BACK DURING THE ELECTION, we were told that characterizations of John Kerry as the most liberal Senator were an outrageous calumny, leading me to comment: “Gosh, you’d think that being ‘liberal’ was bad or something!”

Well, I don’t know about most liberal, but the fact is that of the Democrats on the Foreign Relations Committee, only John Kerry and Barbara Boxer voted against Condi Rice. And Kerry’s embarrassing performance during the hearings certainly puts him in a class with Boxer.

I agree with Kos: He would have been an “unmitigated disaster” as President. I hope the Democrats do better in 2008, because it would be bad for the country — and, ultimately, the Republicans — if they became as marginalized as the Tories have in Britain. And performances like this make me wonder if that’s not in the cards.

UPDATE: Reader MacDef emails: “I’m no fan of Kos, but the above is not only taken out of context, it’s also misquoted to the point of being dishonest.”

No, it’s tongue-in-cheek, as should have been obvious from the link. Er, and probably from the words “I agree with Kos . . . ”