I think it is possible that by foreign leaders, Kerry may have been referring to “opposition leaders,” and not those currently in power. So maybe he did meet or speak to whoever in England or Poland, and they said they supported him. To us in the general public, we would only recognize whoever the current head of state is as a “leader,” and not the wannabees. I think it was a mistake, since REAL AMERICANS don’t like any foriegners. It looks like Kerry realized this slip, and tried to correct it with his request for no endorsements
I guess I’d respond better to this if I had some kind of idea what you were talking about. Who do you mean by “Australian president”? There’s no such animal, but there is an Australian Prime Minister, whose name is John Howard. That’s the same Howard as in the “Sharon, Blair and Howard” bit that you quoted. And I really can’t understand what you mean by “deny having said anything”. Said anything about what?
And whoever apart from you claimed that Israel, the UK and Australia were insignificant?
IOW, WTF are you talking about?
Sam Stone touched on this, but let me bring this point more to the forefront:
KERRY WAS MISQUOTED.
From theMarch 16 New York Times (registration required):
So this does make one wonder about Kerry’s reaction. My personal thought is that if this whole thing hinges on one word, who can remember every word he or she spoke on a certain day, especially if s/he’s a politician on the campaign trail?
Kerry is right! He both did and didn’t talk and did and didn’t meet with foreigners during the last few years…
He communicated. _______ ()_______
So, so far the majors charges against Kerry by the Bush campaign are two blantant and outrageous lies about his voting record, and a misquote that later went on to be supported with evasive equivocation about what Kerry was talking about when asked about foriegn leaders. Am I supposed to be impressed with this?
What you have to understand is that Mr. Rove’s mud throwing machine is at least into second gear and in earnest pursuit of a tactic to keep Senator Kerry under such a barrage of accusations, criticisms and cheap shots that the Democratic campaign spends all its money responding and never has a chance to get on message.
In the mean time, our President and the boys are running around all the safe venues (expect a lot of speeches to returning military formations and mass shouting of Hoo-ha) claiming that the invasion and occupation of Iraq was all about terrorism and setting up a bastion of Western (Liberal?) Democracy in the Middle East, and that we never really said that there were weapons of mass destruction over there, just that we thought that there was a fair chance that some day there might be, and once the Security Counsel would not give us a sanction we had to go in just to prove who was in charge around here.
The other thing going on here is that the President and the boys are counting on the voting public having the memory of a Halloween pumpkin. It doesn’t matter if the stuff being thrown around is accurate, relevant or material. What counts is that if enough stuff is thrown some of it will stick. Remember the polls that say that something like half the public thinks we did indeed find WMDs in Iraq. The American people will probably not buy a single big lie, but a whole bunch of little lies will confuse the bejabers out of them.
Do they meet for a tea leaf reading?
Still, Rove and company have proven adept at generating gaffs for their own team. This latest one: Bush-Cheney to sell only U.S. goods is hilarious, and likely to hurt Bush with people who are worried about jobs, or dislike the idea of American politicians supporting oppresive regimes.
Hmmm - A single word can greatly change the meaning of an entire comunication. This type of “I said or meant to say” trait could have dire consequences in a tense situation.
Kerry has been in public office long enough to know he has to be careful what he says and to whom, so I’m not buying that theory.
Let’s face it - John Kerry had a terrible week. The ‘liars and crooks’ comment did not go over well with the public. The foreign leaders thing was a disaster. The wonkish, “I voted for the 87 billion dollars, just before I voted against it” made him sound like an idiot.
In fact, he did so poorly this week that he’s been pulled off the campaign for a ‘vacation’ to get the heat off him. And on his first day of vacation, he screwed that up, too. Today he went snowboarding. He told reporters that he “Never Falls”. Then he proceeded to collide with a secret service agent. No big deal so far, but reportedly Kerry got up and said, “The son of a bitch ran into me.” That’s not going to play well either, and he’d better hope no one pays attention to that one.
Kerry supporters better hope this week is an aberration, because he’s not off to a good start. And he’s lost almost 10 percentage points to Bush in the last ten days. And Rove and Co. haven’t even pulled out the big guns against him yet. They haven’t attacked his liberal voting record, his flip-flop on free trade, on the Patriot act, and other issues.
This is going to be a long election, and Kerry is going up against maybe the best political machine the U.S. has seen in decades. Bush has liabilities, but you’ve still got to call Kerry a big underdog.
A painful admission, I’m sure, Sam. One cannot fail to notice the woeful, solemn gravity with which you outline Sen. Kerry’s dreadful gaffes, how poorly it reflects on the character of one who must campaign against the Shining One, whose record of candor and straightforwardness is so entirely unblemished.
Yes, it will be a long election cycle. And sadly, we’re probably going to have to listen to you, a Canadian citizen, rant on about our politics and election for the whole time. :rolleyes: I sure hope the weather improves up there in Alberta so you can get out and focus on something else, like maybe exercising something other than you fingers.
So are you saying “foreign leaders” opinions are welcome but Sam’s are not?
Nice little ad hominem. If that’s all you have to offer, I’ll take a Canuck anyday. 
Maybe when the subscription policy kicks in, you can lobby for country flags to be required on everyone’s tag. Sheesh…
elucidator said:
Yeah, about like the way you arrive in threads with a gloomy demeanor, hands wringing, when you have to sorrowfully announce a Bush gaffe.
Somehow, having Sam Stone tell us about the status of Kerry’s campaign is akin to having O.J. Simpson be a character witness for Lou and Juditha Brown. :rolleyes:
Where did I say that?
Great analogy R.J.!
Darn. That’s a great idea! Wish I had thought of it myself.
Chosun Ilbo (South Korean Newspaper): Possible Democratic Party Presidential Candidate John Kerry and the Korean Buddhist martial art of Shim Gum Do.
Although the two might not appear to go together, a certain karma has been developing between them for the last 10 years. Kerry is very close to Shim Gum Do’s founder, Zen Master Kim Chang-sik, and has been a very strong supporter of Kim’s activities in the United States. They exchange letters once a month to exchange views on Zen and spiritual discipline, and meet whenever the need arises.
Just to give you an example of how close the two are, when Kerry’s father passed away in 2000, he secluded himself at home to console his grief-stricken mother. He met with no one. No one, that is, except Zen Master Kim, whom it’s said he met even then.
**Flickster: **Do they meet for a tea leaf reading?
**Milum: ** Maybeso, Flickster , we could ask his campaign people. It’s a fair question. I think the American people have a right to know if he is exchanging views on spiritual matters with a zen master or not. Maybe Kerry is trying to convert Kim Chang-sik to Catholicism. Maybe all rich people converse monthly with zen masters. Who knows?
But one thing is pretty much for sure; we the American people will never know the truth of whether or not Kerry consults with zen-masters. But it does seems that either the venerable Korean newspaper Chosun Ilbo is lying or Kerry does chat regularly with Master Kim.
Mmmm? Oh what the hell, I’ll just assume he does.