John Kerry said what strikes me as a remarkably stupid thing in California.
You know, education, if you make the most of it, you study hard and 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.
Was this supposed to be a laugh line or something? [UPDATE: Apparently, it was supposed to be a laugh line as a dig at President Bush, but he totally screwed it up. See below.] It sure isn’t very funny, and it’s hard to see it as suggesting anything other than that the armed forces are full of losers who couldn’t handle high school.
Obviously, that’s not true, and I don’t believe for a second that Kerry thinks that’s the case. Nevertheless, his comment was way off base, and he should retract it — precisely because it doesn’t reflect what he really thinks.
Instead, however, after being hit with the predictable denunciations from Tony Snow and from Republicans, Kerry released a strongly-worded counterattack:
Statement of John Kerry Responding to Republican Distortions, Pathetic Tony Snow Diversions and Distractions
Washington Senator John Kerry issued the following statement in response to White House Press Secretary Tony Snow, assorted right wing nut-jobs, and right wing talk show hosts desperately distorting Kerrys comments about President Bush to divert attention from their disastrous record:
If anyone thinks a veteran would criticize the more than 140,000 heroes serving in Iraq and not the president who got us stuck there, they’re crazy. This is the classic G.O.P. playbook. Im 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.
Im 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. Foxs Parkinsons disease to start lying about me just as they have lied about Iraq. 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.
The people who owe our troops an apology are George W. Bush and Dick Cheney who misled America into war and have given us a Katrina foreign policy that has betrayed our ideals, killed and maimed our soldiers, and 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.
Bottom line, these Republicans want to debate straw men because theyre afraid to debate real men. And this time it wont work because were going to stay in their face with the truth and deny them even a sliver of light for their distortions. 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.
Look, in general, I don’t disagree with anything in that statement. Problem is, it’s not really responsive to the issue of his comment, which does lend itself to being interpreted the way Tony Snow et al. are interpreting it. Confess error, John, and move on.
HT: PolInt.
UPDATE: This, apparently, is what Kerry actually meant to say — it’s apparently a line he’s been using a lot:
“I can’t overstress the importance of a great education. Do you know where you end up 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.”
Oh, ha ha, I get it. Bush is intellectually lazy, so he got us stuck in Iraq. Not the funniest line I’ve ever heard, but at least it makes sense.
Supposedly Kerry was doing a presser at 2 pm to talk about this. I haven’t seen any reports about it yet. Let’s hope he just explained what he meant to say, apologizes for the screw-up, and gets back to business.
Did he actually say “assorted right wing nut-jobs” and “doughy Rush Limbaugh”? Maybe his weird statement about Iraq was trying to pick a fight. Two years too late, if that’s the case. Maybe he hopes some newspapers will retroactively endorse “the real John Kerry.”
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For what it’s worth, his “nut-job” statement is being very well received at DailyKos. And MSNBC, citing “sources close to Kerry,” is reporting that Kerry’s original comment was supposed to be a joke about President Bush, but that he mangled it, which resulted in its coming out the way it did.
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So if that’s the case, he should just explain what he meant to say, that no one ever called him a gifted standup comedian, and MOVE ON!!
If you hadn’t linked to JK’s ACTUAL site I’d have thought this was a parody of his response. It’s resorting to name calling of a sort I wouldn’t expect from a sitting Senator, former nominee for president, and future presidential hopeful. Let the blogs use terms like “Muffy Healey” and “doughy Rush” – it’s unbecoming of John Kerry. Hit hard, yes, PLEASE hit them hard, but leave off the personal attacks!! There’s enough to attack Republicans on their record, nevermind the rhetoric.
I was waiting for the Karl Rove surprise. I didn’t expect it to come out of the mouth of John Kerry.
on how to respond to negative ads. It’s one thing to hit back, but the response should be measured. His “right-wing, nut-jobs” statement is way out of proportion and really does look as though he was waiting for the first opportunity to show his toughness. The problem is this wasn’t the opportunity. David is right. He should have used this opportunity to apologize for his misstatement regarding our troops in Iraq.
This was all planned – the Globe and others have been grooming the “new” Kerry with his tough talk all political season.
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This is exactly what the Dems want – keep the Iraq war on the front burner.
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Just hope that Kerry doesn’t f it up.
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Oops
…is keeping the Iraq war on the front burner, or perhaps you didn’t notice the increase in violence?
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Kerry was never my first, or second choice. And he won’t be in 2008 either.
Maybe the remark wasn’t in the best of taste, but I like John’s response: Don’t concede an inch. “Concede error”, David? A week before the election? What are you smoking?
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Damn the torpedoes. Full speed ahead.
It was a disaster. As I said in the updated post, it was apparently a mangled joke that was supposed to be directed at Bush, but came out sounding like he was dissing the troops. Bad idea.
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And Kerry’s not on the ballot. How can it possibly hurt him, or any Democrat, to admit that he screwed up a joke? Seems to me not admitting his screw-up is what can hurt Dems.
Actually, I don’t think whether he admits he screwed up or not matters much to other candidates. Since he’s not on the ballot, he doesn’t really have to get into anything about himself. Now that everybody’s listening, he might as well talk about how badly people like George Allen and other incumbent Republicans have screwed up.
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Other Dems can call on him to apologize too, if they want to distance themselves. I think Kerry can keep hammering away at the White House, preferably focusing on things like the 14,000 weapons they’ve lost track of rather than the stuffiness of Tony Snow’s shirt.
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been taking his medication lately? Somebody seriously needs to explain to him that his mood swings of late may lead many to believe he needs help. I, for one, found his sudden fascination with the MA blogging community to be in stark contrast to his campaign’s opinions. Seems there is little doubt that he’s now swaying with the political winds. I believe in his sincerity about as much as I believe in Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny. As for the next presidential election cycle, guess he’s already jumped in.
Ok, clearly, he muffed up his joke/comment about the President. But, he’s absolutly right. Bush is intellectually lazy and that’s why his pre/post-war planning has been such a fiasco. McCain came out today and called on JK to apologize. Why? Because the Republicans want to push this caricacture of John Karry as some kind of elite snob who doesn’t respect the troops. The problem with apologizing is that it would be seen by many as confirmation that he was actually talking about the troops NOT the President, which is just so baseless and stupid. I don’t think allowing another swiftboating of John Kerry will help the Dem’s win any elections.
Apparently somebody has found some testicular fortitude! A smack down of Tony Snow and Rush Limbaugh is more than called for, and Kerry has the high ground, having served with valor, compared to the current crop in the administration, chickenhawks all.
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But, of course, he does need to apologize for mangling his (weak) joke, just to set the record straight.
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And keep up the attacks on the Bush league. “Cut and run in Afghanistan and stand and lose in Iraq” Now that is good rhetoric! YEAH BABY
If John Kerry’s going to apologize, he should apologize with a steel chair to his opponents’ heads!
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And he should keep on apologizing with a steel chair until the other side taps out.
…is that it took Kerry so long to say something “remarkably stupid”.
Most of the time Kerry was 100% content free.
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However, Bush says stupid things so regularly we are immune to the phenomenon.
Found an interesting comment:
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