Drudge reproduces a Fox News transcript in which Kerry campaign manager Mary Beth Cahill circumlocuitously claims NASA intentionally leaked the Bunny Suit pictures of John Kerry's
visit to KSC:

CAHILL: ...senator carr [sic] took a tour of a bio facility at nasa. it was just the two of them, and the nasa staff, and all of a sudden this is a leaked photo.

HUME: it was leaked?

CAHILL: yes.

HUME: it was made by nasa, right?

CAHILL: yes, it was.

HUME: so the campaign had no idea there would be any photographs.

CAHILL: none.

HUME: when it was agreed he would put on his th costume.

CAHILL: there was no press there. there was -- nothing. all of the sudden these photographs are out.

And I bet the Senator was shocked, shocked to discover that someone had taken a picture of him...or perhaps he just posed for the pictures before he didn't pose for them.

I think the pictures are amusing, but hardly a "Beetle Dukakis"-level embarrassment. I find it irritating, however, that a Presidential candidate would willingly pose for several pictures during a campaign stop and then be surprised and angry when those pictures later end up in public. What was/is the Kerry campaign thinking?

And is it me, or is it just a little bit paranoid to jump so swiftly to the conclusion that the "leak" of these "surprise" photos (for which he posed) is a "dirty trick"? It says a lot about the Kerry campaign that they would choose to make wild accusations like this rather than simply dismiss it with a shrug and "So what's the big deal?" type of comment...responding this way only makes a distracting issue out of something quite trivial. On the other hand, that may indeed be the point.

Posted by T.L. James on July 27, 2004 11:22 PM