There He Goes Again

"In attacking Mr. Kerry and defending the war, the White House clearly made the calculation that achieving what has been its main strategic goal this year -- riling up a dispirited conservative base -- would outweigh any risk that might come in spotlighting a war that Republican Party officials said had become a huge burden for its candidates."

LAT : "Responding directly to Bush in a statement, Kerry said: 'This pathetic attempt to distort a botched joke about President Bush is a shameful effort to distract from a botched war.'

"The pointed criticism of Kerry made clear that the GOP believed he had provided an opening to press its case that Democrats could not be trusted to safeguard America's national security -- an argument Republicans hoped would turn voters to their side in a number of Tuesday's House and Senate races."

The Chicago Tribune political blog: "Did John Kerry (D-Mass.) help himself in his Seattle news conference this afternoon to explain his astonishing remarks yesterday which sounded like an elitist shot at the intelligence of members of the U.S. military serving in Iraq? Short answer: no . . .

"In his moment of high dudgeon, he may have made matters worse. It probably wasn't a good idea to accuse everyone who saw the video of his campaign appearance and thought he was disparaging the IQ of U.S. troops of being 'crazy' . . .

"You don't have to be a right-wing radio talk show host to look at the video from Kerry's campaign appearance yesterday and believe that he was indeed implying that those serving in Iraq are academic losers, there because they had no other choices."

The Boston Herald is, shall we say, skeptical, with a headline wondering: "Was Kerry's Mind AWOL?"

"Sen. John F. Kerry is scrambling to recover from a 'botched joke' that Republicans charge belittled U.S. soldiers serving in Iraq, in a gaffe that threatens to sink Democrats in Tuesday's election and dash his own presidential hopes."

Arianna defends Kerry as best she can:

"This Kerry thing couldn't be more of a non-issue. Everyone -- especially a veteran like John Kerry -- supports the troops. That's not the debate; the debate is whether we are leaving our troops in the crossfire of a sectarian civil war with no clear mission and a job they are ill-equipped for (since when is our military trained to resolve thousand-year old religious hatreds?).

"The White House had a full day to prepare for its attack on Kerry. Tony Snow was ready, talking points on the podium. Could he have been any more self-righteous, demanding an apology? As Kerry said, it's Bush who should apologize to the troops for sending them off to die with no clear strategy for winning . . .

"And John McCain should be ashamed of himself. He knows Kerry wasn't slamming the troops, but couldn't help currying favor with the White House by piling on. Wasn't caving in on the torture bill enough of a suck-up?"