The political blindness of the Kerry team is continually amazing to me.
Would it have been that hard for Kerry to laugh at that picture and say something like "Yeah, that does look a bit silly, doesn't it?" If he had done that, the story would not have been a story.
But to accuse an agency (of several thousand VOTERS, hello?) of "leaks" and malfeasance, and concoct all sorts of (transparent) lies about it - that's just stupid.
And if he thinks all that stops when he's (gulp) President, he's incredibly stupid. Does he think that Putin, or Chiraq, or Arafat won't play politics?
Agreed. Kerry could have done a "leading edge science and technology isn't always pretty" statement, followed by a few sentences on how he and all Americans can be proud of the advanced work and effort being done by our country. He could have even added some reference such as "... John Kennedy's vision of American achievement in space lives on and I am committed to seeing that that vision continues." He could have gained some political mileage with such a statement.
Fortunately Kerry's vanity carried the upper hand! Opportunity lost...