LA SHAWN BARBER is defending John Kerry.

Meanwhile, Howard Kurtz asks:

Will John Kerry do for the 2006 campaign what he did for the 2004 edition?

Why couldn’t the Massachusetts senator have climbed out of the hole he fell into by just apologizing for saying something stupid, rather than getting out a shovel and digging?

Because he’s John Kerry, the gift that keeps on giving!

UPDATE: Victor Davis Hanson: “Kerry surely must be one of the saddest Democratic liabilities around. Some afterthoughts about his latest gaffe, which is one of those rare glimpses into an entire troubled ideology. . . . Today, Democrats must be wondering why they have embraced an overrated empty suit, and ostracized a real talent like Joe Lieberman.”