For those hoping that the Kerry campaign would take a civil, high-minded approach to the 2004 contest following the Democrat convention, those hopes have been quickly dashed.

From Kerry's acceptance speech:

I want to address these next words directly to President George W. Bush: In the weeks ahead, let's be optimists, not just opponents. Let's build unity in the American family, not angry division. Let's honor this nation's diversity; let's respect one another; and let's never misuse for political purposes the most precious document in American history, the Constitution of the United States.

From a John Kerry rally Monday in Milwaukee:

When a Bush supporter with a bullhorn shouted "four more years" from the back of a large crowd packed into a downtown Milwaukee park, Heinz Kerry, who was introducing her husband, responded: "They want four more years of hell."

And what was the Democrat nominee's response to this comment full of disrespect and division?

"She speaks her mind and she speaks the truth and she's pretty quick on her feet too," the Massachusetts senator said when he took the microphone in Milwaukee.

It's not that I really ever expected Kerry's call for civility to last the duration of the campaign -- but I thought it would last longer than four days.