Strange behavior

The behavior of candidates often reflects what they are seeing in their private polls. That being so, I suspect that the Kerry-Edwards private polls look pretty grim, unlike the public polls which purport to show them running neck-and-neck with the Bush-Cheney ticket.

To put it bluntly, both John Kerry and John Edwards are beginning to look more than a little loony.

Take for example Kerry's astonishing comparison of terrorists with prostitutes and gamblers. In an interview with the New York Times Magazine, Kerry said "We have to get back to the place we were, where terrorists are not the focus of our lives, but they're a nuisance. As a former law-enforcement person, I know we're never going to end prostitution. We're never going to end illegal gambling. But we're going to reduce it, organized crime, to a level where it isn't on the rise. It isn't threatening people's lives every day, and fundamentally, it's something that you continue to fight, but it's not threatening the fabric of your life."

There's something seriously out of kilter in the mind of a U.S. senator who makes such statements, and I think it's a sign of growing panic.

Edwards, a man who once stood in front of a jury and channeled the thoughts of a dead baby, telling jurors exactly what she was thinking from her heavenly abode, has now promised that electing John Kerry will somehow usher in a world of miraculous healing.

Perhaps he's looking beyond a possible vice presidency to the day be becomes known as St. John of Lourdes -- he who makes the paralyzed walk, the blind see, the deaf hear. It reminds me of the movie "The Sixth Sense" where a little boy sees dead people. But Kerry and Edwards aren't just far-out liberals, they're nuts.

Mike Reagan is a syndicated columnist.