A DELAYED “This just in!” from the investigative reporter Brad Jacobson at Media Bloodhound:
Less than 48 hours after suffering an upset in New Hampshire, Barack Obama was dealt another serious setback when Senator John Kerry (D-Mass.) endorsed his candidacy for president yesterday.
Without warning, Senator Kerry – who ran a masterfully inept 2004 presidential campaign, stewarded by Bob Shrum, The Worst Campaign Manager on the Face of God’s Green Earth™ (as stated on his business card) – blindsided the charismatic Obama in South Carolina. As Mr. Obama addressed a cheering crowd in Charleston, Kerry broke through security and took the stage. With what Senator Obama would later describe as “a mixture of deference and horror,” he initially played along, allowing the battle-worn Massachusetts senator to present his prepared speech.
“I’m John Kerry and I am reporting to duty…to tell you, the audience, on this day, Thursday, January 10, 2007, that I, John Kerry, have decided to support Barack Hussein Obama, the junior senator from Ilinois, in his quest to become the next president of these United States of America,” Mr. Kerry began. “I know Barack Obama,” he continued, as Mr. Obama turned to the crowd and shook his head, mouthing the words, “No, he doesn’t.”
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Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.