Two delusional optimists?

George F. Will's column in the WP today. Grand Delusions, at least started out on the right on track.

Tonight's debate will be a duel between two delusional optimists. It pits a man who regards recent events in Iraq as "steady progress" against a man who, while accusing the president of unrealism, says that when he becomes president, "the world" -- a geographical expression, not a political entity -- will help heal Iraq.

If ever an administration, in a reelection season properly dominated by a single issue of the administration's choosing, has earned an electoral rebuke, it is this one. And if ever there has been a challenger who, together with his party, seemed perfectly designed to dissuade the electorate from administering such a rebuke, it is this one.

I'm not going to discuss the rest of the column but I must admit I have difficulty coming up with a really good argument against Will's Kerry slams.

I guess my only question is, are they delusional or are they just lying? This election resembles 1968. Johnson and McNamara new the war in Vietnam could not be won at this point. I think it follows that both Nixon and Humphrey new the war could not be won as well. That's not what they told us in their campaigns and the war continued for four more years and thousands of Americans died. Bush himself may well be delusional but all the people around him are not. Bush may well be a simple minded fool who is not being told the truth himself. Kerry on the other hand is not simple minded so I doubt he is delusional. He must be lying.