KERRY DECIDES TO HELP SHORE UP BUSH WITH HIS BASE:

MA. Sen. John Kerry said last night that if Dems retake the House, there’s a “solid case” to bring “articles of impeachment” against President Bush for allegedly misleading the country about pre-war intelligence, according to several Dems who attended.

Kerry was speaking at a holiday party for alumni of his WH ’04 bid.

I first heard this theory right after the ’04 election, from Limbaugh or Hannity or someone else I dismissed; it seemed dumb to me. But obviously, I was wrong — or at least, my “too dumb for the Democrats” threshold was set too high. What’s funny is that lots of Bush supporters would be okay with the GOP losing the House as a way of teaching the Republican House a lesson for its pork-laden profligacy — but not if it’s going to let the Democrats bring a politically-motivated impeachment resolution over the war. (Will those who voted for the war, like Kerry, resign, too?) So by making this statement, Kerry makes a Democratic recapture of the house notably less likely, by motivating GOP’ers who might otherwise stay home to turn out.

Of course, you can count on Kerry to say the wrong thing at the wrong time, as quite a few of those “alumni” could probably attest. . . .

UPDATE: Donald Sensing emails: “Don’t you really mean your ‘too dumb for the Democrats’ threshold was set too low? Because they sure jumped over it with ease!”

I stand corrected.