Emerging from the dark glass, we see him clearly now

Moveon.org is running an ad which depicts a defeated American soldier sinking into the desert sand in Iraq. The ad ends with the soldier raising his hands in defeat above his head as he's slowly swallowed by the sand with the word "Quagmire" flashing across the screen. The Bush camp and campaign chairman Mark Racicot have called on John Kerry to denounce this ad before speaking to The National Guard today.

Here's Racicot's statement:

"When John Kerry speaks before the National Guard today, he should apologize for the actions of his surrogates and demand that they take down their ad depicting a defeated American soldier. John Kerry's campaign is rooted in the past, hollow with pessimism, and preaching defeat to the American people. John Kerry's continually shifting positions on Iraq and his sinking rhetoric of a defeated America send a signal to our allies and our enemies that America is not willing to finish the job. This attitude undermines the great progress that the men and women in America's armed forces have made in the fight against terror around the world. America expects more from one who aspires to the position of Commander-in-Chief."

What's really sickening about this ad and the message it carries is that it cravenly and manipulatively attempts to further the consequences which it pretends to decry. This type of sentiment of faithlessness, lack of resolve for the fight, despair, death, and defeat is precisely the type of propaganda that will encourage those hostile to the cause of freedom to continue their campaign of murder and terror. This is the message John Kerry also brought to the senate in 1971 in his now infamous testimony wherein he smugly and dryly defamed our soldiers and our nation and gave aid and comfort to the enemy to continue to kill and torture those fighting for freedom in that cause. What's clear now is that if John Kerry refuses to denounce this ad which is being promulgated in his name, we will not have to look through a glass darkly at the grainy images of a young Kerry in 1971 to see a man betraying his country, we may clearly view that man before us today.