Kerry must have a foot fetish the way he jammed it in his mouth.
I always tell people I have no political party. I am equally distrustful of both parties currently maintaining a stranglehold over our collective political throats. I always say that we should be distrustful of anyone who willingly puts themselves and their families through the hell that our election process has become. If anyone wants power so badly that they offer every secret their children held dear to the public then they cannot be trusted with power. It is that simple to me.…
Article comments
26 - brad schader
I love reading the comments. Thank you for the kind words from those in agreement or those who think I am wrong.
Screw you to all who left the insults. You obviously cannot read very well. I am very clearly NOT a Bush supporter nor am I a supporter of the war in Iraq. ANYONE who reads what I wrote can see that.
The fact remains that Kerry was making a speech about education, not Bush. You want to talk context then provide some if you say I got it wrong.
Yesterday he said it was a slam on Bush, today he tells Imus it was a botched joke. What will it be tomrrow?
27 - Georgio
well the GOP and the media can have fun with this Kerry blunder even though it was not what he meant but it was not the most important thing that happened yesterday..what was important was SADAR TELLING MALIKI TO REMOVE THE ROADBLOCKS OR ELSE..it's THE SECOND TIME IN TWO WEEKS THAT THE IRAQI PM HAS TOLD BUSH TO GO FUCK YOURSELF...
our troops where searching for a missing soldier and a most wanted terrorist who is hiding in Sardar territory..It's just another sign of what's to come which is the Shites ruling the country with Islam religious fanatics and telling Bush to get out as soon as you have trained and armed Iraq with American weapons . at that time Americans will know when it is too late that our soldiers have died for nothing ...Thank you George Bush !
28 - Silas Kain
Shame on the media. Shame on the politicians. What did John Kerry say that was so bad? Are we a nation that's so afraid to speak the truth that we have to sanitize every little utterance? That's not a free society, folks. The Bush Administration is a complete disaster and we have allowed it to continue. Congress is filled with inept opportunists who don't give a rat's ass about their respective constituencies. In six days Americans can send a resou8nding message to Washington that enough is enough. Will it happen? Nope.
29 - Arch Conservative
"Hmm I wonder who has done more harm to the soldiers? Kerry with his comment, or Bush with his war."
And yet who do the majority of the military agree with, support and respect, Bush or Kerry?
It's always funny watching liberals rave about their support for the troops when in reality the troops could care less if they have the support of the American left.
The fact is that the majority of the military votes GOP and holds traditional conservative values. The don't share the beliefs of the Nancy Pelosi's and John Kerry's of the world nor do they need these people to speak for them. Maybe this is so because the military is made up of poor unenlightened, unprogressive, non-liberal troglodytes who can't think for themselves or be trusted to act in their own interests. Is it such a stretch for one to think that this is really what Kerry had in mind? God knows he wouldn't be the first leftist to hold this view.
30 - Alix
Everyone has the right to say whatever they please, but when you live by the polls you die by the polls. He is afraid to say this is what he meant because he still wants to run for President. He believed that the audience he was speaking too was so far left also that no one would disagree or notice what he said. People have been removed from office for saying botched jokes i.e. Trent Lott. John Kerry's problem is he needs a poll to tell him what to do and say.
31 - Alix
Brad Schader: I don't agree with you politically, but I respect when someone admits when their side screws up. I admit to Bush screwing up with government spending. Brad, continue to call it straight down the middle.
32 - Silas Kain
Kerry's a coward. Today he back pedals and cancels his appearances. To me John Kerry is another George W. Bush. Both are more useless than testicles on a Republican.
33 - Arch Conservative
Testicles on a republican?
Isn't the Dem party the mommy party and the GOP the daddy party?
You know... when you need an excuse, a pat on the head, someone to tell you that nothing is your fault and that "feelings" are the only thing that matters you have the Dems.
But when you wanna kick a little ass, get shit done, have someone tell you when you're being a dumbass and you're messing up..... you have the GOP.
What good are testicles to a lib.......unless they are being licked by a "domestic partner."
34 - Silas Kain
And it's a licking that keeps on ticking, Oedipus Arch. Now that we know your real feelings on "mommy" it explains so much. Where's Sigmund when you need him most?
