New York Times token right-wing columnist David Brooks took out his little hatchet on John Kerry today. Accused him of flip-flopping on big issues as the mood suits him. To Brooks, I guess being a staunch fascist is better than being a flexible liberal.

Kerry can let most of this criticism roll off like water from a duck's back. But one thing that Brooks did is cause for legitimate concern -- he played the Ted Kennedy card:

If you look back over the span of John Kerry's career, you find that every few months or years he takes a hard look at some thorny public issue. Then, after some period of reflection, he unleashes his inner Moynihan and comes out with an interesting and politically dangerous speech.

The problem is that he almost never follows up. When he makes these speeches he habitually asserts that he will mount a long public crusade. But then he takes his controversial ideas, jams them into a jar and buries them in the backyard.

If you watch him campaign today, you will have no clue that he has ever had interesting thoughts on education, civil rights, poverty and so on. On these and other issues, he campaigns as an orthodox Democrat, comfortably in tune with Ted Kennedy and the party's major interest groups.

The Midwest, the West, and especially the South are going to watch those ads with great interest. Ted's girth is a symbol to them. Bad news for a Kerry-led ticket.