October 31, 2006
The Charge of the Lightweight Brigade
It seems that John Kerry can't quit charging the guns:
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 Kerry’s 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. 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.
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. 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 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. 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."
I'm almost overwhelmed at how politically tone-deaf John Kerry in posting this response on his Web site.
Almost.
Not only does Kerry refuse to apologize for slandering those serving our country, he actually has the gall to try to go on the offensive and attack those condemning his comments. As many of the "assorted right wing nut-jobs" attacking him are current and former members of the military, Kerry insults them not once, but twice.
Kerry even goes so far as to insist that those who are enraged at his slur have resorted to lies and distortions, even though his comments were captured in print, audio, and video formats. The context of his comments was quite clear, and it is disingenuous for him to try to say the video evidence he freely gave of his own accord was a distortion.
His comments devolve from there into what even reads as a high-pitched and hysterical shrieking that seems to indicate that Kerry's immeasurable gaffe is somehow the Bush Administration’s fault. Certainly, the rant will play well on the far left fringe of the Democratic Party, but it serves to alienate almost everyone else in the country that expected a measured apology, not a second attack.
Allied against the overwhelming core of the American populace that respects the military even if they have not served, an anemic John Kerry continues to futilely charge into the guns, perhaps snatching a more perfect Democratic defeat from the jaws of possible victory once more.
Flash'd as they turn'd in air,
Sabring the gunners there,
Charging an army,
while All the world wonder'd:
Plunged in the battery-smoke
Right thro' the line they broke;
Cossack and Russian
Reel'd from the sabre stroke
Shatter'd and sunder'd.
Then they rode back, but not
Not the six hundred.
Cannon to the Right of Them.
Cannon to the Center.
Cannon all around.
The magic hat lies (and lies, and lies... )
shatter'd and sunder'd.
Not only does Kerry refuse to apologize for slandering those serving our country, he actually has the gall to try to go on the offensive and attack those condemning his comments.
Umm... I think the idea is that he _wasn't_ trying to insult those serving our country - he was insulting those _running_ our country. Slight difference.
I don't think Kerry's biggest mistake was underestimating soldiers' education, but that he argued being a soldier is some kind of a punishment for being lazy. I know that American soldiers aren't all high school dropouts, but even if they were, they would still be heroes for risking their lives for others. The point is, their education is beside the point.
Posted by: Anonymous for now at October 31, 2006 05:15 PMUmm... I think the idea is that he _wasn't_ trying to insult those serving our country - he was insulting those _running_ our country.
Have you bothered to listen to the audio, or watch the video? Kerry cleary was referring to our military, and was not in any way referencing anything or anyone else.
What's more, instead of apologizing (if he didn't mean to say what he said), he issues a comment flatly stating he will not apologize.
He must relish the taste of shoe polish.
Posted by: Confederate Yankee at October 31, 2006 07:12 PMThat brown stuff on Kerry's shoes isn't seasonal pumpkin pie ...
What a flamer!
Maybe he meant to apologize before he decided not to ...
Posted by: Retired Spy at October 31, 2006 07:44 PMExcerpted and linked at Bill's Bites >> Jean Fraud Kerry -- Still Lovin' Our Troops
Get your gear for the next Kerry Lied rally here. "Proud Veteran-American. Silent No More!" We haven't gone away, Johnny, and we haven't forgotten. We're still here, locked and loaded, waiting for you to crawl back out from under that rock again. Bring it on, Johnny.
Bill Faith
USAF 1970-1974
Proud Viet Nam Veteran
Webmaster, www.oldwardogs.us
Posted by: Bill Faith at October 31, 2006 07:52 PM
"It's magnificent, but it's not war."
And it's really stupid on Kerry's part to keep insisting the only valid commentary on his positions on military matters can come from current and prior military. Almost all of us loath him, so all he gets from us is grief.
Since so few from the Left serve or have served, I guess they can speak as long as they agree with whatever postition he has at the moment. That means they have to be super flexible.
Maybe he deserves to be called "Sailor" Kerry after all, because he changes direction with every shift in the political breeze.
And it's really stupid on Kerry's part to keep insisting the only valid commentary on his positions on military matters can come from current and prior military.
The only valid commentary can come from current and prior military that agree with him....
Otherwise, their commentary is invalid. (re: Col. Bud Day, Medal of Honor recipient)
IF it was a joke, and he screwed up the punchline - he's a fool for not saying so immediately.
Jokes where the punchline is screwed up are just - bad.
Besides, if he was trying to slam Bush for being poorly educated, Bush had a slightly higher GPA than Kerry.
His "manly non-apology" only made it worse and finally pushed it into the MSM. How Rove got him to be so stupid is still a mystery.
Posted by: SouthernRoots at October 31, 2006 08:52 PMHow Rove got him to be so stupid is still a mystery.
Speaking of Rove...here's the opening paragraph of another blogger...quite the comedian.
Democrats must be cursing that damn Karl Rove. How does he do it? From where in the black depths of his soul did he conjure the idea of putting a microphone in front of John Kerry’s mouth during the last week of a campaign season? We all know the truth now, and it is incontrovertible: Karl Rove is one magnificent bastard!
Perhaps the thing that struck me the strangest about John Kerry's vitriolic non-apology statement was not his personal attacks on Tony Snow and Rush, but this line:
No Democrat will be bullied by an administration that has a cut and run policy in Afghanistan....
Huh?
Posted by: Chuck at October 31, 2006 10:41 PMI listened to what Kerry said about 10 times, and I felt like that caveman on the Geico commercial, shaking by head after being so openly insulted. It wasn’t a miscommunication. Nobody is twisting his words. He was perfectly clear, and he was echoing what many on the Left say in private. Even if I give it the most gracious interpretation, it’s still a terrible thing to say, and a really odd position for a political party to hold.
At first I thought it was a Jimmy the Greek type of thing, but then after rant, I get the impression that he's calling me a liar for being offended.
I guess according to Kerry, I should "try to be smart".
This is totally unbelievable - Not that Kerry would put his foot in it again - but that people would support the statement and/or buy into the spin manufactured after-the-fact by his press people.
C'mon - If you believe it was supposed to be a joke - one that he was reading directly from cue cards (or are we supposed to believe that a D student memorizes entire speeches) - then you must admit that he shows his lack of intelligence by not being able to read.
I think he meant what he said, and said what he meant. It makes much more sense when combined with the rest of his history. And he wasn't bright enough to figure it out. It was some staff person that went , "Oh $&it, I can't believe he said that. We better figure out how to spin this one now. Again...gawwwwd help us with this guy."
Posted by: Specter at November 1, 2006 08:20 AMLet's go so far as to give him the benifit of the doubt and he screwed up a joke about Bush.
He blew the joke and slammed the servicemen/women past and present.
He didn't apologize and said he wouldn't because he had nothing to apologize for.
He is blustering his spin and becoming more irate and looking more and more like the A** he is.
I say let him keep running his mouth until the 7th.
Posted by: Retired Navy at November 1, 2006 09:45 AMMaybe he deserves to be called "Sailor" Kerry after all, because he changes direction with every shift in the political breeze.
Posted by Major Mike at October 31, 2006 08:01 PM
"OUCH", Mike, that hurt.
