SPEAKING OF KERRY AND GUNS, he just shot himself in the foot again:

But in so doing he seemed to forget that Republicans have been tearing him down for months as a vacillating, indecisive, finger-in-the-wind politician of the worst order.

“Everybody told me, ‘God, if you’re coming to Canonsburg, you’ve got to find time to go to Toy’s, and he’ll take care of you,'” Mr. Kerry said, dropping the name of a restaurant his motorcade had passed on the way in. “I understand it’s my kind of place, because you don’t have to – you know, when they give you the menu, I’m always struggling: Ah, what do you want?

“He just gives you what he’s got, right?” Mr. Kerry added, continuing steadily off a gangplank of his own making: “And you don’t have to worry, it’s whatever he’s cooked up that day. And I think that’s the way it ought to work, for confused people like me who can’t make up our minds.“

Is there anyone running this campaign? (Via BarcePundit).

UPDATE: Tom Maguire notes the symmetry: “George Bush sometimes lets the wrong word hop out of his mouth, and John Kerry is unable to make even a simple decision.”

ANOTHER UPDATE: Libertyblog says I’m missing the point:

This isn’t about Kerry’s indecision, it’s about his eagerness to empower specialists and elites. This restaurateur gets to decide what Kerry has for dinner, Kerry gets to decide who the restaurateur hires, how his employees get health care, whether he can own a gun, …

He just wants to free us from all those burdensome choices! A couple of other readers suggested that this was self-deprecating humor. If Kerry had shown any sign that he was capable of self-deprecating humor — and if the Times had given even a hint that this was going on — that might be plausible.