Drudge mentions this on his radio show. (Kerry) About shooting Dan Quayle

[Renew Deal]

Quote: "Somebody told me the other day that the Secret Service has orders that if George Bush is shot, they're to shoot Quayle. … There isn't any press here, is there?" (Associated Press, Nov. 16, 1988).

Charge: Kerry delivered this joke at a business breakfast shortly after the election of President George H.W. Bush and Vice President Dan Quayle. The co-chairman of the Bush-Quayle campaign in Massachusetts called it "an extraordinarily reckless comment" that was "very clearly in bad taste."

Context: The Secret Service hadn't really been told to shoot Quayle. Kerry was joking. Moreover, the joke had been going around Washington for some time.

Defense: Kerry immediately issued a statement saying: "I shouldn't have repeated the story. It was inappropriate and I apologize for doing so." He later told the Boston Globe that he was "kicking himself" for his "bad taste."

http://slate.msn.com/id/2089125/

[banana republican]

1. I thought it was Ollie...

[LBJBestEver]

2. What the hell is the point of this thread?

Oh yeah, to bash Kerry.

[Feanorcurufinwe]

3. I thought it was funny at the time.

Umm, I still think it's funny.

[Renew Deal]

4. Bash Kerry?

Not at all. I am just telling you what's in the pipe. BTW, did Kerry not say this?

[UnAmericanJoe]

6. It only

makes me want to vote for him more.

EVERYONE told that joke.

[jsw_81]

14. Didn't Clark vote for Bush/Quayle?

Or was it just Nixon and Reagan?

[Jerseycoa]

5. Pretty funny, though nt

[AmandaRuth]

7. If I could tell Kerry anything, like anyone would listen to me,

I would say he did great tonight on 60 mins, and do not, repeat. do not let the reThug media machine put you on the defensive for anything. Look, this joke was funny then and it is funny now. Even I, at that time a secretary in the PNW, with no affiliation to politics what so ever heard that joke.

Don't apologize for having some fun, and if the reThugs dont like it, tell them to turn on any right wing clear channel station (here kvi) and listen to the hate spew about Democrats. And then ask them to apologize.

[mzmolly]

8. What another reckless Kerry *GAFFE* my word, that's about the third one

today!

[Old and In the Way]

9. Who says John doesn't have a sense of humor?

(Ducking for cover as the anti-Kerry's rail about my political insensitivity....)

[snyttri]

10. Funny. But, along with alluding to his opponent in diapers and gaining a

reputation for negative campaigning, etc... it may erode the "presidential" image that he has earned.

[Forkboy]

11. Not a big deal

the lesson here is that politicians should never joke about anything ever.

[robbedvoter]

12. Funy, but ruined by apologies...Nothing like a fearful man making tough

statements...Like with regime change thingy...I have never seen so many retractions for something I wear on a button...Sheesh! Whadda fighter!

[corporatewhore]

13. I heard a new version if dubya is shot ss is to shoot cheney!!

[Meldread]

15. I heard the same joke...

Said about Smirky and his Robot friend. Only no one was laughing.