It's Crazy Week in Washington

Last week, when the VP of torture endorsed waterboarding, right-wing spinmeisters (including his cranky wife) were quick to come out and shout that Cheney doesn't support torture. Right. Poor Dick was misunderstood and dunking people in water while they're being interrogated ain't no big thang, is it? I mean, c',mon...

This week however, when John Kerry screwed up his joke about Bush, those same right-wing spinmeisters morphed back into the vultures they are and poked his eyes out like he was a fresh carcass in the desert. No misunderstandings there. Kerry deserved it, as far as Bush and his ugly, relentless flock were concerned.

Mouthpiece Tony Snow during Wednesday's WH press briefing:

Q But basically, when you cited the Vice President before as an example, what he said last week about a dunk in the water, some human rights groups interpret that to mean, the Vice President -- they interpret it that the Vice President was condoning water boarding and that he was condoning torture. The Vice President came out, spoke to reporters, and said, that's absolutely not what I meant. He never apologized to anyone if they took it wrong, or anything like that. And you basically said, look, people took it the wrong way, he did not condone that. John Kerry is now saying, that's not what I meant. Why won't you take him at his word, like you wanted the Vice President --

MR. SNOW: I'll tell you what I did, is I actually took the Vice President at his word and recited it verbatim. The question you've got to ask is, why are you trying to explain it away rather than ask the simple question?

Q I'm not trying to explain it away.

MR. SNOW: Well, it's --

Q You cited the example of the Vice President, and said, "last week you all jumped on him."

MR. SNOW: What did I do? I read the Vice President's exact words. And I'm reading -- look, Harold Ford has come out today and said, please -- I don't think he said, please -- but he said --

Q The Vice President's own words were -- he was asked a question about a dunk in the water, is that okay --

MR. SNOW: Then he said it's a no-brainer. And then he's explained that, and I read back the words precisely. So I've read back the words. Why doesn't Senator Kerry, rather than saying, I meant to put in the word, "us" -- and you try to put in "us" here, left out the word "us" -- and if you don't -- if you don't, you get stuck in Iraq. Where does "us" fit in? You don't "us" get stuck? I don't understand. It just -- it doesn't scan here.

Q We're not here to explain his words. But you were saying the Vice President --

MR. SNOW: It's up to him to explain his words. And so what they've done now is said, he didn't say what he meant to say. Fine. Then just get out and say, I messed

-- not merely that I botched a line, follow it up, because apparently a lot of people are pretty ticked off about this, Ed. And what they say is, it came across as an insult to us, and the way you deal with it when you make an insult, just say you're sorry.

Snow is incredibly obtuse if he can't figure out where the word 'us' fits into what Kerry said:

"You do your homework and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well; and if you don't you get [us] stuck in Iraq."

Kerry also released this statement on Wednesday:

As a combat veteran, I want to make it clear to anyone in uniform and to their loved ones: my poorly stated joke at a rally was not about, and never intended to refer to any troop.

I sincerely regret that my words were misinterpreted to wrongly imply anything negative about those in uniform, and I personally apologize to any service member, family member, or American who was offended.

It is clear the Republican Party would rather talk about anything but their failed security policy. I don’t want my verbal slip to be a diversion from the real issues. I will continue to fight for a change of course to provide real security for our country, and a winning strategy for our troops.

Regardless, disgruntled and delusional right-wingers will no doubt keep pushing the lie that Kerry insulted the troops. Snow even wrongly stated during his press conference that Kerry was 'the head' of the Democratic party. Can they be any more obviously desperate to deflect attention from their gross mismanagement and corruption? I don't think so.

Can we now focus on the fact that Bush said on Wednesday that he thinks Cheney and Rumsfeld 'are doing fantastic jobs' and that he plans to keep Rumsfeld on throughout his term as president? There's a gift, Democrats. Run with it. If anyone is insulting the troops, it's Bush by keeping the Worst Secretary of Defence Ever in his post as soldiers keep dying in Iraq and Afghanistan.