By Yael T. Abouhalkah, Kansas City Star Editorial Page columnist

It was "Open mouth, insert foot" time for Democratic U.S. Sen. John Kerry on Tuesday when he made a disparaging remark about Republican Gov. Sarah Palin.

Kerry made the following remark to a group of left-leaning business and civic leaders in Washington while discussing the disappearance over the weekend of another Republican governor, Mark Sanford, of South Carolina.

"Too bad if a governor had to go missing it couldn’t have been the governor of Alaska. You know, Sarah Palin.’’

Not exactly David Letterman quality.

Beyond the cheap shot at Palin, the remark made Kerry look worse the next day when Sanford admitted his affair with a woman from Argentina, a development that's busted up his marriage (for now) and probably killed his political career.