Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry was in Florida recently doing what he does best, stumping without a message, without substance. But I have noticed that Kerry has risen to heights that would make Bill Clinton envious regarding one campaign tactic he has chosen to embrace: pandering. John Kerry is emerging as one of the best vote panderers the Democrats have seen in a long time, and for the party that virtually invented "spin” that is not a small feet.

Speaking to a crowd in West Palm Beach he was quoted as saying, "People ask me what it feels like to run for the highest office in the land.” He continued, " I tell them I don’t know. I’m not running to be Florida’s Secretary of State.”

Of course his comment was in reference to Katherine Harris, the former Florida Secretary of State turned US Representative who, bound by the timetable as laid out by Florida law, certified the votes that elevated George W. Bush to the presidency. As we all know, the Democrats believe that if Harris hadn’t certified the vote counts and they would have been allowed to continue their recount in the heavily Democratic counties, counties that they themselves hand picked (remember, it wasn’t a recount of the entire state – just heavily Democratic counties) things would have turned out different. Perhaps they would have succeeded in disallowing the votes of our men and women of the military from Florida who were serving overseas at the time as well. They contend, even though it has been discounted by every study done, that the continuation of their efforts would have seen a difference in who eventually discovered all the "W’s” missing in the White House.

Kerry, trying to capitalize on the Dean Anger Machine, is rather slyly pandering to the faction within his party that doesn’t believe George W. Bush won the election. By pandering to this idea, and to the group who embraces this idea, he is not only spreading a fallacy but working very hard to refuel the ire of the Bush-haters in South Florida, as if they needed any refueling. It doesn’t matter that the message isn’t true, what matters is that it just might help bring into the Kerry fold those who were previously married to the hysteria of the Dean Anger Machine. For someone who looks into the camera’s eye and coyly says he wants to debate the issues instead of running a dirty campaign, he sure has dirty hands. But then Kerry has been on both sides of most of the issues he has addressed throughout his life; pre and post elected office.

On another stop during his ongoing ‘campaign duplicitous’, his flip-flopping carnival on the fly, he pretended to be strong on national security and defense as he criticized President Bush for using images of September 11th in the newly released Bush-Cheney positive message campaign ads. Kerry states that, "As president I will be prepared to use military force to protect our security, our people, and our vital interests. But I will never send our troops into harm's way without enough firepower and support," giving the illusion that he would be strong on defense, something he has yet to do. He pandered to those who believe his rhetoric that we are no safer today than we were before September 11th while trying to inoculate the issue for the campaign.

Never mind that Kerry voted to gut the intelligence budget several times. Never mind that he voted against weapons systems that have proved to be the backbone of our military might. Never mind that his record on military funding is nearly non-existent. Honestly, the idea of Kerry being strong on national security and defense is a kin to the idea of Ted Kennedy being a skillful bridge navigator. Kerry pandered to the frightened in the crowd stating that by using the images of September 11th and addressing the issues of national security and defense President Bush was trying to "scare” the American people even though people like Rudy Giuliani, the man who served as mayor of New York during this event, an event that changed our nation, applauded the Bush-Cheney campaign for addressing the issue with dignity and grace. Kerry pandered to the scared. I cannot think of anything more frightening than having a man in the Oval Office that welcomes the endorsement of Kim Jong Il, a tyrant of the highest level, while trying to pretend that he didn’t say he would considers the War on Terror an over-glorified policing problem.

It only takes listening to one of John Kerry’s campaign speeches to realize that he has no message and is basing his entire campaign on hollow rhetoric, rhetoric that panders to the hateful, the uninformed and the scared. Then again, when one actually looks at the unimpressive voting record of John Kerry, especially with so many years in political office, perhaps hollow rhetoric is all he has to offer.

Hey John, bring it on…

Frank Salvato is a political media consultant and the managing editor for The New Media Journal.us. He is a contributing writer for The Washington Dispatch, GOPUSA, OpinionEditorials, Men’s News Daily, Canada Free Press & AmericanDaily. His pieces are regularly featured in Townhall.com. He has appeared as a guest on The O’Reilly Factor, The Kevin Matthews Radio Show (Chicago) and The Brad Messer Radio Show (San Antonio). His pieces have been recognized by the Japan Center for Conflict Prevention and are occasionally featured in The Washington Times and The London Morning Paper as well as other national and international publications.