35 - MCH
"It's always funny watching liberals rave about their support for the troops when in reality the troops could care less if they have the support of the American left."
- Arch/Bing
Kerry's military record:
**3 Purple Hearts
**1 Silver Star
**1 Bronze Star
Archie's military record:
**None (didn't serve)
36 - Lumpy
For me it became clear what kerry intended with his comment when his people issued their 'clarification' of what he said and it was a blatant fabrication which bore no possible relationship to his actual words. An obvious CYA attempt to rewrite reality.
37 - Baronius
Brad, I respect you for throwing rocks at both parties. I find myself on the opposite side on the Kerry story, just as I disagreed about the Lynne Cheney comment.
Does Kerry believe he's better than everyone else? Sure. He looks down on the troops; he looked down on them when he was in Vietnam. But Kerry's comment falls in line with another phenomenon I've observed, the unfunny Bush-is-dumb joke.
Last night, Letterman opened with a Halloween joke about Hillary wearing an orange and black pants suit. Bad joke, polite laughter. The second joke was about a confused W lighting a menorah. Slightly funnier, sloppy delivery, but you would have thought the audience just saw Blazing Saddles for the first time.
Bush-is-dumb jokes don't need a punch line, and they don't often make sense. I think what happened to Kerry is, if I may paraphrase an old anti-war slogan, they threw a Bush joke and nobody laughed.
38 - Nancy
Kerry's statement was stupid, especially coming at this particular time. His attempt to shrug it off was even stupider, responding to desperate GOP attempts to use such a pathetically unimportant situation to turn attention away from Iraq. Bush is even stupider & more pathetic, by trying to claim that Kerry - or anybody - insults & disrespects the troops more than he & his butt-sucking coteries of yes men who gaggle behind him. Bush blithely consigns thousands of US troops to defend a bunch of barbarian, primitive halfwits who don't want "Democracy" and never did, and he's fully prepared to consign hundreds of thousands more, to death or mutilation or mental illness, while behind their backs he cuts their medical care when - IF - they get back! Actions speak louder than words, and Bush's actions are by far the more contemptuous of our troops, and the more contemptible - or should be - to everyone who truly does care for & support them.
Frankly, I have no use for Kerry. The bastard was too spineless to fight for the 2004 election, & too stupid to avoid falling into Rove's by now well-known traps of smears, lies, and dirty tricks. But I am glad he finally found the balls to turn around today & tell Bush that no one who was cowardly enough to avoid service in Vietnam - and in Bush's case, & that of his administration, that covers a HOST of people, from Junior himself & Cheney on down - has any business calling anybody who DID serve disrespectful of the troops. GOOD FOR KERRY, for a change. It's high time & past time those slandered by Dubya, Cheney, & all those other yellow douchebags called a halt to it, forcefully and nastily, if necessary.
39 - SHARK
Jeezus. What a non-issue. Humorless motards desperate for some pre-election crap on the Dems.
And THIS is the best they can come up with?
A semi-humorous shot at Bush/Iraq that has been mis... um... re-interpreted to denigrate the troops in Iraq?
Oh. My. Gawd.
B. Shrader: "...Kerry claims that he was not speaking about the troops in Iraq, but rather was taking another jab at Bush and the White House. He says that Bush did not do his homework before going to Iraq and that is what he means. The problem that I have with this defense is that I am fluent in English. There is nothing there that even hints at Bush."
Jeezus.
Fuck.
If ya gotta explain it... well...
oh, FUCK.
...never mind.
Just keep your eye on the swinging pocketwatch, America.
========
psssst... IRAQ. DISASTER. VIET NAM II.
Bush.
Mission Accomplished.
40 - Martin Lav
I think he meant that it's pretty obvious that Bush couldn't have done too well in school. He got stuck in Iraq and he can't speak proper english.
Yathink?
41 - Sylvia Muffaleto
"Yesterday he said it was a slam on Bush, today he tells Imus it was a botched joke."
Why can't it be both. Maybe it's that you have trouble with two ideas in your head at the same time. No room for facts when it's loaded with spin.
On Rush today, Bush said, and I quote, "Listen to Osama". Quick, write a misguided, ill-informed, out-of-context post about Bush being a traitor.
