Posted on 10/31/2006 3:54:12 PM PST by MikeA
WASHINGTON, D.C., Oct. 31, 2006 — For weeks, Republicans on the campaign trail have been looking for something — anything — to talk about other than the record of the Republican Congress and the way the Bush administration has conducted the war in Iraq.
Monday, they got their wish. While stumping for local Democrats in California, Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., addressed students at Pasadena City College and made a comment about education and the war in Iraq that lent itself to much controversy.
"You know education, if you make the most of it, you study hard, you do your homework and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well. And if you don't, you get stuck in Iraq," he said.
It was a rhetorical gift for the embattled Republican Party which is eager to run against Kerry again. The White House unusually notified the media ahead of time that the president would address the issue in remarks at today's campaign rally in Georgia.
Election Fodder
The Kerry kerfuffle is a prototype of controversies of the new media age. "Thanks to the Internet, all life is on the record now," observed journalism professor Jeff Jarvis of CUNY. "Everything a politician says and does is public and the world can see in a second … that's life now."
After Kerry's remarks were mentioned on the Web sites of local newspapers, including the Whittier Daily News, the video popped up on YouTube and conservative blogs like Newsbusters.org, and then talk radio seized on them.
Though, as opposed to 2004, it didn't take Kerry weeks to respond to attacks against him. Shortly before noon, Tuesday, Kerry, a Vietnam veteran, responded, insisting in a statement that he had not belittled the intelligence of soldiers serving in Iraq, but rather, that of "the president who got us stuck there."
But it may have been too late, the train had left the station.
"I believe Sen. Kerry owes an apology to many thousands of Americans serving in Iraq, who answered their country's call," said Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., campaigning in Indiana.
Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh said, "It tells us what John Kerry himself and the Democratic Party think about the troops and the U.S. military."
By the time Kerry got to a microphone in Seattle this afternoon to explain what he called a botched joke about the president, hundreds of thousands, if not millions of Americans, had already heard about this new issue and Republican candidates were talking about it.
"It disgusts me that a bunch of these Republican hacks who have never worn the uniform of our country are willing to lie about those who did," Kerry added.
What's unclear is if Kerry's comments will help rally Republican voters or help their party portray Democrats as against the troops to score victories next Tuesday. A Democratic congressman told ABC News, Tuesday, "I guess Kerry wasn't content blowing 2004, now he wants to blow 2006, too."
Quite an October Surprise!
Kerry is an arrogant, elitist snob. He cant help showing it all the time. His big mouth is a gift for the GOP.
IMHO the dumbest thing Kerry said was "trying to get smart" because that infers you're DUMB if you got caught in Iraq. Dumb@$$...
Even it was a joke aimed at the president, i think it's in poor taste. Didn't kerry himself vote to give the president authority to go into Iraq?
He spoke out against the war during a graduation speech at Yale.
You could say he was against the war, before he was for it, before he was against it!
Translation: Before the New Media, Democrats could say anything they wanted and the DBM would provide cover for them.
Kerry is a moron treasonist -- anti-American, anti-military communist trash. There is only one explanation for what he did, and that is he just SHOWED AMERICA WHAT THE PLATFORM OF THE DEMORAT PARTY REALL IS.
Pure scum. If it were not for the equally treasonous, anti-American MSM, he would be gone. The Demorats do not have the courage or guts to admit their "leaders" are a bunch of criminal treasonists.
To HELL WITH KERRY!! And that would be kind.
Referring to Nam, not Iraq ...
That's one more Democrat Hillary doesn't have to worry about in 2008.
A ridiculous gaffe, to be sure, by an arrogant, unrepentant traitor, revealing his true self. And, yes, the dems mostly share his position. But, I'm curious, does anyone care enough about John Kerry these days for this to make more than a passing dent of impact on this election?
Who was the Dim Congresscritter who slammed Kerry on his outrageous remarks? ABC does not mention the source? Hmmm?
Those that are "stuck" in Iraq did not make an effort to be smart...
As a former soldier John Kerry makes me puke.
I thought he graduated from Harvard and Yale and was a fighter jet pilot. Not the marks of a stupid man.
Starting to wonder if Rove got a new lever added to the weather machine.
John Kerry should RESIGN NOW!
He needs to be drummed off the hill with all the rest to those leftist Democrats.
What ever happened to the Zell Millers of the Democrat party? At least the Democrat true colors are shining through.
Just let 'em talk and they'll never gain power again.
I just don't see a joke in there, anywhere.
So Bush was too educated to be in the military?
So Bush was too stupid to be in the military?
What?
Kerry jumps the shark while yelling "Aaaaarrrrrgggggggh!!".
Happy Rovember democrats, it'll be one you won't forget in a long while.
Bwhahahahahahah!
I'm curious....
I know there's been a drive at some colleges to ban military recuiters.
Has Pasadena City College been a big player in this?
I just wonder if this pathetic excuse for a senator was engaging in the lowest form of pandering.
In regard to the incredibly biased remarks above, I love that Kerry's remarks can't be disgusting in their own right. No, instead they're only notable according to these writers because the Republicans want to cover up their record according to ABC News, sounding ever so much like a Democratic Congressional leader.
But the record of 12 years of Republican control of Congress is welfare reform, tax cuts, a strong economy, a surplus during the 90s, a stronger military, greatly enhanced homeland security, a whole host of reforms to government and on and on. Indeed, 90% of what Clinton claimed the credit for in the 90s was actually done by a Republican Congress.
