Perhaps the reason John Kerry took so many years to release his Naval records to the public was that he couldn’t stomach the thought of the Boston Globe’s gumshoes poking through the paper minutiae of his life, especially at a time when he was so on the make.
That is certainly understandable. As evidence, today’s Boston Globe dedicates front page ink to the startling fact that Kerry’s undergraduate grades at Yale were very slightly lower than those of the “Texas village idiot” who beat Kerry in the November election. No word yet from the Globe on the grade inflation-adjusted averages.
Bush has always admitted that he was a mediocre student, and has made good use of his undistinguished academic record in self-depreciating humor – to the criticism of some Kerry supporters. Kerry speaks incessantly of his time in Vietnam but has by contrast been quite mum about his academic record, and self-depreciation is a talent that he keeps well hidden. Now he has an occasion to show it.
The delicious part of this revelation will, of course, be hearing some Kerry die-hards excusing his mediocre grades and being certain in spite of such evidence that their man is far “smarter” and that his opponent remains an imbecile.
In 1999, The New Yorker published a transcript indicating that Bush had received a cumulative score of 77 for his first three years at Yale and a roughly similar average under a non-numerical rating system during his senior year.Younger readers should be aware that Kerry and Bush attended college in an era before students were treated as customers by colleges, and when many college professors believed that challenging their students’ sense of self-esteem was an important part of their education.Kerry, who graduated two years before Bush, got a cumulative 76 for his four years, according to a transcript that Kerry sent to the Navy when he was applying for officer training school. He received four D's in his freshman year out of 10 courses, but improved his average in later years.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Nancy
Ahhhh - hahahahaha! Gawd, talk about the public being caught between a rock and a hard place: which stuffed-shirt, overprivileged, obscenely rich maggot do you want to vote for? Oh, well...at least Kerry showed up for his physical.
2 - Matt
Well, we don't know what Kerry showed up for since he STILL hasn't released his records. While Kerry was dodging the draft, trying to go to France and volunteering for easy duty, Bush was learning to fly and volunteering to fly in Vietnam. Take your pick.
3 - Nancy
Bush volunteering to go to Vietnam? WHAT have you been smoking?! Bush showed up for ONE meeting and a training session, then disappeared until his dental appointment in LA over a year later. As for volunteering, he never volunteered for anything in his life that would put him to any kind of inconvenience, let alone danger. No Bush in any generation has EVER done anything to muddy his custom cordovan tassel loafers. I inferred Kerry must have showed up for his physical, since he DID actually, physically go to Vietnam, which I wouldn't exactly peg as 'easy duty' - more than Bush ever did, jumping ahead of 68 other applicants to be able to get into the Texas National Guard & Yalie Old Boys Club thanks to Daddy's influence. At least get your facts straight, and don't rely on Karl Rove's spin when trotting out W's faked up bio. Or Kerry's for that matter.
4 - RJ
"No Bush in any generation has EVER done anything to muddy his custom cordovan tassel loafers."
Hmm...didn't Bush 41 get his ass shot down in the Pacific during WWII?
5 - JR
There's no mud in the middle of the Pacific.
6 - RJ
Right. Just lots of very deep water, sharks, and murderous Japanese...
7 - Marc
Nancy, you'er so misinformed it's hardly worth fisking your rants.
ever consider applying for a job ay CBS?
8 - Nancy
No, but Karl Rove is interested ....
9 - Nancy
Bottom line, you must be a nut case to begin with to even WANT to have everyone digging into your kindergarten records, fighting about whether you did or did not get A's in nursery school, whether you were really conceived in Connecticut as you claim, or France.... But in any event, who can rest on their laurels? School grades are not relevant, unless you're lying about them, which I will freely acknowledge Bush never has. I don't know about Kerry, because I don't remember ever hearing him refer to his grades.
