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10/04/2004: "The great debate pen kerfuffle"

(As is my wont, I wrote a reply at command post and impressed myself so much, I decided to post it here. I did it all for you, oh beloved gentle reader.)

Drudge picked up on a video that caught Senator Kerry going to his pocket at the beginning of Thursday's first Presidential debate. The New York Post determined that the Senator retrieved a pen from his pocket.

I don't care if it was a pen. I still don't like it.

I wonder, was that Sen. Kerry's favorite pen, that he got as a XMas present in Cambodia? Is it the pen he always uses and never parts with? (OK, the Cambodia XMas reference was unfair.)

If so, I can imagine a campaign aide saying, "if you want to use that pen, you're going to have to give it to the moderator to leave on the podium for you." To which an imperious Sen. Kerry would reply, "no way, this is my pen, I'll take it with me, I'm not really breaking the rules."

Granted, that's a hypothetical case; but IMO it's entirely plausible. If not, what other explanation is there? That Senator Kerry's adies forgot to provide a pen for the moderator to place on the podium?

Whatever; Sen. Kerry demonstrated that he is not willing to avoid the appearance of impropriety. Ultimately, it is the rule of law that matters. The idea that Sen. Kerry is not somehow special. The idea that if he makes a promise to act in a certain way, he will actually keep his promise. It seems we have yet another flip-flop.

And yes, the President's interuption of the moderator is also against the rules and thus wrong. But President Bush clearly was not as smooth and polished as Senator Kerry; the President's interuptions are most likely spur of the moment mistakes. Such mistakes are far less worrisome than (what I believe to be) Senator Kerry's willful flaunting of the rules.