Saint Reagan?

John Kerry yesterday:

''I was part of that effort in the 1990s that had the courage to do what Ronald Reagan, for all his rhetoric -- and God rest his soul, we loved him for his strength in many things -- but I don't recall vetoes of major appropriations bills. I recall a lot of talk about deficits; I don't recall balancing the budget. I recall deficits getting larger."

Alright. Fair enough. I think it's fairly well understood that Reagan didn't balance the budget and his economic policies inspired massive deficits. Kerry was against massive deficits then, and he's against them now. Sounds reasonable, right? Ah ha, you forgot one key fact: Reagan is dead.

So, the Boston Globe (and of course Drudge) characterize this as a "broadside" against Reagan. Not only that, the Globe "journalist" included the following sentence (keep in mind, this is not an editorial, but a supposed piece of hard news): "Kerry's remark about Reagan was unusual and awkward, given the senator's praise for Reagan's optimism after his death."

Um... can't a man be optimistic but have misguided economic policies? Absolutely. Is this poor and biased journalism? Without a doubt.

Imagine what the Bush campaign, clinging with every fingernail to ride the Reagan wave, had to say about it. No need to imagine, folks, it's right here for you:
"Kerry's attack on President Reagan is beyond the pale, and will be very troubling to most Americans."

You could almost choke on the fake outrage.