Kerry: Snow, McCain 'Nutjobs' For Criticizing Military Education Comments

CNS ^ | 10/31/06 | Nathaniel Burchfiel

[Froufrou]

Raising eyebrows and infuriating conservatives, Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) in a speech Monday encouraged young people to get an education or "get stuck in Iraq."

"Education, if you make the most of it, you study hard, and you do your homework and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well," Kerry told students in Pasadena while campaigning for California gubernatorial candidate Phil Angelides.

"If you don't, you get stuck in Iraq," he added.

The comment set off a firestorm on conservative websites, with some commentators accusing him of "elitism," and of "smearing" the troops by implying that they are uneducated.

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz) called on Kerry to apologize Tuesday.

In a statement posted on his political action committee's website, McCain said Kerry "owes an apology to the many thousands of Americans serving in Iraq, who answered their country's call because they are patriots and not because of any deficiencies in their education."

"The suggestion that only the least educated Americans would agree to serve in the military and fight in Iraq, is an insult to every soldier serving in combat," McCain said.

In a statement released Tuesday, Kerry accused White House Press Secretary Tony Snow and "assorted right-wing nut-jobs" of distorting the comments "to divert attention from their disastrous record."

"If anyone thinks a veteran would criticize more than 140,000 heroes serving in Iraq and not the president who got us stuck there, they're crazy," Kerry said. "I'm sick and tired of these despicable Republican attacks that always seem to come from those who never can be found to serve in war, but love to attack those who did."

Snow told a press briefing Tuesday Kerry "not only owes an apology to those who are serving, but also to the families of those who've given their lives in this."

"This is an absolute insult, and I'm a little astonished that he didn't figure it out already." Snow added.

The national commander of the American Legion also called on Kerry to apologize for his comments.

"As a constituent of Senator Kerry's I am disappointed. As leader of The American Legion, I am outraged," said National Commander Paul A. Morin in a statement.

"A generation ago, Sen. Kerry slandered his comrades in Vietnam by saying that they were rapists and murderers. It wasn't true then and his warped view of today's heroes isn't true now," said Morin.

"While The American Legion shares the senator's appreciation for education, the troops in Iraq represent the most sophisticated, technologically superior military that the world has ever seen," Morin said. "I think there is a thing or two that they could teach most college professors and campus elitists about the way the world works.

Morin also called on Kerry and "his comrades in Congress" to approve the GI bill "so all of today's military members - reserves and guard included - can achieve the educational aspirations that the senator so highly values."

"The senator's false and outrageous attack was over-the-top and he should apologize now," Morin concluded.

[MNJohnnie]

What a moron. Still trying to defend what he said here. Simply came out and LIED about this. He did not make ONE factually true statement. His whole press confrerence was ONE big lie rather then addressing THIS video


John Kerry: Stuck on Stupid(You've heard about it. Now you can see the video!)

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1729197/posts

[shankbear]

This guy is so sad. He loves his liberalism more than America. More than our troops. He will pay for this.

[Brilliant]

Kerry: "No apology."

[M1Tanker]

What drugs is Kerry on now??? Did he "not say it before he said it"??

The Bizzarro world of the left wing strikes again.

[hsmomx3]

I think lastnight's remarks were planned. He is going to dig a further hole today. He and Al Gore get the award for being the most bitter men in America.

[D-Chivas]

The gift that keeps on giving.

[Tzimisce]

I'm John Kerry and I approve this message.

[traditional1]

FoxNews is replaying the video clip over and over....this is the BEST thing that's happened as far as commercials to energize the Republican base, and to give every Republican candidate something to use in the home stretch ads.....

[alloysteel]

"Who you gonna believe - me, or your lying eyes?"

We SAW you, John. It's on tape.

A whole lot of things you have said have been taped.

You have been "Swift Boated" once. You want more?

Dayum, that Karl Rove is GOOD.

[frogjerk]

The gift that keeps on giving.

Amen. Now we need to get Pelosi out of hiding so that she can stick her foot in her mouth yet again...

