Republicans say the senator’s remark that America needs “regime change” was incendiary. I’m not worked up about it. It is interesting to note Kerry’s reaction to the Republican charges. 1) Make a virtue of being picked on by Tom DeLay and Rush Limbaugh. This seems like a pretty smart thing to do in the Democratic primaries, notwithstanding all the pundits who are saying that the regime-change remark was a mistake on Kerry’s part. 2) Say that the Republicans are questioning Kerry’s patriotism, and then play the veteran card to deflect that alleged criticism. This tactic, it seems to me, could wear on people around the 1,000th time they’re reminded that Kerry served in Vietnam. (John McCain was much more self-deprecating in 2000, going out of his way to avoid giving anyone the impression he was exploiting his former-POW status.) Being a veteran is also not going to insulate Kerry from attacks on his foreign- and defense-policy views, any more than it insulated George McGovern or Max Cleland.