What "embarrassment"? The normally astute Glen Johnson gets weird in his Globe report today on some delinquent property taxes owed by John Kerry and Teresa Heinz Kerry on their place in Nantucket.

In his lead, Johnson reports that the $10,000 bill is wholly attributable to sloth on the part of the Kerrys' bank, Mellon Financial Corporation of Pittsburgh.

Here is Johnson's third paragraph:

"It was our responsibility to make the payment and we are researching this matter to determine why the fourth installment was not paid in a timely way," said company spokesman Ron Gruendl. "We have sent the payment in the overnight mail."

The definition of a non-story, in other words. But then comes this:

Politically, the error could prove something of an embarrassment, coming at a time when Kerry, a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, is hammering President Bush over the fairness of his tax-cut policy.

"Something of an embarrassment"? Why? Because the Kerrys' mortgage company screwed up? This is insane.

A few months ago, our mortgage company failed to pay our homeowners' insurance in a timely manner. We actually got a cancellation notice. Fortunately, we got a "never mind" letter before Media Log was forced to go nuclear.

Johnson notes that the Kerrys have also had to pay some late fees in the past, though he doesn't say whether those were also the result of bank screw-ups.

But come on. If anyone should be "embarrassed" by the Mellon thing, it's Mellon.