Effervescing Anxiety

When I hear this coming from Dick Cheney, who was a coward, who would not serve during the Vietnam War, it makes my blood boil.

-Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA)

Leave aside that this is another example of a Democrat ducking the Vice President’s actual point behind their blanket “Vietnam wall.” Why does Harkin – another lib Vietnam-era veteran who has wildly exaggerated his military exploits in presidential campaigns – feel the need to toss in the coarse, direct cheap shot “coward”? Surely the dodge he was attempting to employ would have been served perfectly adequately by simply saying that Cheney never served in Vietnam, right? Isn’t that where Harkin wanted the emphasis of his comment to rest? But inserting the insult “coward” in front of it draws all the attention of the sound bite away from the diversionary tactic and square onto Harkin’s churlishness. And like Begala, it makes yet another Democrat look like he’s starting to panic as what was supposed to be the unsinkable USS John Kerry continues its steady list to port.

Funny, but you just don’t see this kind of anxiety effervescing in the Bush camp. Just steady, quiet confidence.