11-01-2006
Kerry Kan’t Keep Koments from Kicking his own Kan
Ahh, Autumn. the smell of freshly fallen leaves, crisp air, warm oak smoke wafting from the chimney, and every few years, the rot of midterm elections.
Let me pose a query to the masses: If I was, say, a nationally known senator visiting a school to talk about education, and I said the following, how would you (and anyone with a partial-functioning brain) react:
“If 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.”
3…2…1…
Okay, pencils down class. I can only guess here, but to me that would sound like an obvious attack on our troops’ intelligence, but what do I know? I’m one of the loons that still think it was Islamic terrorists that flew those planes into those big towers, not Donald Rumsfeld. This quote came directly from U.S. senator John F’n Kerry, when he was speaking at the Pasadena City College during a rally for fellow “LiBurro”, California Democratic gubernatorial candidate Phil Angelides.
Of course, the right had a field-day with it. (For future reference, a “field-day”, when used in the main-stream media, is a term to describe when a Republican actually calls a Democrat on something asinine that came out of his or her own mouth, and the left can’t come up with a logical defense.) Notice how it was this instance, not the Mark Foley scandal, or the Michael J. Fox Stem-cell ad endorsing Clair McCaskill for Missouri State Senator that made the MSM cry “foul!”. They haven’t shown their true colors as brightly as they did yesterday:
ABC News’ Charles Gibson: “What happened today is an object lesson in how in this day and age, an idle political remark gets seized upon, becomes fodder for the talk shows, the blogs, and the politicians, and suddenly obscures discussion of all other issues.”
CNN’s Suzanne Malveaux: ‘We Hope’ Kerry Story ‘Is Going To Go Away Tomorrow’
CNN’s Jack Cafferty: ‘One Can Only Hope’ Kerry Story Fades
MSNBC’s Chris Mathews: “I think he meant to go after the President.”
“No media bias”, you say? HA! If Dan Rather was still alive, I’m sure he would be whining about it, too… What’s that? Oh… Well, anyway, what about Trent Lott’s comment (”Botched joke”, anyone? See below), made in December 2002 when at the 100th birthday party of Strom Thurmond, Lott said:
“I want to say this about my state: When Strom Thurmond ran for president, we voted for him. We’re proud of it. And if the rest of the country had followed our lead, we wouldn’t have had all these problems over all these years, either.”
Two weeks later, after the media had a hay-day (Hey, if the right gets a field-day, the left gets a hay-day), Lott was forced to resign as Senate Republican Leader. (But there’s no Media bias here.)
the only thing the MSM doesn’t understand is how people in their right minds took a quote from a Presidential loser (with a history of disdain for the government and military he claims to have wanted to lead), and read it just how it was said. Now, of course the Branch Kerridians and Lurch himself shot back with the claim that “It was a botched joke about the President and his team“, which is probably true in one of the dimensions he lives in, but it’s the staunch retort by Johnny-boy that feeds this fire with me:
“Let me make it crystal clear, as crystal clear as I know how: I apologize to no one for my criticism of the president and of his broken policy.”
Yeah. Okay. We know that’s your story and you’re sticking to it. You weren’t talking about the Troops when you told those students that they better “buckle down and get goods grades, or their only choice would be to enlist in the military”, you were obviously talking about… The… President and his cab…in…et… See, my brain just won’t let me buy it, no matter how hard he’s sellin’ it to me.
My point is that all Mr. Kerry had to do was apologize to the people that were asking to be apologized to: The troops. Notice how he slithered away from the main point. What he said was, “I apologize to no one for my criticism of the president and of his broken policy.” Well, no one asked you to, Senator! They asked you to apologize for making a mistake that sounded like you were bashing our troops!… Which… YOU HAVE A HISTORY OF DOING! So call us shocked when something like this flies out of your face. Well, if Mr. Perfect can’t make one apology to anyone about anything, I’ll do it for him. These are the only apologies you’ll ever hear from this LiberAlien:
“I’m sorry I can’t even tell my own joke correctly. I’m very sorry that I lost the election (I wonder how such a stupid, masagonistic, murdering President keeps winning elections, anyways), and I’m totally, completely and utterly sorry that that those darn right-wingers had the volume turned up loud enough on their monitors that they actually caught the crap that came spewing forth from my mouth… Yep, I think I that covers everything I’ve ever been sorry for.”
Now give this mouse some cheese, Please…
Posted by Jordan in Uncategorized | RSS 2.0
AFAIK, I’m the only one still reading this blog, so I’ll presume it was at least partially directed toward me.
In all honesty, I hadn’t heard a thing about this until now. (One of the benefits of having neither a commute nor a TV, I suppose.)
When I read the Kerry quote here, my reaction was that he was making a dig related to the military recruiters who are specifically targeting the students in traditionally “poor-performing” high schools.
“No, the troops are not stupid, but let’s state the obvious: A great many of them join the military because college isn’t an option.
The military recruiters know this. That’s why they specifically target inner-city and rural schools, and stay away from places like Phillips Andover, where you can go to Yale even if you get crappy grades” — CBS News
Kerry may have said it, but the Army recruiters are acting it out on a daily basis. Who should we be more upset with?
You’re a little too presumptuous, my brother. Nothing about this was directed to you, partially or not. I’ve been down THAT endless road plenty of times, and if I want a “Yes he did!”, “No he didn’t!”, “Yes he did!”, “No he didn’t!” argument, I know right where your blog is. Oh, and I think we should be more upset with Kerry… Love ya.