42 - Dustin Gilds
I think everyone is missing the bigger picture. The man had to begin his speach on "education" with two, not one, but two jokes personally directed at our president. Instead of focusing on the issue at hand he continued to try and slam the president.
He did it when he ran and lost against G.W and he has continued to do it ever since his overwhelming defeat.
Bush-hater or Bush lover you have to respect how the President came out today and focused on the issues instead of bashing the Senator for his completely innapropriate comments.
I am a former United States Marine. I served before the curren war in Iraq. My brother has served for the last 15 years in the Marine Corps. He led troops in numerous raids in Fallujah and the surrounding Al-Anbar Province as a signals intelligence officer in 2004. "Officer" meaning commissioned with a college degree. He recieved that degree from North Carolina State University through a program that the Marine Corps offered to him after 10 years of enlisted service.
Life stories aside I think you will see where Im going with this. We entered the military because it provided opportunities for us. It opened doors. It made us better people. It allowed us the possibility that we could continue to gain knowledge for free. Veterans and those serving right now are rapidly being forgotten in a time when they need be commended and supported the most.
Once again politics are overshadowing what matters the most.
43 - Dan
It's been a fun week, In a poetic justice sorta way. First, Good natured, fun loving, Rush gets drug through the mud by a biased media turned psycotic in a naked smear job. Then, Kerry steps right in it, by revealing what everyone knows are his true thoughts. He can't apologize though. Not in any real way. He could say, yea, I'm sorry if you didn't catch my little joke. But a wolf in sheep's clothing can never admit he's a wolf. The jig would be up.
Rush, on the other hand offered a conditional apology during his "offense". He noticed, like everyone else, that MJ Fox didn't have the same exaggerated symptoms in all of his other recent TV appearances. He then went on to say that Fox was either "acting" (a little harsh), or "off his medication" (probably accurate), and then offered the apology (if he was wrong).
The biased media, of course, ran with the apology angle. Some going as far as saying he has "since" apologized. Confering guilt for a mean-spiritedness that they manufactured.
Personally I was a little dissapointed in Fox. In the weasel-esque tradition of true liberals, he pointed out that he had *over* medicated, and that was the reason for the exaggerated symptoms. As if that were a distinction that mattered. The definition of is, is... that Fox, and the liberals were doing exactly what Rush claimed. Some would call it acting.
Personally, I see nothing wrong with Fox's manipulation of his symptoms. I would equate it with abortion protesters brandishing placards with real aborted fetuses printed on them. It's fair to manipulate emotions. Just be honorable and stand accountable for what you do.
Back to Kerry, He supports the troops as far as getting them out of the "horrible mistake" that they're engaged in in Iraq. But he doesn't support their mission. It's a delicate distinction that liberals won't and can't admit. It doesn't sell. The troops do normally support their mission. Their re-enlistment rates demonstrate it. Consequently, they don't support liberals. The animus is mutual.
Remember the Florida election counts? Democrats didn't want to count tardy overseas military ballots. They do discourage tougher legislation to prevent voter fraud with ID's etc. Why do you think that is?
Remember the Red/Blue state intelligence map. It was a hoax. Liberals always get caught perpetrating hoaxes and then the issue is forgotten (repressed).
Military personel, by and large, are the best and the brightest among us. The guys who endager themselves for us, and innocent Iraqi's are just "the best". We don't deserve them, certainly not the liberals. And more certainly, not the Iraqi's.
44 - MCH
"Military personel, by and large, are the best and the brightest among us. The guys who endager themselves for us, and innocent Iraqi's are just "the best". We don't deserve them, certainly not the liberals. And more certainly, not the Iraqi's."
Rush Limbaugh, who dodged the draft during Vietnam using a medical deferment for a cyst on his ass, doesn't deserve them, either.
45 - RJ Elliott
John Kerry on Vietnam:
"they [American military personnel] had personally raped, cut off ears, cut off heads, taped wires from portable telephones to human genitals and turned up the power, cut off limbs, blown up bodies, randomly shot at civilians, razed villages in fashion reminiscent of Genghis Khan, shot cattle and dogs for fun, poisoned food stocks, and generally ravaged the countryside of South Vietnam."
