Kerry to Bush: Tell the truth, Fire the incompetents, Find Osama, Bring troops home, Obey the law&#8

Patrick Healy in today's NY Times: Kerry Sharply Criticizes Bush on Several Fronts Senator John Kerry made a slashing attack on the Bush administration yesterday, comparing it to the faltering government in Iraq and equating its war strategy with its planning for Hurricane Katrina, while also invoking Jesus as he criticized federal Medicaid policy. … In an Op-Ed article in The New York Times on Wednesday, Mr. Kerry proposed telling Iraqi leaders to form a unity government by May 15 or the United States military would withdraw. He spoke by telephone yesterday to a political conference in New York City … Mr. Kerry, who has had his verbose moments, offered "a little 10-point plan" in response to complaints that neither Democrats nor Republicans have an agenda for the nation. "Tell the truth. Fire the incompetents. Find Osama bin Laden and secure our ports and our homeland. Bring our troops home from Iraq. Obey the law and protect our civil rights," Mr. Kerry said in ticking off his list, which also included supporting health care, education, lobbying reform and alternatives to oil, as well as reducing the deficit. … A Roman Catholic who has struggled at times to talk about his own faith, Mr. Kerry also told the group that he believed "deeply in my faith" and that the Koran, the Torah, the Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles had influenced a social conscience that he exercised in politics. "I will tell you, nowhere in there, nowhere, not in one page, not in one phrase uttered and reported by the Lord Jesus Christ, can you find anything that suggests that there is a virtue in cutting children from Medicaid and taking money from the poor and giving it to the rich," Mr. Kerry said. --- Reporter Healy, near the top of the article, says Kerry has "been on a political and media blitz as he considers running for the White House again in 2008." One might well expect the regular self-appointed DC conventional wisdom crowd to dismiss Kerry's pinpoint accurate Bush bashing as "red meat for the party's liberal base," or some such characterization, to boost his electoral chances. As opposed to an expression of sincere legitimate outrage shared by approximately 65% of the country. (Of course, it may very well be both, in which case the consensus of history has often described such political crusading as "leadership" and "a winning campaign.") However that may be, it should not go without comparison to the GOP's big appeal to its "activist base" - the vaunted immigration reform (and the wee chilly public reaction to it). Also noteworthy is a comparison between Kerry's explicit detailed specificity in addressing matters, and the - how shall I say - more muted rhetorical stylings of other high-profile Democrats (Russ Feingold notably excepted) who are also considered to be on the presidential campaign trail.