'More leaders,' 'Foreign Leaders,'...

Mofo leaders. I don't much care who John Kerry said he talked to, really, and I can't imagine that I'm alone in getting sick to death of the story.

Here's the plain truth that every sentient being in the country knows. George Bush has damaged our relationship with many nations, allies and otherwise, and there is no doubt that there are leaders in many of those nations that would prefer to see someone else running this country. That's just the facts.

Some things are surmise, of course. Has John Kerry spoken to some of those people? Probably. Did some of them say encouaging things to him? Probably. Should he have mentioned those conversations, in any context? Probably not.

But does it matter? Not really.

Here's what matters. We have troops engaged in armed combat in three separate theaters of operation. The US economy has bled out over three million jobs in three years, and the replacements are nowhere on the horizon. People in this country will die this very day because they are unable to afford medical care that could save their lives. As I write these words, children are sitting in classrooms with outdated texts, obsolete equipment and over worked teachers. Those things matter.

So, what's the entire apparatus of the administration, from the Secretary of State to the White House Press Secretary, and on down through layers of bureaucracy into the lapdog press and right wing of the blogosphere all excited about?

A side comment, poorly recorded and widely misreported, made by John Kerry in a private setting. Big freaking whoop, right?

Well, right.

So, what's got me off on this rant? Well, since I can barely keep up with the people I actually want to read every day, I depend on a couple of regular sources to get a handle on what the right wing is up to. One of those is Memorandum, which tracks what's hot and what's not online, and which samples more right wing bloggers than I care to believe exist.

So what's the big new today? Among the twenty five stories they were tracking when I checked in this morning, ten were about the tragedy in Spain and the electoral fallout that resulted. Fair enough.

What's number two? The Kerry comment! Five separate news stories, dozens of blog entries, feigned outrage from the net's Drudgeophiles at every turn.

Over a comment that, let's face it, is simply true.

Hillary was right. There is a vicious right wing conspiracy, and it's primary job is distraction.

Well, they got my attention, anyway.