Although I missed it when it was published on Monday, the buzz about New Republic editor-in-chief Martin Peretz’s Wall Street Journal op-ed on Kerry Haters for Kerry–KH4K–is such that I’ve received several emails with the article attached. You won’t be able to get it without a subscription, but here’s a snatch to give you the gist of it (in case you go to a cocktail party and need to be aware of the article):
“In 1991, the racist demagogue David Duke won the Republican nomination for governor of Louisiana and was running against the incumbent Democrat, Edwin Edwards, a certified swindler,” writes Peretz. “Suddenly there appeared all over the state bumper stickers with the desperate plea, ’Vote for the crook: it’s important.’ I was reminded of this little piece of anecdotage when a colleague called my attention to a fresh Web site, Kerry Haters for Kerry. I don’t know how popular KH4K is, but the sentiment is certainly widespread. My impression actually is that people on both sides of the presidential divide are despondent about their candidate, although I am really only expert about Democrats. I am the editor in chief of a (neo) liberal weekly and live in Cambridge, Mass., where I watched last week’s debate with (not neo) liberal friends. Almost no one among such supporters of John Kerry really likes him, it seems, and no one especially respects him either. But they are panicked that he will lose.”