John Kerry on Iraq:
"And there is no reason [...] that young American soldiers need to be going into the homes of Iraqis in the dead of night, terrorizing kids and children, you know, women [...] Iraqis should be doing that."
John Kerry this week:
"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. If you don't, you get stuck in Iraq."
This, from a guy who tried to get a student deferment to study in France in an effort to avoid service in Vietnam. When his request for a deferment was denied, he "volunteered" to become a Naval officer, rather than risk being drafted into the Army as infantry.
When sent to Vietnam, Kerry received three purple hearts, but not a single one of those injuries required so much as a stitch. This gave him the option to leave Vietnam after less than four months, which he gleefully took. He then proceeded to negotiate (in France) with "terrorists" (that's the term used by his former running mate, John Edwards), despite this being illegal.
And this was the man the Democrats chose to nominate for President two years ago...
46 - Dave Nalle
Once again politics are overshadowing what matters the most.
Actually, Dustin, it seems to me like Kerry's little gaffe has provided a great opportunity for you and others to remind of us what our soldiers are really like, how and why they serve, and how totally off-base people like Kerry are.
His attitude, which is so common among the elite of the left, requires a real obliviousness to the realities of the world. Everyone knows I didn't serve in the military, but if I were to adopt Kerry's attitude it would require me to believe that my father, both my grandfathers and all of my uncles were fools and dupes, especially the grandfather and uncle who were career officers.
Dave
47 - RJ Elliott
Also, it should be pointed out that the Democrat nominee for President just before John F-ing Kerry was a fella by the name of Al Gore. Good ol' Democrat Al Gore tried to disqualify thousands of ballots cast by members of the US military who were stationed overseas.
The point is this: Democrats generally do not respect members of the US military. They view them as rapists, murderers, baby-killers, morons, and basically un-educated scum who don't deserve to have a voice, or to have their votes counted.
And if anybody thinks that turning the House of Representatives over to San Francisco leftist Democrat Nancy Pelosi is gonna be good for our troops (or our country), they really need to think again...
48 - Nancy
RJ, I doubt you even KNOW many Democrats, & you certainly can't read minds, so regarding your assertions of their attitudes toward our troops, you're full of crap, as usual. All the Dems I know regard our troopers with compassion & admiration for the dangers they face & the problems they also face that being in Iraq has engendered. Far more than our Fearless Leader and his git followers display, that's for sure.
Most certainly it won't hurt the US that congress stops rubber-stamping the fascist incursions against the Bill of Rights & the Constitution currently being mounted by Dubya & his Hitler Youth Corps; nor will it hurt if the new congress headed by Pelosi or anybody else on either side of the aisle, for that matter - an honest & honorable GOP member would be just as welcome) finally gets some spine, retakes their own responsibilities regarding waging of war, and stops allowing Bush to send yet more of our troops to get mutilated or die trying to inflict "Freedom" or "Democracy" on a barbaric bunch of half-crazed sectarian primitives who clearly don't want it and couldn't handle it if they had it. There's nothing whatsoever supportive of our troops in insisting that even more of them go & get killed in a conflict based on lies, faked evidence, & suppressed information, such as Bush has created in order to aggrandize himself to history as a "War President" just like Poppy Bush #41, or to gratify his corporate masters trying to control Iraqi oil supplies like the good puppet he is.
Bush can be judged by his deeds & his lies; stop generalizing about what a major part of the population you know nothing about thinks, let alone says ... not that you bother to find out, certainly.
You might also bother to find out that a good many genuine conservatives these days aren't in the BushCo lockstep, either. Indeed, some of his most vociferous critics are those who belong to the "true" conservative/Republican party, which is a far different group than the neocons who've hijacked it in recent years.
49 - Nancy
Oh. I meant to say, that I take back anything good I had to say about Kerry yesterday. He's a fool, a wimp, a wuss, & hopefully someone in the Dem party will sit on him & keep his mouth shut from now on. He may be intelligent (?) but he's certainly short on common sense & basic smarts. I'm totally disgusted that he caved in & apologized at the insistance of a self-righteous, self-appointed, smirking skank like Bush.
