When your hometown press says this about your nasty political ploys...well, it just may be time stop

Brian McGrory of the Boston Globe writes:

Pretend, for a moment, that Kerry was talking in clear English, which is something of a stretch these days, given that he's making Tom Menino sound like Tony Blair.

But what he's doing, if I'm interpreting him correctly, is accusing Dean of not being a man of his word, and a man who doesn't live up to his word, Kerry is essentially saying, is unqualified to be president.

So let's go back to 1996, to Kerry's reelection campaign against then-Governor Bill Weld, specifically to the night Weld met Kerry at the senator's wife's Beacon Hill mansion. They finalized an unprecedented agreement to limit advertising spending to $5 million apiece, and to limit the use of personal funds in the campaign to $500,000 apiece.

Good government types hailed the agreement as a major breakthrough. Kerry and Weld basked in the plaudits of editorialists the nation over. Kerry described the pact as "a model for campaign reform across the country."

But a funny thing happened on the way to Election Day. Kerry didn't just violate the deal, he pulverized it. Running out of money in the waning days of October, Kerry mortgaged and remortgaged the Louisburg Square house, ultimately pouring $1.7 million in personal funds into his campaign. For those of you keeping track at home, that's $1.2 million more than the agreement allowed.

Unless I'm mistaken, Dean isn't exactly talking about tapping personal funds. He's talking about tapping $50 donors. Personally, I've been getting really sick of the Kerry attacks on this point.

If Kerry has a moral objection to small donors, why doesn't he just come out and limit himself to $2000 donors and explain his rationale.