This Congress' record just in the last 2 years isn't insignificant either, though the obstructionist creep Harry Reid used parliamentary manuvears to bottle most of it up once it got to the Senate. Just look at what this Congress tried to get done that the Democrats blocked:
And the incredibly biased comment about how President Bush has waged the war needs little comment. How about how ABC and other news outlets have COVERED the war with their nothing but negative coverage of Iraq?
All sKErry had to say is that he misspoke and that his joke didn't come out the way it was intended to. Make a simple apology and move on...BUTTTTTTTTTTTT NOOOOOOOOO the freakin doofus had to insert foot in mouth! I BET YOU, I bet a million bucks, if I had it, that the RATS are crying in their RATHOLES wishing this moron would have kept his trap shut! I can just hear the gnashing of teeth on the RATS phones and cells.......GOOD!
Or I'm stuck on stupid.
A Mic he knocked off the stand btw...LOL
You can tell the Libs are steamed at Kerry. They didn't try to distort Rush's comments or take shots at him. They reserved their bite for Kerry.
I doubt it. PCC is just a community college, and quite a good one, that's not particularly known for political activism.
Bush became a fighter pilot after he got his BA from Yale. This joke was NOT directed at President Bush!
BTW Kerry had to go in the service since his grades didn't allow him another deferment!
Pray for W and Our Troops
Both men went to Yale, where the President got better grades. Kerry was a D student.
Bush, not being gifted with verbal eloquence, is assumed, and protrayed, to be stupid by the democrats on that basis alone. Whether they know better or not, they deliberately propagate the notion as part of their continuous strategy to make hatred of him the central vehicle for their return to power. VEry Marxist, by the way, but what's new?
I think Kerry as even the defeated Pres. candidate for the Dems. in 2004 is still seen as being a leading Democrat by virtue of that. The biggest impact of this is it will help get out whatever reluctant bit of the GOP base there still is that was thinking of sitting out the election. I don't think it will turn many if any from voting Democrat to Republican. No, the bigger value is in keeping the GOP base fired up. In a close election like this, even a passing dent can have a big impact and make a difference. We'll have to see.
The question now on the table is - will Kerry have the courage to take a principled resignation before the election on Tuesday? Or will he stay on as a sparring punching bag to doom his party before Big Tuesday '08?
Don't forget BOXER/Hilary in 08!
John Kerry’s statement that only losers join the military aligns precisely with his uncorroborated testimony before Congress about how I, and others of TF116, committed unspeakable atrocities against the South Vietnamese. In my little corner of the war our boats and ships were ordered not to return fire from the village of Nam Can as they transited to and from Seafloat. We were expected to gut it out through the kill zone, because the village was designated by us as a sanctuary from the war for civilians.
Now he regards my son who joined the Marine Corps infantry out of high school as intellectually failed, and never considers the possibility that he may have deferred college to serve his nation. My son had the aptitude scores and security clearance to serve a tour with Marine Presidential Security Forces, before joining Third Battalion Fourth Marines security.
Life has come full circle.
Hope you're right, my friend!
-knightshadow.
I'll second that.
The question now on the table is - will Kerry have the courage to take a principled resignation before the election on Tuesday? Or will he stay on as a sparring punching bag to doom his party before Big Tuesday '08?
Don't forget BOXER/Hilary in 08!
Yes, Bush went to Yale for his undergraduate studies, Harvard for his post-grad.
No bias there.
Maybe the Dems saw the handwriting on the wall and Kerry was designated the Sacrificial Lamb to take the hit for them not gaining either House of Congress? It can't be their positions on the issues, can it? [/s
Yup, check out my post #22 which speaks to that opening sentence you mentioned.
Not to mention that GW got better grades at Yale than the traitor.
Plus Charlie Rangel calling the VEEP an S.O.B.
That's not gonna hurt the GOP either.
"It's not all about you, John (0 / 0)
"It doesn't matter if Tweety or other commentators "straighten it out" - this was the lead story on every network news broadcast, and gave Bush, McCain and others a free shot to gin up their voters. I certainly hope it won't have an effect beyond, say, tomorrow, since Kerry is NOT on the ballot anywhere.
"But, I have the following message for Senator Kerry: John, STFU. This election is NOT about you, it's not about your sorry-ass reaction to being smeared in 2004, it's not a chance for you to redeem yourself. It's NOT ABOUT YOU, goddamn it, it's about Democrats having a chance to take control of at least one house. You should have learned by now that remarks will be seized on and used against your party - this is unforgivably careless of you. I worked for a lot of professional politicians for many years, and never have I witnessed this kind of egocentric, irresponsible, self-centered approach to speaking in public from someone at your level. The press is not interested in interpreting you correctly, John - therefore you cannot make statements that NEED interpretation. You're NOT an independent, a**hole, you're supposed to be a Democrat - think about your party for a change, not yourself.
''I'm not about to panic, but this is NOT what we needed a week out, with the press looking for any event to make their "horse race" stories more exciting
URL: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/10/31/173116/88
Even a few of the ultra liberal posters see the problem as Kerry's not the press.
I see this spineless, unwilling-to-give-his-name Democrat remembers they were all saying back in October of 2004, that "It's Kerry's to lose!"
One big echo chamber, the MSM/DBM/DNC/DEM horde.
HF
The DU posters are telling him to "Shut up & Sit Down!" and these are the same posters who idolized this crazy traitor in 2004! ROFLMAO!
I have the same question; the only reason I read this post was to find out what Dem made the statement claimed in the title to this post. Can anyone shed any light on this?
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