Seriously, is there a human being on this earth who can stand up to this insane kind of scrutiny? I don't think so, and I don't care what party they belong to: we all have dirty linen somewhere in the back of our closets. Even the late pope probably cussed out someone, or lied to his teacher about the dog eating his homework at least once, we probably just don't know and never will. And if they ever DO find someone who is stone 'clean', they'll say s/he's a sinister freak of some kind, doubtless.
10 - Maurice
I am probably one of the few people that read Jesse Venturas first book. In it he revealed every dirty deed that he could remember (including hookers) so that his detractors would have no amunition.
Good move on his part but probably somewhat painful.
11 - MCH
"Right. Just lots of deep water, sharks and murderous Japanese."
- R. J. (Bobby) Elliott
Great, now Bobby "my daddy wouldn't let me join the military" Elliott is going to lecture us on what combat is like again...
12 - Joe
A statement of historical fact hardly constitutes a lecture, and, besides, he's got just as much combat experience as you do.
13 - Tan Hoang
Freshman year hurts all!
14 - Dan
" which stuffed-shirt, overprivileged, obscenely rich maggot do you want to vote for? "
Well, it's at least good to know that America chose the most intelligent one.
15 - Nancy
LOL - who knows? I wonder which one is richer, Bush or Kerry?
16 - MCH
Re comment #12;
I have never said that I did as much as you, Joe baby, but at least I served [Edited].
And [Edited] I've never pretended to know what combat is like, nor have I ever ridiculed a dismembered, decorated combat vet (ie, Elliott comparing Max Cleland to a "gigantic thalidamide baby.")
And at least I wasn't a deserter, ala GW Bush.
[Edited]
- MCH, USN 1970-74 (REMF)
17 - Joe
See now you're just being silly, you presume that I give a crap. To the best of my recollection, a DD214 isn't a prerequisite to hold or voice an opinion.
I'm just trying to keep the facts straight.
18 - Eric Olsen
great title and that GPA -- one point below W's -- is pretty damn funny too. Thanks Harry
19 - Dave Nalle
It's scary to think that both of them had a lower overall GPA than I did, and I literally slept through virtually all my classes for the first two years of college.
I'm just glad that completely fucking off in school doesn't disqualify you from running for public office - keeps my hopes alive.
Dave
20 - Nancy
Naaaah. The successful people I know (in public life, that is) are complete creeps, jerks, and morons who spent most of their hs & college years drinking, whoring, jocking, and cheating. Thereby they learned all they needed to know to become politicians.
21 - Dave Nalle
The most successful people I know dropped out of college and went into tech fields or business early and aggressively. I do have to say that while they are fine fellows in many ways, they're also kind of self-centered buttheads. I think you need to have a certain amount of selfishness to support the singlemindedness needed to really succeed in business.
Dave
22 - RJ
Yep. Like MCH said, I'm a great big, fat, hairy pussy.
You are what you eat! ;-P
23 - RJ
Seriously though, I doubt the military would even take me. I'm practically blind (whenever I go to get new contact lenses, the people at the counter take one look at my prescription and gasp), and I tend to have asthma attacks if I run for more than a quarter mile.
But, you know, those are just excuses. The Marines really need a myopic dude holding an M-16 and trying to tell terrorists from civilians...
24 - MCH
"...I doubt the military would even take me. I'm practically blind...and I tend to have asthma attacks if I run more than a quarter of a mile."
- R. J. (Bobby) Elliott
Bobby, I've worn glasses since the fourth grade, and served with plenty of guys who were near-sighted. And I don't think asthma is reason for 4F, but I could be wrong - after all, Rush Limbaugh dodged the draft with a medical deferment for a pimple on his butt...
25 - RJ
Hey man, you made it in the service. You were fit enough. You survived boot camp.
And while your brothers died, you painted boats and banged teenage hookers.
Why didn't brave super-patriot anonymous-cyber-stalker "MCH" volunteer for a combat role? After all, you repeatedly call yourself a "Vietnam-ERA vet"...
Why not a VIETNAM VET, minus the "era" part?