[Froufrou]

I agree! Dual awards for Kerry and Egore. The butthead has the noive to keep flappin' his piehole! Amazing.

[dashing doofus]

Kerry, in implying that members of the military are somehow dumber than the rest of society, is simply speaking from personal experience.

[gidget7]

IF there is a more despicable human being, I hope I never meet or even hear of him. That man needs to leave political service NOW!

He is a disgrace, AGAIN!

[sanjacjake]

Karl Rove is doing it again..surprise #1...Kerry
reverts to his troop hating mode....Rove must have
put a hate pill in his coffee.

Watch for Surprises #2..3..and 4. Jake

[capydick]

I think we just heard the Liberal RAT Media talking point for the next couple of days: Textbook Republican Politics. Mark my word.

[Bigh4u2]

I wonder how long it's going to take for Nancy Pelosi to make a statement defending Kerry.

She just loves to be in the limelight.

[Texas_shutterbug]

This quote starts with "We're here to talk about education."

Why is the media leaving this out? It gives perfect context to his LIES! Please, everyone, make sure you include this part when you repeat the quote.

[Cicero]

I wonder how the usual idiots will take kerry's comment. they will probably love it.

"A generation ago, Sen. Kerry slandered his comrades in Vietnam by saying that they were rapists and murderers. It wasn't true then and his warped view of today's heroes isn't true now," said Morin.

I wonder how many people will read that comment in Time, U.S. News, Newsweak, WaPo, NYT, or hear it on any of the networks? He has further damaged his reputation among sensible people, but the leftists who run the media will think all the more of him because of it, and will hurry to support him.

[Froufrou]

I agree! Just because he's so dumb he shouldn't naturally ass/u/me that all soldiers are that ignorant of the world around them.

It's too bad he chunked his metals. I've a really good idea what he should do with 'em.

[Steve_Seattle]

In a statement released Tuesday, Kerry accused White House Press Secretary Tony Snow and "assorted right-wing nut-jobs" of distorting the comments . . . "If anyone thinks a veteran would criticize more than 140,000 heroes serving in Iraq . . . they're crazy," Kerry said.

Of course, nothing was distorted; Kerry's comments were played back verbatim. He said what he said, and no amount of name-calling can change that.

[lowbridge]

I think lastnight's remarks were planned.

[Stepan12]

IF there is a more despicable human being, I hope I never meet or even hear of him. That man needs to leave political service NOW! He is a disgrace, AGAIN!

"DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM?"

Sen. John Kerry's constant refrain when he pushes to the head of any line in Communist Massachusetts.

[technomage]

Typical of a condescending, elitist liberal POS.

Basically saying:

"You idiots out there. You believe what your heard with your own ears? What morons".

"My statement was so profound (even though it was a joke) that you cannot comprehend it. So, you American idiots out there insist on taking my words as they were spoken. What idiots the American people are"

Let us just ignore the fact that sKerry has a history, DOCUMENTED ON VIDEO OVER THE PAST 30 YEARS, of his loathing of the military and conservatives in general.

[goldstategop]

The French Poodle will never apologize. In his own mind, America's military is as guilty today as it was in 1971. Truly, the child is the father to the man.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." -Manuel II Paleologus

[dashing doofus]

What I meant was: Kerry, being a Moron and a former army officer, thinks that all miltary members are like him.

But he is wrong -- they mostly voted Republican last time.

[M1Tanker]

Polosi would have to take time away from measuring curtains.

[appleharvey]

The fact that 48 percent of the voters cast a ballot for that sorry piece of trash to be our President says a lot about our country, and what it says sure as hell ain't good.

[dashing doofus]

I'm glad you got what I meant! When I re-read my posted reply, it could have been misconstrued to insult our soldiers -- the heroes who sacrifice so much to guaranty our freedoms.

[bigbob]

The fact that Kerry is stupider than Pelosi (who at least thus far hasn't said anything quite this dumb) boggles the mind.

[unkus]

I think there are a lot of PO'd dims out there right now.

