JDM–

The best possible fallout is a complete discrediting of Kerry’s war-hero myth, Kerry’s loss and an attendant painful soul-searching by the Democrats of where they went wrong. Only if the Dems wake up and get serious about the WoT and the military generally will any long-term good come out of this election (except for Bush’s continuing to roll up Al Qaeda and its state sponsors in the meantime, of course).

I for one am not interested in seeing the man cowering for forgiveness or anything like that. I just think the Democrats nominated a buffoon on the basis of a trumped-up personal history and a failure to see that Dick Gephardt or Joe Lieberman would better serve the country. Instead they went for the most electable, in a dubious display of specious and superficial reasoning. The Dems had the chance for a different outcome and they failed. And that lesson should be drilled into every Democratic operative’s skull: YOU BLEW IT! Worse, YOU BLEW IT FOR THE WRONG REASONS. YOU PUT POWER IN FRONT OF THE NATIONAL INTEREST!

As it happens, I believe if you provide for the nation’s interests power will flow from that success. The Democrats have the equation backwards.