This whole Kerry-bragging-about-unnamed-foreign-leaders situation is getting comically complicated. Follow with me:
- Boston Globe claims that Kerry stated that he has the backing of several unnamed foreign leaders.
- Colin Powell goes on TV and dares Kerry to name these leaders
- Kerry defends the statement: "I'm not going to betray a private conversation with anybody," he said Sunday. "I have heard from people, foreign leaders elsewhere in the world who don't appreciate the Bush administration and would love to see a change in the leadership of the United States."
- Bush dares Kerry to name the leaders that Kerry has the backing of
- The Globe reporter admits an error in transcribing the comment. Instead of "foreign leaders," Kerry actually said "more leaders."
What do you do in this situation? Kerry's already defended the comment, which puts him in the position of supporting a comment that he never actually made. Now that Bush is calling Kerry out on this, does Kerry:
- name foreign leaders that he never actually claimed he had the support of?
- does he pass it off as a misquote (despite his earlier defense), which makes it look like Kerry is backpedalling, which will makes it look like the Bush Administration wins, even though the misquoted statement is most likely true.
(via metafilter)