Wrong Then, Wrong Now.(ISSUES & INSIGHTS)(EDITORIALS)(Editorial)

Decision '04: For most Americans, the key issue in this election is the war on terror and who should lead it. Only one candidate, in our view, has the temperament, character and experience to do it. It's not John Kerry.

Were this a normal election, the health of our $11 trillion economy would probably top the list of concerns, and Kerry might not matter as much.

After all, the smartest people on earth work in the U.S., including an entrepreneurial class second to none. Even if Kerry won, he'd almost certainly face a GOP Congress that would keep damage to a minimum. Heck, some of us would even welcome a little gridlock.

Fair enough. But the one area where the president truly matters is in foreign policy. It is there where a leader's power is least trammeled by retail politics -- and where a commander in chief can operate most freely.

And it's there where a Kerry would do his most enduring damage.

To us, the near blackout during the campaign of the senator's questionable past has been simply stunning. It's as if everything he has done up to now, either as a so-called peace activist or as a left-leaning legislator from Massachusetts, is irrelevant.

Based on what we know, a Kerry presidency would lead to a de facto withdrawal from the war on terror and a weaker America. After all, he thinks he can actually make terrorism a "nuisance," like prostitution or gambling.