Of course, if he'd had any brains to begin with, he wouldn't have even tried to tell a joke. He's NOT the hale-fellow-well-met, joke-telling, gregarious type & shouldn't try to act like he was. Talk about trying to snatch defeat out of the jaws of victory....
50 - Bliffle
It's hard to believe that so many people are expending so much hot air over such a trivial issue.
Don't you think you ought to be looking at serious substantive issues instead?
51 - Nancy
It's always fun to fill up an idle hour or so abusing those not present to defend themselves, especially if they're celebrities or public figures who ought to know better. I refer to us bloggers lambasting Kerry & Bush, of course.
Regarding congress & the GOP trying to hang Kerry about such idiocies, I have no control. It's what they do to avoid getting any REAL work done, I suppose. That, or start fake arguments about gay marriage, or flag burning, or such other bullshit of importance only to their lemming base audience that follows directions without thinking.
52 - MCH
"Also, it should be pointed out that the Democrat nominee for President just before John F-ing Kerry was a fella by the name of Al Gore. Good ol' Democrat Al Gore tried to disqualify thousands of ballots cast by members of the US military who were stationed overseas."
- RJ Elliott
John Kerry's military record:
**enlisted in the U.S. Navy during time of war
**3 Purple Hearts
**1 Silver Star
**1 Bronze Star
Al Gore's military record:
**enlisted in the U.S. Army during time of war
**1 tour in Vietnam
RJ Elliott's military record:
**none...refuses to even attempt to enlist, instead writing numerous posts pretending to know what combat is like, and calling anyone opposed to the invasion/occupation a "pinko" or a "commie"
-----------------------------
"The point is this: Democrats generally do not respect members of the US military. They view them as rapists, murderers, baby-killers, morons, and basically un-educated scum who don't deserve to have a voice, or to have their votes counted."
- RJ Elliott
The point is this: this is the same guy who compared Vietnam combat veteran Max Cleland to "a gigantic thalidomide baby."
53 - Nancy
Why are all chickenhawks self-styled Republicans/conservatives? Seems to me they're all just old-fashioned blowhards & yellowbellies. If they truly respected the GOP, they'd stop trying to identify themselves with it. Talk about slander.
54 - Clavos
emmy sez:
John Kerry's military record:
**enlisted in the U.S. Navy during time of war
Because he was refused the deferment to study in France he was seeking, and he enlisted in the Navy to avoid the Infantry.
**3 Purple Hearts
At least one of which is questionable, but which nonetheless got him back home within four months.
**1 Silver Star
**1 Bronze Star
Which he defiled by throwing away.
Kerry is an arrogant, military hating psuedo intellectual who has never done an honest thing in his life.
55 - Clavos
The point is this: this is the same guy who compared Vietnam combat veteran Max Cleland to "a gigantic thalidomide baby."
Years ago, and he has apologized profusely ever since, REMF.
What war did you fight in, emmy??
56 - MCH
"Years ago, and he has apologized profusely ever since, REMF."
That's not true, Clavvy. He "apologized" one time (his "10 times" statement was a lie, BTW), almost a year-and-a-half after the thalidomide statement, and only after several conservative BC participants commented that it was a scumbag thing to say.
I believe the only thing that your little butt-buddy was "sorry" for was the fact that none of his fellow conservatives supported his mocking the appearnace of a dismembered veteran.
57 - Nancy
I frequently miss the days when it was considered the honorable thing to do for an affronted person or his friends/representatives to thrash such a jerk within an inch of his life with a horsewhip, because that's what the lowlife richly deserves.
58 - Baronius
Senate Republicans - 30% veterans
Senate Democrats - 30% veterans
House Republicans - 30% veterans
House Democrats - 20% veterans
59 - Bill B
CPTL in #15 is right on. The wingnuts are in their deluded heaven. If they had even the slightest ability to objectively look at Kerry's speech, they'd see he forgot the 'us' between 'get' and 'stuck' and was slamming Bush. Did he screw it up bigtime? Oh yea. But keep on deluding yourselves that he was bashing the troops or had a freudian moment or couldn't restrain his elitism.
Your responses tell more about yourselves than any of your ideas about Kerry's quote convey anything about him.
Please enjoy your trip to bizarro world. You are free to distort as you please.