Prometheus 6

What do you think we are, stupid? Obviously you do.

I don't want to hear any apology for a planned statement. In fact, I don't want to hear anything from you or any other Clintonite. Not only are YOU as full of it as Shaheen, Mark Penn proves himself incapable of containing his smarminess. All he needs is a cheap cigar and a Boss Hawg hat.

I have no idea what kind of explanation it would take to convince me your "backhanded insult" wasn't planned well in advance of your interview. I know this ain't it. And after Penn's performance, I doubt you'll find it in the time insurance industry actuarial tables suggest you have left.

The text of Kerrey's apology is below the fold. Don't bother reading it.

Dear Barack,

I want to sincerely apologize for the remarks I made on Sunday in Council Bluffs, Iowa, after an event at which I endorsed Senator Hillary Clinton's Presidential candidacy. I answered a question about your qualifications to be President in a way that has been interpreted as a backhanded insult of you. I assure you I meant to do just the opposite.

After you and I met during your primary campaign for the Senate, I wrote a public letter in which I said that that you were among the two or three most talented people I have ever met in politics. Nothing in your performance in the Senate or your campaign for the Presidency has altered that view.

The question I was asked in Iowa on Sunday was something like this: "Senator Kerrey, you ran for President in your first term in the Senate. If you were qualified, why isn't Senator Obama?" With the benefit of my computer's capacity to make certain that my words reflect my belief let me answer that question in this letter which you are free to use anyway you choose.

You are exceptionally qualified by experience and judgment to be President of the United States. I do not doubt that you would use the power of the Presidency to bring peace and prosperity to as many people as possible on our fragile planet. You inspire my highest hopes for that office's potential: That it be used as a force for good in America and the world.

It is your capacity to inspire hope that is your greatest God given talent. Without spending a dime of tax payer's money or changing a single law your presence in the Oval Office will send a clear and compelling message to four groups of people who will be altered for good as a consequence. That was what I was trying to say on Sunday and what I hope I said more clearly in this letter.

Again, I am sorry for the insult and wish you the best on January 3 and beyond.

Merry Christmas to you and your family.

Respectfully yours,

Bob Kerrey

An aide for the Obama campaign, which provided CNN with a copy of the letter, said that "of course Obama accepts his apology."