In the recent rush of news events many delightful stories have slipped by with little notice. For instance Boston radio personality Howie Carr's report last week, wherein he located John Kerry's yacht, Scaramouche, on blocks and under plastic in a hangar in Middleton, Rhode Island.

A photographs of Kerry's Scaramouche can be found here and here.

The ownership of this $780,000 yacht has never been questioned, as Carr has even dug up its registration.

A brochure for similar 42 ft. Hinkleys can be found here.

One can't help but wonder if the Scaramouche didn't go under wraps just around the time the Swift Boat Veterans For Truth began to level their charges against John Kerry's Vietnam record last spring.

For Scaramouche is a famous name that some might feel suits John Kerry down to the waterline:

From the Oxford English Dictionary:

Scaramouche, n. 1. (As proper name, with capital S.) A stock character in Italian farce, a cowardly and foolish boaster of his own prowess, who is constantly being cudgelled by Harlequin.

UPDATE:  Reader Mark Drake adds:

I would like to propose that Kerry named his yacht after a novel called Scaramouche.

The main character is described as "a lawyer, politician, actor, lover," who "impresses many with his elegant orations and precision swordsmanship."

This seems to perfectly fit Mr. Kerry's self—definition.

It gets even funnier when you learn that not only is Scaramouche the _French_ version of the Italian Scaramuccia, but the Scaramuccia character is a later form of the braggart Il Capitano from the Commedia dell'arte, a "veteran sailor who pretends to be strong. Many people see him as a hero because he had gained some success in a previous war.

However, he really is a coward and got the credit for what someone else did."

Steve Gilbert   9 22 04