Kerry's Mideast Trip...Where To Start

Former presidential candidate (thank God) John Kerry has decided to show himself again after his failed presidential bid in a two week trip through the countries of the mideast. This, in my opinion, is a strange place for the Senator of multiple stances on every issue of the region to have a coming out party. But leave it to the Boston Globe to clear things up for me here. Lets have a little peek, shall we?

Kerry is the only elected official on his trip, and he is making an unusual number of stops in the Middle East, suggesting that he wants to go beyond the sometimes-scripted events planned by the Bush administration. Foreign trips are fairly typical for members of Congress -- a large number of House and Senate members are making trips to Iraq in the run-up to the Jan. 30 elections there -- but Kerry insisted on charting his own course for his trip. He is making stops in Israel and its occupied territories, as well as other Middle Eastern nations.

Note the "somewhat scripted events planned by the Bush administration" bit. So, Rick Klein (author of the article) would have us believe that Senator Kerry is flying by the seat of his pants on the Heinz corporate jet (no, I'm sure that you and I are footing the bill for this boondoggle) with no flight plan. He hasn't called ahead and made arrangements with the leaders he is planning on meeting. He'll just walk up, ring the doorbell and say "Hi, I'm John Kerry, Vietnam veteran of 4 months, just got creamed in the presidential race, and I'd like to have a couple minutes of your time and of course a photo op.....I brought my own movie camera just for the occasion!

But wait, there's more.

Kerry has made foreign policy a cornerstone of his 20-year Senate career, and he has been a member of the Foreign Relations Committee since he entered the Senate.

Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't this the same committee that he missed almost all of the meetings for?

This is just a pitiful attempt to try and keep his name in front of the American people and keep his dwindling hopes alive to run again in 2008. After all, he has been running for president for the last 35 years or so. What's another 4 years. Integrity, integrity, integrity.

Put a fork in him, he's done.