"Bring it on."

It’s silly to comment on a story that hasn’t even been published yet, especially when the teaser is on Drudge.

Then again, this site has never been accused of undue seriousness. And rarely of due seriousness. So here’s the teaser:

Kerry Plans Week-Long Assault on Cheney… Developing…

John Kerry’s campaign isn’t as bad as the one Mike Dukakis ran — but the best I can compare it with is Bob Dole’s clueless ’96 effort. I mean, Camp Kerry wants to spend a week campaigning against the Vice President?

Can you imagine a campaigner like Bill Clinton spending a week pitting himself against Dan Quayle? Or Dole against Gore? Or even Reagan v. Mondale? Of course not. It’s silly.

Look. When a non-incumbant picks his Veep, by all means, please, shoot arrows at the both of them. The Veep for being such a [pick adjective according to the Veep in question], and the Main Man for being so stupid and clueless and unsavvy as to pick such a [adjective].

But a sitting Veep? Please. The guy is there, and everybody knows him, and nobody gives a rat’s ass. Kerry wouldn’t be wasting his time any worse, if he spent the week going door-to-door, soliciting voters in Belgium.

You may think I’ve wasted too much time and too many words on a non-story. And maybe you’re right. But this little tidbit, if true, really annoys me.

I like divided government. I like close elections. I like competition. They’re all good for the political process. One party rule — no matter what party — always turns out badly. Look at California after just five years of Democratic rule. Or Britain’s tepid Conservatives in the 1930s.

Competition is good for the system, and it’ll be a damn shame if Kerry can’t play with the big boys.