Marshall Wittmann offers a ton of good political advice to Democrats in his column today, but if there is one line they should focus on it is this one:

Presidential elections are won in the center by hawks and not by left wing populists with dovish inclinations.

Perhaps this might not have held true in the immediate post Cold War years of the 1990's, but it is certainly sound political advice in today's post-9/11 world.

One of the main reasons John Kerry lost in 2004 is because at heart he was a classic anti-Vietnam dove. Had Kerry stepped on stage in Boston when he reported for duty during his acceptance speech and repudiated his actions when he returned home from Vietnam, apologized to the soldiers he slandered, acknowledged he was wrong in the early 1980's when he fought Ronald Reagan's vigorous defense buildup, and declared that with the wisdom that comes from maturity and age he was now ready to lead America on the tough road ahead in the War against Islamic terrorism, John Kerry would be President today.

Of course, John Kerry couldn't bring himself to say all of those things because he believes none of them. In fact, his recent speech commemorating his testimony 35 years earlier to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee confirms that the real John Kerry is the John Kerry of 1971 who said that U.S. soldiers, "personally raped, cut off ears, cut off heads, tape wires from portable telephones to human genitals and turned up the power, cut off limbs, blown up bodies, randomly shot at civilians, razed villages in fashion reminiscent of Genghis Khan."

In 2004, enough of the country knew that was the real John Kerry and that is why he lost. If Democrats nominate another dove at heart, they will lose again.