The American Spectator

LIFE OF THE PARTY
Sen. John Kerry is beginning to have the look of a haunted man a la former Vice President and Florida loser Al Gore. Last week, Kerry’s campaign staff held a Holiday Reunion at a D.C. Irish bar. Kerry showed up and in typical fashion killed what was shaping up to be a decent holiday buzz for his young former volunteers and paid staff.

Kerry promised that Democrats would retake the House and, according to one attendee, said, “If we take back the House, there’s a case to bring articles of impeachment against this president.”

“Then he got a bit nervous when there wasn’t a lot of laughter or cheering and said, ‘Don’t tell anyone I said that,”’ added the attendee to the event at Finn McCool’s Bar. Word, of course, did leak out to the press, and that forced a Kerry spokesman to push back on the statement, explaining that Kerry was merely trying to make a joke.

But Kerry has used similar language before, and has talked up censuring President Bush on several occasions in the past, and not in the context of making mirth.

“I was hoping to see the Senator move past a lot of this nutty stuff he’s been tossing around,” says the party attendee and former Washington headquarters volunteer. “But now he just looks like a sore loser who can’t admit that he failed. I’ve moved on, and a lot of other volunteers have moved on to other campaigns and candidates for ‘06 and ‘08. And Kerry isn’t it.”

TREASURY THIS MOMENT
Interesting that chief of staff Andrew Card is trying to put cold water on rumors that he is moving over to the Treasury Department to replace John Snow. Rumors of Card taking the Treasury slot have been flying around Washington for months, as have rumors of Snow being the next Cabinet level official to walk the plank, perhaps just after the new year.

But Card’s role in the failed Harriet Miers nomination to the Supreme Court, and the White House’s poor pushback on Democrats’ charges of cronyism related to a series of nominations made after the 2004 re-election, have made it difficult for Card to make the play for Treasury. Card would be a solid nomination for the Treasury slot, though some conservatives might fight the nomination.

However, Card has been one of the few Bush Administration officials to actually cultivate a relationship with conservatives outside of the White House.