Finally catching up with old news! I watched John Kerry's famous 1971 speech last night. What shocked me the most was how little the guy has changed in all these years. He's more consistent than I thought he was. As articulate and phony then as he is now. To be honest, I expected a lot more honest youthful radicalism, and as I looked in vain for the angry young man of principle, I found myself wondering "Where's his outrage?" I watched him talk about the raped women, the mutilation, the torture, and the horror. The lips moved, the scripted, articulate words flowed, but the outrage just wasn't there; Kerry was a politician delivering his debut speech to other politicians, just as he was getting ready for his 1972 failed congressional bid.

Marlon Brando did a better job of being horrified in Apocalypse Now.

For some months now, I've been puzzled over why John Kerry went out of his way to serve in Vietnam, when he'd opposed the war for years. Youthful idealism didn't quite ring true. I'm no longer puzzled.

Youthful idealism had nothing to do with it.

Then or now.