agreed But I kind of understand the comment. I'm from a military family and my dad (who retired after 25 years air force and is republican) always beat it into my head "son! "You're not going to end up like I did! Your going to college and get an education."
It would be a hoot to see George Allen's campaign try to distort Kerry's words and attack Jim Webb...considering his son is in the military right now. "John Kerry supports Jim Webb, John Kerry said something the other day, did you hear? Does this mean Webb hates the military too? Does he hate his son?"
McCain is just positioning himself for the Republican primary. These public attacks he's made on Kerry and before that Obama are attempts to show the Republican base he's Red.
Kerry isn't backing down... Kerry lashes out after GOP furor over comments Former presidential candidate Senator John Kerry (D-MA) lashed out in a response today, claiming that right-wingers are "desperately distorting" his comments about President George W. Bush to "divert attention from their disastrous record." Kerry seems to be responding in particular to a demand from White House Press Secretary Tony Snow that Kerry apologize for earlier saying at a rally that people who don't do well in school "get stuck in Iraq." Though Kerry insists the comment was directed at Bush, critics have interpreted it as an insult to US troops. "If anyone thinks a veteran would criticize the more than 140,000 heroes serving in Iraq," states Kerry, "and not the president who got us stuck there, they're crazy. "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," the statement continues. "I'm not going to be lectured by a stuffed suit White House mouthpiece standing behind a podium, or doughy Rush Limbaugh, who no doubt today will take a break from belittling Michael J. Fox's Parkinson's disease to start lying about me just as they have lied about Iraq," rails Kerry, in the statement. "It disgusts me that these Republican hacks, who have never worn the uniform of our country lie and distort so blatantly and carelessly about those who have." Kerry asserts that it is the President and Vice President Cheney who owe troops an apology for misleading the country into war, saying they have "widened the terrorist threat instead of defeating it." "These Republicans are afraid to debate veterans who live and breathe the concerns of our troops, not the empty slogans of an Administration that sent our brave troops to war without body armor," the statement continues. "Bottom line, these Republicans want to debate straw men because they're afraid to debate real men. And this time it won’t work because we're going to stay in their face with the truth and deny them even a sliver of light for their distortions." He concludes, "No Democrat will be bullied by an administration that has a cut and run policy in Afghanistan and a stand still and lose strategy in Iraq." http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/Kerry_Sick_of_GOP_attacks_from_1031.html
i understand the comment as well and i know he isn't trying to slander our troops but he worded it horribly. hell, there is no reason to even throw that in there. he is trying to take a jab at the administration which is fine, but instead he pretty much calls the troops uneducated idiots that got themselves stuck in iraq by joining the military.
You know, you're right. I'm betting that right before the clip starts he said, "Everything I'm about to say is a joke." Not to throw out a 'slogan' but how does calling our troops stupid show support for them?
Funny, I got the same speech. Of course, my dad had to volunteer to avoid the draft after he graduated college & got out as soon as he could. The quality & atmosphere in the draftee military of the Vietnam era was not something he enjoyed, left him plenty jaded.
He didnt call soldiers stupid. That is a LIE, and I will not accept it. As a reporter on MSNBC said, John Kerry had been telling jokes about Pres. Bush, in fact the one before this was, "George Bush comes from the state of Texas...but lives in a state of denial." You have to have context. "A source close to Kerry tells NBC News that he was trying to make a "tough and honest joke" about Bush and that in the process he omitted two words which changed the intended meaning. Per the source, Kerry meant to say that he can't "overstress the importance of a great education" and that "if you don't study, if you aren't smart, if you're intellectually lazy... You end up getting us stuck in a war in Iraq." Kerry mistakenly dropped the "getting us" from his initial remarks." http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2006/10/31/9546.aspx
Let us for a minute pretend that Kerry did mean to say that the troops are stupid, and idiots. Let us pretend that is exactly what Kerry meant, and that his words were carefully chosen to get that message across. It is very strange that calling the troops names is far worse than not giving them the equipment they need, or sending them to die in a cause that wasn't necessary, that isn't helping, and that is feeding into what Al Qaeda wants them to do. It is strange that calling them those names but supporting their benefits after they have served is somehow worse than paying them lip service and yet cutting off the support they might need after they have served. What strange priorities are these that let those who seemingly show the least real support for the troops go out and label others as unsupportive of the military.
It's not a lie (in boldface or not). He said a lack of education leads you to the army. What else would he mean by this? He didn't mention Bush in the quote so I don't buy the argument that it was a joke about Bush. Otherwise, he'd have said something along the lines of "If this president had to live under his own authority, his only option after getting C's at Yale would have been to avoid the army twice."
Interesting that he'd make jokes about Bush's education, considering Kerry & Bush both went to elite NE private/boarding schools, both went to Yale, and both received the same middling grades there. Giant Douche or Turd Sandwich? It's not a LIE...it's what he said. Verbatim. He could have corrected himself then, he didn't. Kerry's explaination is most likely true, but his pulling a verbal ****up like this a week before hotly contested elections is pretty much typical of his political acumen. His meltdown of a (non-responsive) response doesn't look real good either. He's scheduled to give a press conference later this afternoon, btw.
I said it in another thread once and I got slammed. The majority of the people that I had to deal with while I was in the military were complete idiots. I would never suggest that anyone with half a brain join the military for that very reason. I don't care to re-state everything I did in that thread, nor do I know what thread it was or who I was arguing with. It's my opinion and I'm entitled to it.
I think it was a poorly worded slam on George W. Bush, who didn't have the best GPA in school, and made a horrible decision going into Iraq. It doesn't pass the "I have a brain in my head" test to think that a Vietnam vet actually has that opinion of our troops. I'm sure you disagree, and so I ask you to take the aforementioned test above again. When you meet U.S. soldiers in person, they make you say "Wow, that's guy/gal is pretty sharp". It's obvious what kind of people they are. Kerry gave them the ammo by how he put it, but this is just more smear and distract from the absolute disaster that is the Bush administration. I remember thinking about Clinton "Man, what kind of example does this guy set for Americans around the world" LOL! Clinton looks like the reincarnation of Abraham Lincoln compared to this dishonest slimebag of a leader.
It is a lie because you are putting words in his mouth. You said he called the troops stupid. Show me where he said that. You are lying when you say he is "calling our troops stupid." "He didnt mention Bush in the quote..." Hello... that's why you need to hear what he said before this and after. You have one quote in there where you are inferring anything you want to by distorting his words. This is the same sort of **** done with Webb's books. It's pathetic...
