Agence France Presse shills for John Kerry, doing their best to paint his ridiculous record of flipping in the political wind as “largely consistent.”

But with a couple of … exceptions … we can chalk up to nuance.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - While Republicans are trying to keep Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry on the ropes for alleged flip-flops on Iraq, his position has in fact been largely consistent with a couple of exceptions.

The Massachusetts senator has been struggling to make his views clear after voting in 2002 to authorize military action in Iraq and then becoming a fierce critic of how President George W. Bush went about it.

The issue flared this week when Kerry said he would have voted the same way even without any sign of Saddam Hussein’s suspected weapons of mass destruction. “He now agrees it was the right decision to go into Iraq,” Bush crowed.

But a study of Kerry’s speeches before and after the March 2003 invasion shows a strong degree of consistency, matching his desire to confront Saddam Hussein with caveats against going into battle impulsively and alone. …

Kerry, who also caught flak for his protest vote against the administration’s request for 87 billion dollars in aid for Iraq and Afghanistan, rejects charges of playing politics, but admits his positions are often nuanced.

This editorial from AFP is filed under “US National News.”