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Kerry Defends ‘Depends’ Joke

by Aaron Margolis, October 24th, 2008 at 06:13pm

Junior Senator John Kerry is defending his “Depends” joke about Senator John McCain.

Sen. John F. Kerry defended his controversial joke suggesting the GOP’s John McCain wears “Depends” adult diapers, saying today it’s the type of ribald humor you hear at the South Boston St. Patrick’s Day roast or on late-night TV.

Kerry, appearing before the Boston Herald editorial board, bristled at the suggestion his jab was not senatorial.

He even started to repeat another joke lobbed at McCain on “Leno or Letterman,” but he stopped and asked that a video camera be turned off.

The camera was not shut off, so Kerry told the Herald today people can go “look it up” for themselves.

Kerry said the “Depends” line has long been political fodder. When first posed the question, the Bay State’s junior senator said: “Ah, actually, Bob Dole used to joke about it himself.

“It was used at St. Patrick’s Day. Did you guys complain then?” he said. “It was lamenting the kinds of questions that get asked in presidential races and why the media is fixated by certain things like boxers or briefs.

“Barack Obama was asked, and I said … ’It depends.’ That’s the joke,” he told the Herald today. “As a double-entendre, actually, it is pretty funny. It’s a decent joke. … It’s not half as bad as the stuff you hear on Leno or Letterman every night.

You are no Leno or Letterman, Mr. Kerry.

That may be the kind of humor you hear at a St. Patrick’s Day roast or on late-night television, but it’s not St. Patrick’s Day, and you weren’t on late-night television.