Although I was beginning to lose hope a couple of weeks ago when Bush began to titillate his fat, white, brain-dead, crucifix-licking legions in the South and Midwest by issuing "terror-alerts" based on irrelevant intelligence, thereby allowing them to enjoy the feeling of being "inside" a cool movie about terrorism while of course remaining fundamentally unafraid--although I was beginning to lose hope then, it seems now that hope is warranted.

Better than a post-convention "bounce" is what has happened over the last two weeks: a period of slow and sustained gathering of support, in the teeth of Bush's terror-pornography, support which now gives Kerry a small but decisive lead in the polls. This two-week increase (see the series of posts here for more information) is better than a bounce because it reflects a gradual consolidation of support, rather than an ephemeral post-convention name-recognition buzz; this kind of consolidation should last. The unprecedented crowds that Kerry has been drawing on his two-week "Believe in America" tour seem to attest to a mustering of force. The final event in Portland drew upwards of 40,000 people, what city officials say is the largest such crowd in the history of the city. Check out this picture:



So it seems that things are going OK for Kerry, despite the fact that he has incompetent surrogates who seem unwilling to defend him (Joe Biden announcing to swollen, red-faced hemhorroid Russert that he voted for the $87 billion with no strings attached; Wes Clark referring to Cheney's inane death-rattles about "sensitivity" as "the worst kind of gutter politics" without saying why Cheney's noises was so meaningless [hint: Cheney and Bush had been using the same word repeatedly in recent speeches]).

And things are OK for Kerry despite the fact that he is somehow the one responding to the asshole-birth about Iraq, rather than posing the questions himself. I urge all AmCoppers to call the Kerry campaign and ask whoever answers the phone why, why, why won't Kerry start attacking the failed Iraq reconstruction, specifically by attacking the corrupt and incompetent awarding of no-bid contracts to companies like Halliburton, who have failed to do the job, as opposed to Iraqis who might thereby be given an incentive to deal with the Americans.

Anyway, things are somehow OK for Kerry. In fact, I can't see how he'd lose, if a fair election were held. People know what the asshole-birth is at this point. So the end is near. Unless Kerry's life is itself brought to a sudden end.