Kerry’s Purple Haze

John Kerry bloviated in classic style about the Russian invasion of Ukraine on Meet the Press this morning. A word cloud of his appearance would show “pretext” to loom large in it, usually in a redundant formulation such as “phony pretext.” NBC has posted this account of Kerry’s appearance.

Quotable quote, in response to the question whether the alleged Russian “reset” proclaimed by the Obama administration at its rosy dawn is still alive: “I don’t know what you mean by reset…I don’t think this is the moment to be claiming one thing or the other…not a moment for zero sum…” ‘Scuse me while I kiss the sky.

One more, instructing Putin on his interest in conforming Russian behavior to international norms: “He’s going to lose all of the glow from the Olympics…”

One more, on Putin’s ordering Russian forces into Ukraine, this one for the annals of historical illiteracy: “It’s really 19th century behavior in the twenty-first century.”

Students of the Obama administration and the decline of English usage will want to take a close look (transcript here, video below).

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