[technomage]

Kerry, in implying that members of the military are somehow dumber than the rest of society, is simply speaking from personal experience.

Whoa! I think I know what you mean but that statement can sure be taken either way.

[ClaireSolt]

The dems are unhinged. First, Rangel calls Cheney a sonaofabitch and now this.

[dead]

[M1Tanker]

I'm going to do what real journalists should be doing and it will take only a few minutes.

Kerry was STILL a commissioned officer when he joined Ramsey Clark, Jane Fonda, and the "anti-war" groups (eventually lead Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW)), protested at the White House (where he threw someone else’s medals over the fence), went to Paris to "negotiate" with the North Vietnamese, consorted with communist groups (even in the 2004 election, the CPA endorsed Kerry), and used made-up soldiers for the Winter Soldier charade. He supported a document known as the "People's Peace Treaty," which was reportedly composed in Communist East Germany and contained nine points - all of them extracted from a list of Viet Cong conditions for ending the war. Several of his fellow officers and crew (the Swift Boat Veterans) cited his actions and questioned his medals, but were viciously attacked. Doing this while still commissioned is a severe violation of the UCMJ.

In addition, the Communist publication Daily World prominently published photographs of Kerry addressing anti-war protesters, some of whom were carrying banners with portraits of Communist Party leader Angela Davis. Openly organized by known Communists, these rallies were typified by what the December 12, 1971 Herald Traveler called an "abundance of Vietcong flags, clenched fists raised in the air, and placards plainly bearing legends in support of China, Cuba, the USSR, North Korea and the Hanoi government." (see link)

Quoted from the same link (several paragraphs): "In early 1971 Kerry organized one of the most confrontational anti-war protests of the period, a rally in which nearly 1,000 purported Vietnam veterans gathered on Washington, D.C.'s Mall for what they termed "a limited incursion into the country of Congress." As part of a carefully orchestrated buildup toward that demonstration, Kerry had recently testified before the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, claiming to have personally heard U.S. soldiers boast about having raped, dismembered, tortured, poisoned, and randomly executed innocent civilians - sometimes even razing entire villages in a manner reminiscent of Ghenghis Khan. During that same time period, Kerry charged that American-perpetrated war crimes in Vietnam were the norm, not the exception - and were carried out with the full awareness and blessing of officers at all levels of American military command.

Today, many American veterans and their families deem Kerry's past public excoriation of U.S. troops as unforgivable acts bordering on treason. As a result, numerous veterans' groups opposing Kerry's presidential ambitions have been formed. The root cause of their anti-Kerry sentiment is summarized by the publication U.S. Veteran Dispatch, which notes that Kerry's aforementioned testimony "occurred while some of his fellow Vietnam veterans were known by the world to be enduring terrible suffering as prisoners of war in North Vietnamese prisons." Indeed Senator John McCain has stated that his North Vietnamese captors had used reports of Kerry-led protests to taunt him and his fellow prisoners. Retired General George S. Patton III angrily charged that Kerry's actions were giving "aid and comfort to the enemy."

One anti-Kerry group, Vietnam Veterans Against John Kerry (VVAJK), recently formed a national coalition with two other groups - Vietnamese-Americans for Human Rights in Vietnam (VAHRV), and Vietnamese-Americans Against John Kerry (VAAJK). "We represent hundreds of thousands of American veterans," says VVAJK founder said Ted Sampley, "who do not want to see John Kerry anywhere near the Oval Office." A formal VVAJK statement reads, "As a national leader of VVAW, Kerry campaigned against the effort of the United States to contain the spread of Communism. He used the blood of servicemen still in the field for his own political advancement by claiming that their blood was being shed unnecessarily or in vain. . . . Under Kerry's leadership, VVAW members mocked the uniform of United States soldiers by wearing tattered fatigues marked with pro-communist graffiti. They dishonored America by marching in demonstrations under the flag of the Viet Cong enemy." In a similar spirit, VAAJK member Dan Tran says, "On behalf of tens of thousands of Vietnamese-Americans, we are determined to demonstrate against Senator Kerry all across this nation . . . . John Kerry aided and abetted the Communist government in Hanoi and has hindered any human rights progress in Vietnam."

