The past couple of weeks have seen a desperate and frenzied effort on the part of certain elements of the liberal blogosphere who, despite their best efforts to drive a stake through the heart of John Kerry's political career, have failed to make that damned nuisance John Kerry go away. Much to their eternal disappointment, Kerry did not slink away with his tail between his legs after 2004 - he picked himself up, dusted himself off, and returned to the fray not two months later, this time wiser, tougher, and stronger than ever before. It was a battle of Thermopylaen proportions - John Kerry and a small but fiercely devoted band of supporters standing alone against the swelled ranks of both political parties, the punditocracy and the media, and a vast majority of the "netroots." Who could last long against such odds? They thought it would be easy to make John Kerry a pariah, to hammer the nail in the coffin, to scapegoat him so thoroughly for every failure of the Democratic party over the last four years that he would be a radioactive candidate.

They, not for the first time, underestimated John Kerry. They also underestimated the power of fierce loyalty and conviction.

They ultimately failed because John Kerry stands for something. He stands for a better America; a wiser America; a stronger America; a more equal America. He stands for restoration, both of our national pride and integrity and of our Constitutional foundations. He stands for courage, and perseverance. He stands for hope.

They, on the other hand, stand for fear. They stand for doom and gloom, blustering and arrogant self-righteousness, cynical and cold calculation. They stand for the status quo. They stand for despair. And they are fools if they think their agenda of hatred and anger and negativity can ever trump hope and courage.

On some level, they understand this, and they are scared. They know that the tide is turning against them, at last, and so they are doing what desperate cowards throughout time have done: they are lashing out blindly, abandoning all pretense of hiding their agenda, in one last vicious gambit to rid themselves of that meddlesome senator from Massachusetts. Of course, they are overreaching, and on some level, they know it - they know, deep down, they are ultimately doomed to fail. But that will not stop them from expending every last ounce of their malevolent energy to tear down that which they have hated and opposed for so long.

I can't believe we've reached the halfway point of this arduous marathon already. You all remember the soul-crushing despair of November 3rd - the feeling that the world was ending, the utter and complete desolation and despair. But yet... even in those blackest of days, there was a tiny seed of hope, buried beneath the ashes of our dreams. And through our blood, sweat, and tears, over these past two years we have nurtured that seed - and here we stand, against all odds, standing in support of the man that everyone said would never again have even a ghost of a chance.

We would not have been able to do it if not for the Herculean efforts of the man himself, of course. But he needs us as much as we need him. We are halfway there - but the road is only going to get harder, the hill steeper, the threats more insidious from here on.

We have made it this far, and we must not falter. We must not retreat. We must rise to meet every challenge with an equal response. And most importantly, we must never lose hope. No matter how many stand in opposition to us, no matter how hard the road may be - in the words of Winston Churchill: "Never, never, never give up."

On to victory, friends - stand fast, let's keep marching straight to the White House.