Kerry Sticks Foot in Mouth

Hotline reports MA. Sen. John Kerry said last night that if Dems retake the House, there's a "solid case" to bring "articles of impeachment" against President Bush for allegedly misleading the country about pre-war intelligence, according to several Dems who attended. Kerry was speaking at a holiday party for alumni of his WH '04 bid. About 100 campaign vets gathered at Finn McCool's bar in D.C. to hear him.

And it is clear that Kerry is still ticked off that he lost. And even more ticked off to know his party will not let him try again.

In a short speech, Kerry praised Dems who were working on Senate and House campaigns, and then said, according to one listener: "If we take back the House,

Not a snowball's chance in hell.

there's a solid case to bring articles of impeachment against this president." Another listener heard a slight variation: "If we win back the House, I think we have a pretty solid case to bring articles of impeachment against this President." Kerry then quickly added, according to several in the audience, "Don't tell anyone I said that."

Is Kerry dumb enough to think that will keep his statement from getting out?

Kerry Comm. Dir. David Wade, in an email, said his boss was joking.

So in additon to being a bad candidate he has a bad sense of humor as well?

But several in Kerry's audience said the comment made them uncomfortable, in part because they believed the press would discover what Kerry said and twist its context.

What twisting does it take? You may argue that Clinton should not have been impeached for what he did with Monica in the Oval Office, with his wife in the East Wing, but then that was not why Clinton was impeached.

In keeping with Kerry's wishes, several attendees, while acknowledging what he said, declined to comment when asked about the remarks.

Matt blogged I don't believe for a second Kerry was joking. John Kerry knows very well that intelligence was never manipulated, and that several other country's intelligence agencies all concluded Iraq had WMD. Three independent reports have all concluded intelligence was never manipulated. John Kerry himself, as a member of the Senate Committee of Intelligence, said in 2002, "I will be voting to give the president of the United States the authority to use force - if necessary - to disarm Saddam Hussein because I believe that a deadly arsenal of weapons of mass destruction in his hands is a real and grave threat to our security."