[Pokey78]

[TomGuy]

Kerry: I was against the Benedict Arnold companies before I was for them [after Tarrraaaazzzzaaa told me to shut up or find a new money-mommie]. So any future reference to Benedict Arnold companies is the fault of my speechwriters.

[Mr. K]

if that was true then did he fire his speachwriters?

[jwalburg]

How can Steyn get better with every column? He just churns out these razor sharp analyses every few days!

[vbmoneyspender]

I mean, OK, it was what he was saying in the narrow technical sense of words emerging from between his lips,

LOL. Steyn kills me everytime he writes a column.

[Bahbah]

Good Steyn piece.

[Maceman]

''You know, I called a couple of times to overzealous speechwriters and said 'Look, that's not what I'm saying.'

From the AP, May 06, 2004:

COLTON, CA: Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry said Thursday if he were president he would not be "the last to know what is going on in my command,"</i<

The guy doesn't even know what's going on in his speeches, and obviously has no control over his own speechwriters, but he's going to be the first to know everything that's going on in the armed forces everywhere in the world.

Uh-huh.

[McGavin999]

This is apparently a huge problem. Because of tax loopholes, thousands of CEOs find it advantageous to take out Mexican citizenship, swim back to America and work as ''undocumented executives.''

OMG, I had to get up and walk around the room. I was laughing so hard my sides hurt.

[RobFromGa]

bump

[MeekOneGOP]

LOL !

Happily, he's now explained to us that what he was saying is not what he was saying. He's like one of those sitcom actresses -- Cybill Shepherd, say -- who complain the writers didn't get her character right until the second season. But now Johnnifer Kerriston has got his character down pat. Although we all left those New Hampshire campaign rallies with the impression that ''Benedict Arnold'' was a term he reserved for CEOs who ''take jobs overseas,'' it's clear it now refers to CEOs who ''give up American citizenship.'' This is apparently a huge problem. Because of tax loopholes, thousands of CEOs find it advantageous to take out Mexican citizenship, swim back to America and work as ''undocumented executives.''

[RedWhiteBlue]

It is always a relief when I open the thread and see that you are the original poster and the editorial is not excerpted. Thanks for posting it!

[mcenedo]

Steyn bump.

doesn't matter how blatantly sKerry lies, the lying liberal media will protect him.

[DesertDreamer]

Who knew that the ability to mindlessly read whatever a speechwriter thrusts into your hands would qualify someone to be the leader of the free world?

I think Sen. Kerry should have an MRI. He's obviously bumped his head in a serious way, probably as a result of being tripped or pushed by a Secret Service agent.

[Paul_B]

This piece is completely awesome. Perhaps Steyn's best, as difficult as that is to assay. I would also recommend the excellent Kaplan piece in TNR.

[Rocky]

"They're not his words coming out of his mouth, just words wholly owned and operated by employees of a subsidiary unit of his wife's holding company, Benedict Arnold Heinz Kerry Campaign Rhetoric Inc., registered in Bermuda."

This is a CLASSIC, even among all the great ones Steyn has published. This one should be framed.

[Watery Tart]

Unexcerpted Bump!

Soooo--I guess hiring VRWC speechwriters was a mad-genius kind of thing--some sort of Affirmative Action move?

I loved CEOs before I hated them....

[nothingnew]

Steyn Bump!...and as always, thanks for not "q"ing the piece and posting the entire article Pokey.

FMCDH

[Ruth A.]

Steyn paints Kerry for the fool that he is.

[Cicero]

Beautiful!

I had a quick rummage through the Nexis database, and found a mere 746 citations for Kerry and the expression ''Benedict Arnold.'' I myself have personally been present on three occasions when he attacked ''Benedict Arnold CEOs'' who ''take jobs overseas,'' and on two of them he didn't have a TelePrompTer or even a script. He just stood in front of us and the words came out of his mouth, almost as if they were what he himself believed.

[NYC GOP Chick]

Lawrence Kaplan reports in the New Republic about a meeting the senator had with Jewish leaders to assuage their concerns about his offer to dispatch Jimmy Carter or James Baker (both regarded as pro-Arab) to the Middle East. ''One of the first things Kerry did at the meeting was to blame his aides for the mention of Carter and Baker as possible envoys in his December speech,'' writes Kaplan. ''The names, Kerry said, had been inserted by mistake, and he had even asked that they be removed.''

For someone who has to keep reminding us (on an hourly basis) that he's a war hero, he sure is one hell of a coward...a real chicken$hit, in fact.