Appearing on MSNBC's After Hours coverage following the first presidential debate on September 30, Washington Post staff writer Jim VandeHei echoed Bush-Cheney '04 campaign criticism of Senator John Kerry's policies on Iraq and then suggested that Kerry's successful debate performance will ultimately make little difference in the outcome of the election.

Of Kerry's position on Iraq, VandeHei stated: “John Kerry is in a box on Iraq. He can't talk about the past, because he knows his own position has sort of meandered like a river. And he can't talk about the future, because his positions are so similar to Bush's.” Then, in assessing his final thoughts on the debate, VandeHei proclaimed: “I think if the election stays the same, and voters are still looking for the person who's going to be strongest on terrorism, I think at the end of the day John Kerry might not have had the big victory everyone thought he had.”

VandeHei's claim that Kerry's Iraq position has “meandered like a river” is a take-off on the Bush-Cheney '04 campaign's spin that Kerry is a “flip-flopper.” As for his claim that Kerry's Iraq policies are “so similar to Bush's,” Columbia Journalism Review's Campaign Desk website has noted that VandeHei's previous assertions that Kerry and Bush are nearly identical on Iraq and other issues demonstrate that the journalist is “far too willing to take campaign spin at face value. Had VandeHei looked beyond the rhetoric and scrutinized each candidate's policy proposals, he would have found sharper contrasts.”

VandeHei has a long history of attacking Kerry and distorting his remarks. VandeHei's Post articles in 2004 have covered such issues as the potential for Kerry's purported primary season support of Bush policies becoming “problematic” in the general election; Democrats' “ambivalence” and “angst” with Kerry as their nominee; and Kerry
“fumbl[ing]” the name of the Green Bay Packers' football stadium.

Daily Howler editor Bob Somerby has noted that a VandeHei article -- which labeled Kerry as a hypocrite for attacking “Benedict Arnold” companies, when, VandeHei claimed, such companies fund his campaign -- is “grossly misleading.” While VandeHei wrote that Kerry has “lambaste[ed] special interests after accepting more money from paid lobbyists than any other senator over the past 15 years,” Somerby cited New Republic editor Peter Beinart to explain: "[L]obbyist money is just one small part of what is referred to as 'special interest' money; Kerry actually ranks 92nd among U.S. senators when it comes to receipt of such money." Nonetheless, the Post report was picked up by CNN's Crossfire co-host Tucker Carlson, who deemed it a “remarkable front-page story” by “star reporter Jim VandeHei.”