Lets PARSE the global test line -- This is scary

boortz.com: Nealz Nuze Today's Nuze: "THAT 'GLOBAL TEST' LINE
Undoubtedly John Kerry wishes he could have that line from last Thursday's debate back. Kerry already knew that the American people were suspicious of his past history of calling for UN approval for US military actions. The last thing he wanted to do was to fuel those suspicions, but fuel them he did with his 'global test' line.
So .. what did Kerry really mean? Did he mean that the US would take whatever military action was necessary to protect our people and our country and then try to explain his actions to the world? Or did he actually mean to say that the US would first seek a passing score on the 'global test' and then take the appropriate military action.
I found this gem in yesterday's Taranto column.
The real point about Kerry's 'global test' comment, though is that it contradicts what he said immediately before. Here, again, is what Kerry said:
No president, through all of American history, has ever ceded, and nor would I, the right to pre-empt in any way necessary to protect the United States of America. But if and when you do it, Jim, you have to do it in a way that passes the test, that passes the global test, where your countrymen, your people understand fully why you're doing what you're doing and you can prove to the world that you did it for legitimate reasons.
This is one of those 'but'-head remarks we noted Friday. Kerry is trying to have it both ways: to reserve 'the right to pre-empt in any way necessary' while also insisting on 'the global test.' Reader Ruth Papazian offers some insight on what this really means:
It's the placement of the conditional but that is most revealing of Kerry's true inclinations regarding pre-emptive use of force against countries harboring terrorists.
Consider these two statements:
(a) I will let you go to the concert, but I want you to clean your room.
(b) I want you to clean your room, but I will let you go to the concert.

In statement (a), permission to go to the concert is conditional upon cleaning your room. In statement (b), permission to go to the concert is not conditional upon cleaning your room.

Consider Kerry's "global test" statement with the phrases before and after the conditional "but" flipped:
You've got to do it in a way that passes the global test, but no president, through all of American history, has ever ceded, and nor would I, the right to pre-empt in any way necessary to protect the United States of America.

The first statement suggests that the historical right of pre-emptive action by a U.S. president is conditional upon first convincing the rest of the world that our actions are justified. The second statement suggests that while global considerations are important, the right of pre-emptive action by a U.S. president will never be conditioned upon whether the rest of the world thinks our reasons are legitimate.
The man who would utter the second statement will not hesitate to pull the trigger. The man who uttered the first statement will.
Now that's one smart lady."