I tend to share the confidence about Bush’s chances now. I think that those who have left Kerry of late will never return. I also think he is so pompous, ponderous and off-putting in debate that Bush’s straightforwardness, despite his being so inarticulate, will offer a contrast that will cause many more to desert Kerry permanently. If his defeat is brought about by the honorable men whose contempt he so deservedly earned long ago, that will make it all the sweeter. Ironically, had he not exaggerated his exploits in Vietnam, and had he come home with a few fewer decorations, and had he been modest about them and truthful in his journals, he would likely have become president.