Right, CarolC. I heard the sound clip of the "assassination" phrases, too, and was APPALLED. I have tried to excuse him this way:

There are times when what you are about to say stops before it comes out because you realize, "Oops! REEEEly STOOPID." You rethink, and say something different and feel you've thrown the REEEEly STOOPID thingy in the mind's trash. But the mind has no trashcan. What it has is an expandable, dark, back corner. That corner stretches beyond capacity and--uh-oh--you open your mouth one day and ALL that REEEEly STOOPID junk explodes out of it. One of those I-wish-the-earth-would-open-up-and-swallow-me-whole moments.

Is this possibly what happened to Pat R.????    Tw