As the world careens towards chaos in Iraq, it’s time to pause’and laugh at John Kerry. I call it the pause that refreshes.
Seems Mr. Kerry has of late been getting in touch with his inner ventriloquist’s dummy.
I refer, of course, to Mr. Kerry’s bizarre explanation of why he said he’d send James Baker III or Jimmy Carter as envoy to Israel when he also claimed he didn’t mean to say this.
Responding to complaints from the offended Jewish community, Kerry blamed his speechwriters. This provided fodder for Mickey Kaus of kausfiles.
Kausfiles (which is free) quoted and commented on an article on the contretemps by Lawrence Kaplan in the New Republic (which is not free):
‘[O]ne of the first things Kerry did at the meeting [with Jewish leaders] was to blame his aides for the mention of Carter and Baker as possible envoys in his December speech–a claim that several participants double-checked as soon as they walked out the door. The names, Kerry said, had been inserted by mistake, and he had even asked that they be removed. The problem is, in the speech itself, Kerry said, “There are a number of uniquely qualified Americans among whom I would consider appointing, including President Carter. … And, I might add, I have had conversations with both President Clinton and President Carter about their willingness to do this.” Kerry spokesperson Stephanie Cutter even confirmed to The Boston Globe in December that he had spoken with Carter. Today, the campaign offers this explanation: The candidate eventually did speak with Carter–but only after noticing that a draft of his speech said that he spoke with Carter. [Emph. added]’
Mickey asks, ‘Is that how the Kerry presidency will work? I always thought speechwriters had power!**… But wait a minute: If Kerry instructed his aides to remove Carter’s name as a possible envoy from the speech, then why did he go ahead and meet with Carter just because the to-be-corrected draft of the speech said he’d met with him? … That’s where his story falls completely to the ground!’
Another place it sorta falls to the ground: If Kerry had asked the speechwriters to remove the names, but they didn’t, couldn’t he skip them? Even GWB probably can read well enough to know that’oh, forget it.
By the way, Lucianne has a hilariously doctored picture of Kerry getting in touch with his inner Bubba in preparation for the publication of Bill Clinton’s book. Don’t miss it.