Now That's Rich

How's That Again?

Some political observers think challenger John Kerry should be further ahead of President Bush in the polls, given widespread concerns about Iraq and the economy and, of course, Bush's inability at times to say things in English.

So here is Kerry's answer last week to ABC-TV's Peter Jennings, who asked him, "If you believe life begins at conception, is even a first trimester abortion not murder?"

"No," Kerry said, "because it's not a form of life that takes personhood in the terms that we have judged it to be in the past."

Can't wait for the debates. Will they use subtitles?

Unscheduled Stop in Richmond

Keeping up with . . . former Clinton administration energy secretary Hazel R. O'Leary, who was recently appointed president of Fisk University in Tennessee.

The details are a bit fuzzy, but it appears O'Leary was escorted off a Nashville-to-Washington flight Thursday night after "getting loud and abusive" and had to be physically restrained at one point, a Richmond airport police officer told the Nashville Tennessean.

O'Leary reportedly said she just wanted to get off the plane in Richmond, where it sat on the tarmac for more than an hour after the flight was diverted because of storms. At some point, O'Leary tried to get into the cockpit but was blocked by a male flight attendant, police Cpl. Frank Donkle told the paper.

An airport spokesman said the flight crew contacted airport police and asked them to escort a passenger off the plane but declined to confirm that O'Leary was the passenger.

Donkle said that, when police boarded the plane, they found O'Leary sitting calmly in a seat. They turned her over to local FBI agents for questioning, he said.

But O'Leary issued a statement Thursday night saying, "I regret the unfortunate misunderstanding that occurred. . . . The situation was resolved. At no time was I rude or disrespectful to anyone. I answered all the questions that were asked and resumed my journey."

Unclear, the Tennessean said, was where she went or what mode of transportation she used.