The race is over, sir.

Earth to Sen. Kerry: the elections are over! An interesting interview with Tim Russert has these tidbits:

MR. RUSSERT: But you voted against Condoleezza Rice to be secretary of state. That's not finding common ground. She is qualified to hold that job, no?

SEN. KERRY: Yes, and I said so...But I wasn't voting on whether she was just qualified. I was voting on the judgments that she brought to the table. I was voting on the answers that she gave us in committee. And I was voting on the vision that she offered to the country. And I found all three, frankly, faulty.

Uh, yeah, so you voted for her before you voted against her? And I think you just said that you think a SECSTATE with faulty judgment, integrety and vision is qualified. Hmmm.

MR. RUSSERT: During the campaign you said that Howard Dean did not have the credibility or judgment to be president. Do you believe he has the credibility or judgment to be chairman of the Democratic National Committee?

SEN. KERRY: Sure, absolutely.

Huh? Is Kerry out to do in the party? It gets stranger...

SEN. KERRY: We have pro-life Democrats today. Harry Reid is a leader. He is pro-life. We have others who are pro-life. I think what I was saying, Tim, is that, you know, you can't be doctrinarian negative against somebody simply because they have that position. There's more to it. Now, does that change the position of the Democratic Party in defending the right to choose? No, absolutely not. Not in the least.

But you can't be--I mean, let me put it this way. Too many people in America believe that if you are pro-choice that means pro-abortion. It doesn't. I don't want abortion. Abortion should be the rarest thing in the world. I am actually personally opposed to abortion. But I don't believe that I have a right to take what is an article of faith to me and legislate it to other people. That's not how it works in America.

So you have to have room to be able to talk about these things in a rational way.

So much here: Too many people in America believe that if you are pro-choice that means pro-abortion. Um, yeah, most people, on both sides of the issue, believe that. Once again we see a strong tendency to blame the American people for his failures to communicate.

But I don't believe that I have a right to take what is an article of faith to me and legislate it to other people. That's not how it works in America.
This is even better. When talking about global warming, greenhouse gasses, gay marriage, sex education, gun laws, etc, that is exactly what liberals believe. Fundamentally, political decisions are made on 'articles of faith': faith in democracy, faith in the wisdom of the leaders, legislators and judges, faith in the Constitution as a viable national law and democracy as a legitimizing process. Liberals are losing in so many areas that they have let their own faith in these things has been shaken, rather than lose faith in themselves. Too many self-esteem classes, or just classic hubris? This is what so often happens to elitists when they can get no one to listen to them. In frustration, they turn to trying to de-legitimize those institutions that have spurned them.