Here is why I am glad that John Kerry is not sitting in the Oval Office - from Meet The Press Sunday:

MR. RUSSERT: Do you believe that Iraq is less a terrorist threat to the United States now than it was two years ago?

SEN. KERRY: No, it's more. And, in fact, I believe the world is less safe today than it was two and a half years ago. ..

Just a couple of minutes later in the interview:

MR. RUSSERT: Is the United States safer with the newly elected Iraqi government than we would have been with Saddam Hussein?

SEN. KERRY: Sure.

Yes, you read it correctly. You can believe your eyes. John Kerry - surprise (heh) - directly contradicted himself within the space of a minute or two.

This, of course, is the same John Kerry who voted for the $87 billion before he voted against it and changed his mind about thirteen times on whether we should have gone to war in Iraq.

If you are surprised at his contradicting himself during the Meet The Press interview then you just do not know John Kerry very well. Let us be very thankful that the Oval Office does not - and never will - know Mr. Kerry very well, either.

Jim Geraghty:

You are no longer the Democratic presidential nominee and the face, and most important voice, of your party anymore, Senator. You’re just the junior senator from Massachusetts.

And frankly, not only is the president not listening, I’m not sure how many Democrats are listening, senator. They’re either preferring Ted Kennedy’s full-throated get-out-now rhetoric, or praising this as “a great day”. This heavy-hearted, deeply concerned, disaster-could-be-around-the-corner stuff wasn’t a big seller in November, and doesn’t seem to be a big seller now, either.

Even Dan Rather is declaring, “The Iraqis interim government, the U.S. military, and American diplomats had a good plan and carried it out well… the guerrilla war fighters suffered substantial loss in the election, both in fact and in perception. The momentum shifted in favor of the U.S. military and Iraqi forces a few months ago, and has accelerated in their direction with the election.”

And when we see something as extraordinary as today – well, for starters, it’s revealing that your first instinct after thanking the troops is to warn us to not “overhype” this. As if the primary concern at this hour is that Americans might pull a muscle celebrating the birth of democracy in a previously-oppressed Arab nation.

It’s also tremendously revealing that despite this appearance of positive developments, you insist that the real answer is to follow the proposals you’ve been laying out from the beginning. “A massive diplomatic effort.” “A much more significant outreach to the international community.”

Snore.

Applause for Jim Geraghty!