Sen. Kerry Now and Then

And now the most compelling two minutes in television, the latest from the political grapevine:

Now and Then

Howard Dean has criticized John Kerry for voting to authorize war with Iraq last year, after voting against the first Gulf War in 1991. There's more to it than that.

Kerry sent a letter to a constituent back in 1991, saying -- "Thank you for contacting me to express your opposition ... to the early use of military force by the U.S. against Iraq. I share your concerns. On January 11, I voted ... against a resolution giving the president the immediate authority to go to war."

Nine days later, the same constituent received another letter from Kerry, saying -- "Thank you for contacting me to express your support for the actions of President Bush [in the Persian Gulf]... From the outset of the invasion, I have strongly and unequivocally supported President Bush's response to the crisis."

Releases on Roy

The Dean campaign has now issued two press releases on its new chief executive officer, Roy Neel. The first one described him -- as -- "a long-time aide to Vice President Al Gore" and detailed his long tenure in politics, and the most recent one similarly says he has -- "enormous experience both in management and national politics."

Neither press release from a campaign which has promised to -- "take this country back from a bunch of lobbyists" -- mentions that, as we noted earlier, Neel spent the bulk of the 1990s as a lobbyist for BellSouth, SBC and Verizon, as the president of the U.S. Telecom Association.

Another Resignation

Greg Dyke -- the BBC director-general who attacked the U.S. media for its coverage of the war in Iraq -- is now the second BBC executive in as many days to resign in a scandal over BBC's war coverage.

The BBC was found to have falsely accused the British government of having -- "sexed up" prewar intelligence. But back in April, Dyke condemned American media for being -- "gung-ho" on the war, saying -- "no [American] news operation [is] strong enough or brave enough to stand up against" its government.

By the way, one of Dyke's most noted contributions to the BBC was introducing a wisecracking, nerdy sock puppet named Roland Rat to read the news.

Schwarzenegger Legal Reaction

Arnold Schwarzenegger has argued in court that a lawsuit brought against him for taking out a $4.5 million bank loan to finance his recall election is an attempt to block his First Amendment rights and should be dismissed.

But now that a judge has ruled the loan illegal, Schwarzenegger, quoted by the Wall Street Journal, calls the decision "fantastic," adding -- "I myself [will] pay for that. ... It was a great decision by the judge. Exactly what we intended to do."

— FOX News' Michael Levine contributed to this report