But he was that close

Now that Kerry's Vietnam bloviations have cost him not only credibility but likely actual votes, we see the entrenchment at the fallback position. Whenever someone brings up the fallacy of his Christmas in Cambodia story, we are now told that Kerry was "very near" Cambodia. He wanted us to think he had been illegally ordered into Cambodia by Richard Nixon over Christmas of 1968, creating a dramatic irony-- President Nixon saying there were no troops in Cambodia, while Kerry listened to Nixon's words on a radio... in Cambodia.

To most of us, the distinction between "actually illegal" and "almost illegal" is rather important. If you go 69 in a 70 mph zone, and a cop's radar clocks you at 69, he won't bother to stop you. But, Kerry is a former prosecutor from Massachusetts-- proud home of the Amirault case of prosecutorial misconduct-- and actual criminality is not strictly important, nor facts or other inconvenient details. In Kerry's case, the only important thing is the political value of irony.

So, the Kerry campaign would have us believe that being in Vietnam perhaps 50 miles from the border on Christmas of 1968 is just as significant as actually being in Cambodia. Oh, and the fact that Nixon was not president at that time is apparently an irrelevant detail. Almost pregnant. Practically a virgin.

Now John Forbes Kerry assumes the hapless posture of Maxwell Smart, holding up his forefinger and thumb, nearly pinched together, nasally intoning, "I was that close."

In any case, the facts of the matter blew by Kerry, completely unnoticed. Remember, Bush is the dolt and Kerry the intellectual one.

Now there is irony.