Way back when John Kerry showed up for work

As Robert Novak points out today, there was a time when Senator Splunge would make an appearance in the Senate. Ten years ago (yes, that’s how far back Novak had to go to uncover something approaching labor) Kerry sponsored an amendment to slash the U.S. intelligence budget, only a year after the first attack on the World Trade Center.

When this column asked about Kerry's past position this week, campaign spokesman Chad Clanton replied: "You bet, John Kerry voted against business-as-usual in our intelligence community. It is no secret that we've got some serious problems with our intelligence."

Kerry’s answer wasn’t to reform intelligence gathering, or even allocate more funds, but to spend less. That’s a nuanced approach if I ever saw one.