“Nothing about this was directed to you, partially or not.”
Okay then, I at least see one line toward that top that was likely inspired by some of our prior discussions.
“Oh, and I think we should be more upset with Kerry…”
Well, I’m not trying to get into a “did not/did too” argument. Do you think this because (a) you don’t believe the statements made re: Army recruiters are accurate, (b) you think it’s bad for a Congressman to insult our soldiers’ intelligence but okay for recruiters to do so, (c) both, or (d) something else?
I don’t just want to know what you think, but why you think it. C’mon, if you’re so right, build a case for it!
Well, for starters, I used facts and quotes. I listed word for word what Kerry said, as well as quotes of the MSM that are trying to protect him. I can’t see how you can try and undermine my case when all I get from you is,
Where are your facts? Just because some anchor on CBS News (surprise, surprise) says that recruiter’s are “going fishing in the shallow ponds”, you take the claim as factual? If I really need to write another page on this, then it’s obvious my original post didn’t get through. I was saying that instead of apologizing to people that were offended because Kerry can’t even get his own joke right, this barnacle tried to avert the attention and blame to the same “whale” he’s been clinging onto for over 2 years: The war in Iraq. Let me try it a different way:
Let’s say that I’m speaking to the public about education. I say, “If you want to make something out of yourself, you better study hard, or else you’ll end up as a *racial epitaph*…”
Okay, so what I meant to say was “…or else you’ll end up like a *BIGGER* dummy than our president”. Should I apologize to those who were offended because of my own stupid mistake, or should I go on the defense and say “I owe no one an apology regarding my comments about the president and his stupidity!”
See, the problem would be that the comments that got me in trouble in the first place had nothing to do with the president!!! It was that one word that got everyone ticked. It was my own fault and I should apologize because I let something out of my mouth that offended people, accident or not. Kerry refused to admit that he made a stupid mistake, and instead tried to pull a “Look over there! It’s the president and his failed strategy in Iraq!” move, while he slinks into the shadows.
Does that help “build my case” any?
(Ya know, if it wasn’t for these smileys at the end of our comments, one of us would have killed the other by now…)
…
Which one word was that? “Stuck”? “Iraq”? “Smart”? :p I mean, now that I think of it, according to your quote there’s no direct reference to the military at all. He could just as easily have been saying that Bush didn’t study hard, Bush didn’t make an effort to be smart, so now Bush is stuck in Iraq.
The problem with things like Army recruiting methods is that there’ll be an official story, and then there’s the opposition’s account. Right now, the opposition tends to be liberals. So no matter what evidence I can point you to, it’ll probably be from a source you don’t trust.
Have you considered that you’re being played for a fool? I have no doubt in my mind that this would have been a much smaller issue if it had happened in ‘05. We’re just days from the mid-term elections, though, and the GOP is milking this thing for all it’s worth; not because they care about “our troops,” but because they care about Senate and House seats.
And you’ve taken it—hook, line and sinker.
That “one word” I was talking about was referring to my hypothetical situation I mentioned, not anything in Kerry’s statement, so that was a pretty cheap shot.
And I didn’t buy anything “hook, line and sinker”, because that term is only used when someone has convinced you of something that you normally would not have been (usually by means of lying). I was already of the opinion that Kerry’s only line of defense was to try and hit below the belt. You say that the GOP is “milking it for everything it’s worth”, even though Hilary Clinton himself called him “old news” and called for an apology. (Last time I checked, he still voted Democrat.) :p
Now you say that the R’s have eaten this up because it’s election time, but the point could also be made that if Mr. Kerry wasn’t campaigning for a Democratic gubernatorial candidate at the time he made the faux-pas, none of this would even be an issue. It also wouldn’t have happened if he had been focusing on the strong-suits of his endorsee, instead of talking about all of the President’s failures. (BTW, Angelides is running for Governor of California, not the Senate or the Presidency, so what good was Kerry’s comment going to do anyway?)
So you can’t blame one party for using this against the other when the one who started the attack couldn’t even get it right. It reminds me of a joke:
“What do you do when a blond throws a grenade at you? Pull the pin and throw it back.“
"It also wouldn’t have happened if he had been focusing on the strong-suits of his endorsee… Angelides is running for Governor of California, not the Senate or the Presidency, so what good was Kerry’s comment going to do anyway?"
See? Like I said, I didn't know (and apparently still don't know) much of anything regarding what happened. I assumed (there I go again) that Kerry's seat was up for re-election, and that he was stumping for himself. Mea culpa.
I still think his non-apology is understandable—he didn't slander the military (intentionally or unintentionally), he was talking about Bush diving into Iraq without "studying hard." (And I'll jump right up there with you in reminding everyone that Kerry supported invading Iraq.)
I guess I just don't really care to spend time talking about what "dirty tricks" the Democrats are up to, because I'm not on their side. The Republicans (and Conservatives, in general) are more my political "family," so I feel more of an impetus to point out when a right-wing talking point is wrong. I want to hold The Right to a higher standard when it comes to stuff like this.
If you read his "apology" again, I hope you'll see that he's saying reporters and pundits were the ones too stupid to know what he meant:
Really, the idea that he was making a dig on the troops is less plausible than the Bush administration being behind 9/11, and harping on this is just making Conservatives look dumb.
Haha, I just found this. (Kerry’s not the only one, eh wot?)