The Bounceless Speech

John Kerry seems to received no boost from his flacid speech Thursday night.

The likely voters polled favored Bush 50-47, whereas two weeks earlier they had favored Kerry 49-47.

Perhaps that's because he said nothing in as many words as possible.

[T]he very vagueness of Mr. Kerry's promises is what gives the Bush campaign a chance to counterattack. Especially if you re-read his Thursday speech, it is not nearly as muscular as it tried to sound. Its hawkishness was mostly personal, more or less stopping in 1970 in the Mekong Delta. My guess is that this is all by design, since the last thing Mr. Kerry wants is a debate about his own antiterror policies. He wants to compare medals, not philosophies.