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IOWA: DM REGISTER [David Hogberg 10/24 10:43 PM]

If there is a contest for the dumbest editorial endorsement of John Kerry by a major newspaper, the Des Moines Register just won it going away. Every time I think that editorial page can’t get more inane, it manages to top itself.

I’m not kidding. Having lived in Iowa nine years, I can say with supreme confidence that the Des Moines Register editorialists’ modus operandi is to look at the daily DNC talking points, troll through old issues of The Nation magazine to be sure what the left-wing position is, and then write the editorial. The op-ed page is headed by Richard Doak, and for a glimpse into how his mind works, go see this column of his that I have saved.

Today, I looked at the headline, “John Kerry, the Real Thing,” and fractured my tailbone as I fell out of my chair laughing. I subsequently experienced more pain as I fell out of my chair laughing again at the final sentence of the first paragraph that informs us Kerry “is a wise and decent man who has the makings of a fine president.”

They breezily dismiss the flip-flop label as a “caricature,” showing their penchant for cognitive dissonance. No mention of his “voted for the $87 billion before I voted against it,” remark. No mention of his statement in August that he would have voted the same way on the Iraq resolution, and then a month later calling it the “wrong war, in the wrong place, at the wrong time.”

Then they have this reassuring paragraph: “Yes, Kerry is liberal. But what's to fear from a liberal president? That he would run big deficits? That he would increase federal spending? That he would expand the power of the federal government over individuals' lives? Nothing Kerry could do could top what President Bush has already done in those realms.”

All I can say is only the Des Moines Register could write that.

They urge us to look at his, “his 22 years in elective office — unblemished service as Massachusetts lieutenant governor and U.S. senator.” Not surprisingly, the Register editorialists don’t mention any of Kerry’s serious legislative accomplishments in that period. Could it be that they can’t?

I was very glad that I had decided to tie myself to my chair when I read the next sentence: “The strongest indication of his success is that the people of Massachusetts — the cradle of American liberty — chose four times to elect him to the Senate.” Massachusetts!?!? The same state that gives us Ted Kennedy every six years!? If anything, it’s an indication of what a fiasco a Kerry administration would be. It’s also an indication-as if you needed any more-what unthinking, doctrinaire lefties inhabit the Register editorial board.

Finally, Register editorialists also have a habit of contradicting themselves in the same editorial, and they are nice enough to oblige today. They lament Bush’s supposed “betrayal of his promise to be a uniter.” They then note, “partisans on neither side will go silent on Inauguration Day. If Kerry wins, those who have been attacking him will do their best to undermine his presidency. The same will be true on the other side if Bush is re-elected.” What can the prediction that Democrats will attack Bush if he is reelected be based on other than Democrats’ behavior of, say, the last two years? A tacit admission that Democrats have been attacking him so much recently undermines that argument that it is Bush that has failed as a uniter.

Alas, one can take comfort that this editorial will probably have no effect. Yes, the Register’s endorsement of John Edwards during the caucuses did help boost him to surprising second-place finish. But that only shows the limit of the Register’s influence, namely, over those on the left in Iowa. The Register is widely despised by the political right in Iowa, and so the editorial endorsement will only give them a bit more motivation to turn out for Bush.