With Friends Like Hyman . . .

We’re certainly happy that Mark Hyman and his friends at Bush/Cheney ’04 have such wonderful advice for Democrats on who they should nominate for president. There’s no doubt that “The Point’s” post-facto endorsement of Dick Gephardt for the Democratic nomination is sincere, is there?

Actually, this is just another chance for Mark Hyman to trash John Kerry. Certainly Gephardt would make an excellent president, but he’s run and lost for the Democratic nomination before, and that generally doesn’t make for a successful candidate. Also, he’s a member of the House of Representatives, a body from which it’s historically nearly impossible to become president (vice presidents, governors, and senators are the usual choices). And no one who watches Hyman can doubt there would have been a moment’s hesitation to trash Gephardt’s character on “The Point” as he did John Kerry, as well as an effort of Sinclair Broadcasting to find a way of foisting off political propaganda as news. The only difference would be that instead of Vietnam, the focus would be on something else (“Machine Unionists for Truth”?).

But perhaps the most bizarre aspect of Hyman’s commentary is the following example of gibberish: “[Kerry’s] support hit a record low for the percentage of people who were supporting him.”

Come again?

We’re not sure what Hyman’s talking about. He seems to be trying to say something about Kerry not having strong support. But somehow the idea that a candidate who received more votes for president than anyone in history except the person who narrowly defeated him is a “weak” candidate just doesn’t make sense.

Hyman continues to want to spin this election into some sort of national endorsement for George W. Bush. But as we showed in our previous “Counterpoint,” Bush doesn’t stand with his countrymen on any of the important issues of the day. For Democrats, the question isn’t who to run—by any objective analysis, John Kerry is a man with a greater history of personal integrity and public service than George W. Bush, and his alleged “flip flops” are non-existent compared with the whiplash-inducing 180s that the Bush administration has made on every issue from terrorism to trade. The question is how Democrats should talk to voters in order to most effectively make people aware that their agenda is the people’s agenda. And just as importantly, they need to do this without losing their souls by emulating the duplicitous rhetoric and character assassination that are the weapons of choice for Republicans (including Mark Hyman).

And that’s The Counterpoint.