As chairman of the Select Senate Committee on POW / MIA (Prisoners Of War / Missing In Action) Affairs, which was created in 1991 to determine whether any American POWs or MIAs were still alive in Vietnam, Kerry pushed the panel to conclude that no American servicemen remained there. According to U.S. Veteran Dispatch, "[N]o one in the United States Senate pushed harder to bury the POW / MIA issue, the last obstacle preventing normalization of relations with Hanoi, than John Forbes Kerry." Controversy erupted in December 1992, however, when, according to the nonpartisan Center for Public Integrity, "Hanoi announced that it had awarded Colliers International, a Boston-based real estate company, an exclusive deal to develop its commercial real estate potentially worth billions. Stuart Forbes, the CEO of Colliers, is [John] Kerry's cousin."

Kerry's career in the U.S. Senate began in 1984. Since then, he has established a long record of support for a wide array of left-wing causes, ideologies, and associated pieces of legislation. Among the most significant features of this record are the votes he has cast with regard to national defense and security issues. During his Senate career, Kerry has voted for at least seven major reductions in defense and military spending. Even after the 1993 World Trade Center bombing by Islamic terrorists, he voted to cut intelligence spending by $1.5 billion for the five years prior to 2001. In 1996 he voted to slash defense spending by $6.5 billion.
(end of excerpt)

Links:
http://www.discoverthenetworks.com/individualProfile.asp?indid=1346
http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=11939

[Bigh4u2]

"Polosi would have to take time away from measuring curtains."

LOL!

True. So true.

[The_Reader_David]

Actually his 'response' was worse than the original trangression.

Rush had his troop-vilifying testimony from the 1970's cued up and played
it right after he took offense at the suggestion he'd ever criticize the troops.

I think I know why the left loves the Muslims: they want to learn how to use al tarqiya well instead of the stupid way Kerry tried in his presser today.

[Proud_USA_Republican]

Kerry should be the next president of France.

[unkus]

But he has to move to France

[TommyDale]

When John Kerry speaks, people listen!

[Polyxene]

Kerry accused White House Press Secretary Tony Snow and "assorted right-wing nut-jobs"

Typical Northeastern-elitist-I-am-better-than-you- RAT/lib/socialist excuse. Wonder where Effin's pal, Murtha, is. I would have thought he would have been right out front defending his 'Nam "comrade".

[technomage]

The fact that Kerry is stupider than Pelosi (who at least thus far hasn't said anything quite this dumb) boggles the mind.

You are underestimating the libs.

They are not stupid. They do think that the American peeples are stupid and can easily be manipulated, but the Dims are not stupid.

True, they lack common sense, morals, values, integrity, patriotism. They lie, they are above the law, they are power hungry, they are elitist, snobby, condescending low-lifes, but they are not stupid.

[MockTurtle]

"If you don't, you get stuck in Iraq," he added.

If you don't, you WILL get stuck in Iraq.
Criminy! Learn to speak English, Yale-boy.

[MNJohnnie]

Intresting insight. Thank you.

[Irish Queen]

HM, "I'm sick and tired ..." that sounds familiar. Oh yeah, Mrs. Bill Clinton used that same phrase.

[johnny7]

LOL...

[Buck W.]

""If anyone thinks a veteran would criticize more than 140,000 heroes serving in Iraq and not the president who got us stuck there, they're crazy," Kerry said."

But you did, you putz. Even David Copperfield can't make this one disappear.

[lawnguy]

Every republican in America needs to put this in an ad tomorrow. Run with it and use it until Tuesday.

I don't care what you're running for this stupid statement speaks to even the dullest of American dunce.

[elhombrelibre]

Well, Kerry's doing his best to spin it. Of course, the MSM, including FOX News in this case, is going to just play it as nasty politics and not a self-inflicted wound for Kerry who has exposed his elitist sentiments.

[johnny7]

LOL... like an F-16 firing-up on the runway...