In some ways David Broder reminds me of Jay Leno. Leno pokes fun at both candidates but he has admitted that he always votes Democrat and cannot imagine voting for a Republican. I suspect that Broder is the same way. He tries to be fair but he votes Democrat. That is what makes his current column interesting. He starts out by listing the management style, strengths and weaknesses of each candidate. Then he sums up.

Kerry is, in Jones's phrase, a classic backbench senator, a man who has found his rewards in picking out a few issues to explore and in being noted for the way he talks about them. Such senators do not aspire to leadership posts or committee chairmanships, nor are they noted for the bills they pass. For them, government is a largely verbal arena, not one measured by concrete results.

That nails Kerry perfectly.

As a rule, Americans have preferred -- and elected -- executives, rather than legislators; governors (or generals), rather than backbench senators. Former California governor Ronald Reagan easily defeated former senator Walter Mondale; Bill Clinton did the same to Bob Dole.

What does the Washinton Times story about Kerry and the Security Council tell us? Not a lot really. Those who have been paying attention already know that he lies and that some of his lies are easily checked. During his years as a backbencher, no one really cared about the things Kerry said enough to check them.

Just for fun, let's look at the sorts of lies and exagerations Kerry tells and why. There are the ones for self-glorification. "I ran the Boston Marathon."

There are ones that he tells to avoid embarrasment. "Everyone got a goose." "I don't own an SUV."

There are the ones he tells to give himself moral authority. Christmas in Cambodia - "The memory is seared, seared into my memory."

This one falls under lies told to inflate his importance. "Foreign leaders have said that they support me." "I met with all of the members of the Security Council."

Then there are the allegations about Kerry's Purple Hearts and his Silver and Bronze Stars.

Some of the early Kerry signs said "Truth for a change". Those signs are not available from Kerry's web site any more. I wonder why?

The New York Times says that a huge cache of explosives disappeared after the invasion of Iraq. Kerry said the "incredible incompetence of this president and this administration has put our troops at risk and put this country at greater risk than we ought to be."

This is a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation. The White House pointed out, "We have destroyed more than 243,000 munitions" in Iraq, he said. "We've secured another nearly 163,000 that will be destroyed."

Saddam turned the entire country into an arms cache. No matter how much is seized and destroyed, Bush is blamed if any gets out.

Besides, there is a rumor that MSNBC will be posting s story saying that the explosives were gone before the invasion.