Did Kerry Actually Say "More" Leaders Instead of "Foreign" Leaders?

Late Monday, Boston Globe reporter Patrick Healy, who filed the pool report that included the quote in question, announced that he’d gotten it wrong. Kerry said “more leaders,” not “foreign leaders.” Still, the context shows pretty clearly that foreign leaders of some sort were the folks Kerry was talking about. And in the week since the quotation was first reported, he’s never denied that this was what he meant.

The first thing to note about this brouhaha is that this was a really foolish thing for Kerry to say.

American elections aren’t about the views of foreigners. They’re about the views of Americans. If most people around the globe think the American president is reckless, untrustworthy or simply dangerous, that may be something American voters want to take into account in making their judgments. But that’s a more subtle point — and there are better ways to address it than the one Kerry chose.

Yes, Kerry’s remark was ill-advised. But one of the main reasons that it was a bad idea to say this is that it’s so obviously true.

Indeed, up until the White House glommed onto this recent line of attack, the administration’s contempt for the views of foreigners has been something it had been proud of and boasted of often. Remember the president’s cocky boasts about not needing anybody’s “permission” to launch the Iraq war?

http://www.thehill.com/marshall/031704.aspx

I would like to think that Kerry did not realize that there was one pool reporter in the room--Patrick Healy of the Boston Globe (no friend of John Kerry)--as he was talking to a small group of supporters in South Florida, I believe. If he did realize Healy was in the room, I would question his judgement in repeating this obvious truth--as the press could not wait to repeat it--ad nauseum.