Do we want a President who fumbles his words when speaking?

Do we want a President who can’t remember the facts behind the stories he’s exploiting to make a political point?

Do we want a President who is so out of touch with reality that he lies to the public for political gain?

During a campaign swing through Mississippi yesterday, Senator John F. Kerry … from the lectern of a black church. … compared the “crucifixion of Matthew Shepard,” the Wyoming 21-year-old who was beaten, tied to a fence, and left to die in the fall of 1998, with the dragging death of an African-American Texan, James Byrd Jr., whose murder earlier in 1998 sparked new efforts for hate crimes legislation.

Kerry, in his remarks, however, misstated Byrd’s last name, and referred to Byrd’s sexuality when he meant to refer to his race.

“Let me tell you something, when Matthew Shepard gets crucified on a fence in Wyoming because, because, only because he was gay,” Kerry said, “and Mr. King gets dragged behind a truck down Texas by chains and his body is mutilated only because he’s gay, I think that’s a matter of rights in the United States of America.” Despite the slipups, his remarks drew strong applause from the predominantly African-American audience of 700.

What’s more pathetic? The fact that Kerry exploits the memory of James Byrd for political gain, while forgetting his name and calling him gay…. or the fact that the statements received “strong applause” from an obviously ignorant crowd of African-American churchgoers who don’t even recognize the child-like pandering being done to them every year by the Democrat party?

Welcome to American politics - where the lowest common denominator can make policy. No wonder the Democrats want to lower the voting age to 14 … it seems they’ve cornered the market on the uninformed, ignorant and immature vote.