AUTO PILOT

SEN. John Kerry doesn't need to listen to President Bush to criticize him. Kerry sat down to dinner at Café Milano in Georgetown last Thursday at 7:30 p.m. with three other men, and never glanced at the TV set at the bar during Bush's address from New Orleans. "Mr. Bush's speech ended at approximately 9:25 p.m. local time," Washington Times columnist John McCaslin noted. "Lo and behold, when he was still seated at the table wiping squid from his chin, Mr. Kerry responded to the president's address with a statement of his own, issued at exactly 9:54 p.m." Buried in Kerry's statement was this nugget: "Americans want an end to politics as usual." Pass the calamari.