Stein on Kerry on Jefferson: Where's the Outrage

Global Content Provider Mark Steyn offers a tasty taunt to John Kerry for his not-yet-well-enough-known misattribution of a banal Democrat slogan to Thomas Jefferson. For gentle readers unfamiliar with the episode, Mr. Kerry attributed to the Man on the Nickle the utterly vacuous, "Dissent is the highest form of patriotism."

Kerry, of course, is not the first to attribute this witless cliche to Jefferson. It's been making the rounds among Ds for some months

Stein brings it on to Mr. Kerry and his tribe. Here's a sample:

What does it mean when so many senior Democrats take refuge in an obvious bit of hooey? Thomas Jefferson would never have said anything half so witless. There is no virtue in dissent per se. When John F. Kennedy said, "We shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty" -- and, believe it or not, that's a real quote, though it's hard to imagine any Massachusetts Democrat saying such a thing today -- I could have yelled out, "Hey, screw you, loser." It would have been "dissent," but it wouldn't have been patriotic, and it's certainly not a useful contribution to the debate.