Dewey Canyon IV?

Massachusetts Senator John Kerry will be speaking at the Vietnam Memorial today, as part of the 20th anniversary commemorations of the memorial. Kerry was a leader of Vietnam Veteran's Against the War, and there is a great deal of media heat surrounding him this week, as the media tries to get the scoop on his decision to run for president in 2004, which he is clearly leaning towards doing.

Interestingly, President Bush briefly stopped by the memorial before dawn this morning--the White House called it an "impromptu" visit. With a pool photographer, of course. Sure, Ari.

In an interview yesterday, the Boston Globe reports that Kerry had this to say about the Republican assaults on Max Clelland's patriotism as their "clean, bi-partisan, change the tone in Washington" tactic to defeat Clelland:

Kerry, who has been one of the most outspoken critics of the Bush administration's policies on Afghanistan and Iraq, suggested that Republicans will try to cast him as unpatriotic for his stances.

He said he was dismayed that Senator Max Cleland, a Georgia Democrat and a fellow Vietnam veteran who is a triple amputee, lost his reelection race after the GOP attacked him for voting against a bill to create President Bush's Homeland Security Department. Democrats generally support the proposal, but have had reservations about Bush's request for more authority over hiring and firing federal workers in the new department.

''If they want to go that route, I'm prepared to go that route, and I've got a bunch of veterans around this country who are prepared to stand up and define patriotism in ways these guys never understood,'' Kerry said.

Indeed.