Mark A. Kilmer's Political Annotation

Kerry/Clinton: Speaking when Tired

The "Official Blog" at GeoreW.Bush.com has Kerry's latest explanation for his votes on the $87-billion (see post below):

It was a very inarticulate way of saying something and I had one of those moments late in the evening when I was tired in the primaries and didn't say something clearly. But it reflects the truth of the position, which is, I thought, to have the wealthiest people in America share the burden of paying for that war. It was a protest. Sometimes you have to stand up and be counted.
[The bold type is from the GWB blog]

This takes me back a few years, to October 17, 1995, when then-President Bill Clinton told a group of wealthy Democrat contributors in Houston:

"Probably there are people in this room still mad at me about that budget because you think I raised your taxes too much. It might surprise you that I think I raised them too much too."

And Clinton tried to squirm out of it the next day at a press conference:

If I said anything which implies that I think that we didn't do what we should have done, given the choices we faced at the time, I shouldn't have said that. My mother once said I should never give a talk after 7:00 p.m. at night, especially if I'm tired, and she sure turned out to be right is all I can say.
[bold type, mine]

So it seems Mr. Kerry was trying to steal a page from the master. There is a problem, as the official GWB blog points out. It comes from a March article in the Washington Post:

"I actually did vote for his $87 billion, before I voted against it," he told a group of veterans at a noontime appearance at Marshall University.
[bold type, theirs]

So it looks like Kerry is going to have to try again.

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