The “unnamed foreign leaders support me” claim is coming back to haunt Kerry a bit, as folks continue to question who, exactly, we’re talking about here.
Kerry declined to name any leaders who have voiced support for his candidacy, but said it’s clear to even casual observers of foreign policy issues that this country’s standing has sagged internationally.
“I’m not going to betray a private conversation with anybody,” he said Sunday. “I have heard from people, foreign leaders elsewhere in the world who don’t appreciate the Bush administration and would love to see a change in the leadership of the United States.”
That he’s heard from foreign leaders (a way he’s quoted on the issue a number of times in the article) is a bit different from his original statement on the matter:
“I’ve met foreign leaders who can’t go out and say this publicly, but boy they look at you and say, ‘You’ve got to win this, you’ve got to beat this guy, we need a new policy,’ things like that,” he said.
Now that certainly sounds like actual, face-to-face meetings. That’s how you usually use the word “met,” and there’s that whole “look at you” thing.
But (and I don’t have a cite for this), it’s my understanding that CNN wasn’t able to track down any actual meetings Kerry has had with “foreign leaders” over the last few years. And now it’s all about things that folks have told him.
Trivial, perhaps, but it seems like an increasingly stupid thing to have claimed.
Kerry said he is within his rights in keeping confidential conversations he has had with foreign leaders. “I don’t think Colin Powell or the president would start listing the names of people who said something critical,” he said.
Let’s see — how does that compare with calls for Cheney to divulge conversations he had with folks over energy policy?
Of course, that still begs the issue as to why Kerry is getting that sort of support (assuming he is). I’m willing to accept as a given that there are a number of countries, including some we’ve considered our allies previously, who would prefer to see an end to Bush’s foreign policy. Whether that’s out of an inherent sense of virtue, or concern over what’s best for the US (as opposed to their own countries’ interests), is perhaps another question.
UPDATE: In the NY Times version of the story we have the following bits:
“I think the quote, the quote in the comment I made publicly, I believe, was that I `heard from,’ that’s the direct quote,” Mr. Kerry said. “I’ve likewise had meetings. I’ve also had conversations. I said I’ve heard from, that was what I believe I said.”
Um … no. At least not the quote that’s been in the media.
On Sunday, Mr. Kerry said that he had not been abroad since he announced his presidential ambitions in December 2002. In Bethlehem, he told voters he had “had conversations with a number of leaders in the course of the last two years, up until the present moment,” and that he had “also had friends of mine who have met with leaders, as recently as the past week I’ve heard from a couple.”
So … were these comments from foreign leaders in actual face-to-face meetings? In (phone?) conversations? Or with friends who had, in turn, talked to foreign leaders?