Ruff! Bark! Growl!

Wow. I've heard that contrary to the usual pattern, some people actually get more radical as they get older.

Washington (AP, January 14) The Iraq war was a "political product" marketed by the Bush administration to win elections, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy said in a speech Wednesday.

As a result, Kennedy said, Bush and the Republicans in Congress "put the state of our nation at risk, and they do not deserve another term in the White House or in control of Congress."

In a speech sponsored by the Center for American Progress, a liberal advocacy group, Kennedy, D-Mass., said Bush's decisions to target Saddam Hussein, go to war in Iraq and transfer sovereignty to the Iraqi people have all been made for Republican political gain and timed to influence elections in 2002 and 2004.

Laying out a broad critique of the administration, Kennedy said Bush's arrogant march to war in Iraq did not make American safer, but instead has given Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida new life and made the war on terrorism harder to win.

"The war has made America more hated in the world," Kennedy said. "And it has made our people more vulnerable to attacks both here and overseas." ...

Drawing on O'Neill's remarks and statements by other officials over the past two years, Kennedy concluded that Bush and his "axis of war" Vice President Dick Cheney, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz turned their focus on Iraq to divide Congress, distract Americans from the troubled economy and secure votes in the 2002 elections.

And now, he said, the ongoing reconstruction in Iraq and plans to turn control over to the Iraqi people this summer "are intended to build momentum for the November elections in this country as well." ...

"We are reaping the poison fruit of our misguided and arrogant foreign policy," said Kennedy. "No president of the United States should employ misguided ideology and distortion of the truth to take the nation to war."

These are tougher words - especially those about timing a war for political gain - than many even in the antiwar movement have been willing to say, at least publicly. Ted Kennedy, who has been in the Senate since 1962, is a fixture in American politics and especially so in Massachusetts. While by no means radical, he's always been a solid liberal in the best sense of the word. I'm wondering if he's thinking of retiring (especially since in his last campaign in 2000, the Republican approach of "hey, it really is time for someone else, y'know" had some traction) and is thinking "what the hell, there's no reason to hold back now."

I don't remember where just now, but recently I commented on another blog that "every (presidential) candidate needs an attack dog," the one to make the harsh statements that the candidate wants to avoid in order to appear, well, more presidential, above that sordid sort of thing. Maybe Teddy's going to take it up? He certainly would add a certain gravitas to the role. He's supporting Kerry now but I can't see him declining to endorse whoever is the nominee. This could be fun.

Footnote: The text of the speech can be found here.