TRB: The Republic Bulletin on the New Republic website is often thought provoking, though occasionally banal, opinion from what I called the "grown-up left" the other day. This piece is a fine example of the bulletin at its best. Nobody in the mainstream press is calling John Kerry on his war posture, which up until now has been to vote for one thing, then tell you he voted for the opposite. Too many Dems who voted for the resolution to allow Bush to act in Iraq are now trying to spin it as either the opposite or some measure of restraint on the president. Again, you may not agree with Bush often (or at all), but he's been honest and plain-spoken about his intentions in Iraq from the start. You may or may not think he's justified, and he is certainly trying to paint his justification in the most favorable light possible, but he's not spinning his policy. As for Kerry, I've distrusted him for a long time (he's one of my senators), and I've hammered him before for trying to have some issues both ways as he gears up for '04. But this is disqualifying, I think, to play games on something as serious as war. He wants to set himself up as the go-to guy for an I-told-you-so quote if there is a hint of trouble subduing Iraq. This is disingenuous (okay, it's politics, after all), but it's worse coming from a Vietnam vet, who should know better.