Marshall Wittman, — John McCain’s former communications director, former member of the Christian Coalition, and self-described “Bull Moose” progressive — endorses John Kerry in a must-read, wide-ranging indictment of the Bush administration. He slams the leaders of the religious right; the attempt to repeal the estate tax; the Bush administration’s handling of Osama bin Laden, Afghanistan, and Iraq, its conduct during the 2002 mid-term elections, and its hypocrisy on “accountability”; and Bush’s lack of true conservatism. He says of Kerry:

Although I had my differences with Kerry during the Cold War, he has demonstrated by his hawkishness on Kosovo and Afghanistan that he is willing to use force to defend American ideas and interests. He advocates increasing the size of the U.S. military. On domestic issues, Kerry has positioned himself in the New Democrat tradition. Kerry has proposed an ambitious national service program. He would retain the tax cuts for the middle class while rolling them back on the super-rich. And he would reform, rather than eliminate, the estate tax.

. . .

Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney have waged an unprecedentedly cynical and divisive campaign. The campaign has proven that there are no guard rails when it comes to a scorched-earth effort to hold on to power. However, Democrats can seize the opportunity to reach out to disaffected moderate Republicans and independents to build a new political coalition of national unity. That is both the hope and the cause of this unreconstructed Bull Moose.

It’s worth a read.