Some Freepers were throwing around the term "jump the shark" a few weeks ago.. May be time to trot that out again if this is true.
My guess is this will turn out to be an anonymous source or some doofus thinking out loud. Kerry will backpedal on this like a crawdad runs from a Cajun with a gunny sack.
Probably exactly right, and a good, colorful simile to boot. :-)
The Kerry campaign has definitely Jumped The Shark.
Jump The Shark
When a television show jumps the shark it has reached the peak of quality and will steadily decline ever after. Jumping the shark is the defining moment when you know your favorite TV show will never be the same again.
The phrase is a reference to the 1970s television show Happy Days. On 20 September 1977, the show aired an episode where the character Fonzie jumps a shark tank on water skis. A cliffhanger episode, many fans of the show consider this episode to be the high point of the popular show.
The phrase jump the shark, however, appears some years later. On 24 December 1997 the website www.jumptheshark.com went up on the net. It listed TV shows and the episodes where they jumped the shark. The site gives credit for the phrase to a Sean J. Connelly, who allegedly coined it in 1985. Connelly was the college roommate of site's creator, Jon Hein.
Never knew that. I remember that Happy Days episode. Too funny.