of the current presumptive Democrat nominee has been much different. Perhaps the partisan media learned a lesson from the failed campaign of the first liberal son from Massachusetts (I mean Dukakis, JFK was not a liberal). They have ignored what would previously have been campaign crushing behavior.

John Kerry went snowboarding recently. After crashing into one of his Secret Service detail on his first run, he jumped up shouting a string of obscenities at the man who had sworn to take a bullet for him if necessary. Unfortunately, there was no media present to witness this event as they had agreed to give him a warm-up run wihtout media coverage. No substantial reporting of the event has since been logged. On Memorial Day Weekend, during a visit to the Vietnam War Memorial with a group of school children, candidate Kerry made a vulgar hand gesture to a Vietnam Veteran. This too, of course, did not make any news cycle.

Clearly, either of these could be a campaign crushing moment for Kerry if fairly reported. However, the media is not taking any chances. They have ignored the Kerry Campaign for fear he might say something stupid (or better said, they may have to report the stupid things he does say). Meanwhile they have been relentlessly bashing the Bush Administration. I just wonder how they will handle the debates. Can they refuse to cover those too?