You’d think they would want to distance themselves from Kerry’s widely mocked comment… and you’d be wrong.

Via Politico:

White House press secretary Jay Carney said Secretary of State John Kerry’s assertion that U.S.-led airstrikes on Syria would be “unbelievably small” was only in context to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“I think that Secretary Kerry clearly was referring to that in the context of what the United States and the American people have experienced over the past 10, 12 years, which includes large scale, long-term … open-ended military engagement with boots on the ground in Afghanistan and Iraq,” Carney said during Monday’s White House press briefing. “That is the contrast that Secretary Kerry was making.”

Carney said Kerry did not gaffe.

“I don’t think that the phrasing reflects some error, it’s a fact by comparison,” Carney said. “This is certainly much more limited and a smaller duration and size.”