Posted on 10/31/2006 7:40:56 AM PST by ajolympian2004
Video of traitor john kerry trashing our military at a campaign stop for the governor democratic candidate in California -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLuMWiQ6r2o
Feedback continues to pour in this morning:
Michelle,
I'm a reserve Army officer, currently employed as a professor overseas.
The DoD contracts with several universities to offer undergraduate and
graduate degrees to servicemembers, either online or face-to-face, in
darn near every corner of the planet. Many enlisted soldiers have
graduate degrees; many more have bachelor's degrees, and the rest are
working on them.
Teaching soldiers is immensely rewarding, because they work their butts
off. They have full-time duties, and usually families and children too;
some even attend classes while deployed. To survive my chemistry
courses, students spend three hours in lecture, two nights a week, and
their Friday nights or Saturdays in the lab, week after week. Getting a
bachelor's or master's degree this way is not easy, but they do it
anyway. To better themselves, to get promoted, to prepare for civilian
careers -- to, y'know, "be smart."
The fact of the matter is, the US military is the most educated in the
history of mankind. Once again, Kerry's remarks display his revolting
elitism, and shocking ignorance. Military students are /educated/, not
indoctrinated, and do not have daddy footing the bill -- and this is
precisely what makes their degrees worth more than Kerry's.
Sara Townsley
Assistant Professor
UMUC-Europe
***
Michelle,
I can't tell you how much this kind of thing ticks me off. So I just relate my daughter's story, because I know she wouldn't.
My daughter was in college a couple years ago. She was on the dean's list and doing very well when the call came for duty in Iraq. She went and did her year as any good soldier would. She returned to school where she is majoring in work with autism. And that's not just a goal, she already works in homes with the kids and families who suffer from this disease. She could be anything she wants to be, but chooses to be a soldier as well. And as soon as she was able, she also reinlisted for another six years. She's not in the Army because she can't do anything else, she's in the Army to defend the great freedoms we enjoy. She is the cream of this generation, as I believe all our military members are! To the Kerrys and others losers of this world, start giving credit where it's due.
Rich Dahlen
Proud Vietnam Vet
New Era, MI
***
Dear Michelle,I am a longtime reader, and I have to admit that the Kerry "education speech" is the first story that bothered me enough to write in. I am a 24 year old mechanical engineering student at the University of Central Florida. I have a number of friends who are either currently in the armed forces or who used the GI bill to pay their way through school. I find Kerry's comments very troubling, because I have seen first hand that the GI Bill is one of if not the best way for any american to finance college. I have two friends in particular who graduated as aerospace engineers (earth to kerry, ROCKET SCIENTISTS) in large part to the aid earned by serving their country. They hung their Diplomas up over the summer, without a drop of debt, and both work on the space coast (one is currently getting security clearence to start as a life-support engineer for the space shuttle).
It's not just the GI bill that has helped my friends though. The military experience certainly pays dividends durring a job hunt, and the specialty training offered has helped a longtime friend become a computer programmer for the air force, another a master electrician and thanks to the ROTC program I have a friend who has started his career as a fire control officer for advanced GPS guided rockets in Afghanistan.
I am proud of my friends, their service and the voluntary army that serves this country. I think that the army is an incredible opportunity; offering a fast track to paying for college, gaining citizenship and training that applies to more than just active duty. Kerry should be ashamed.
-Matthew Teague
***
"You know, education, if you make the most of it, if you study hard and you do your homework, and you make an effort to be smart, uh, you, you can do well."
If you don’t, you may get lost in Vietnam and think you're in Cambodia during Christmas on a super-secret CIA-evil-Republician mission.
This arrorgant jerk scores 100% as a liberal-leftist, commie-marxist-socialist ass clown.
D.T. Miller
***
I cannot tell you how much his (Kerry's) statement hurt this father with one son in the United States Air Force and another that just signed up for the United States Marines under their Delayed Entry Program (he will go to Basic Training when he graduates from HS this spring).I guess I am just raising dummies since I am not a blue blood like Kerry.
Mark Olson
***
Contrary to Senator Kerry's foolish remark that the uneducated end up fighting in Iraq, a remark that reflects liberals ignorant prejudice about the military, military people are better educated than their civilian equivalents, not to mention better trained for their jobs. 94.4% of military members have a high school education or better, compared to 89% of their civilian equivalents (see link below with table of statistics).
http://www.dod.mil/prhome/poprep2002/chapter3/c3_education.htm
Generally, you must have a high school diploma to join the military as an enlisted man. You must have a college degree to become an officer. There are no such requirements for the equivalent jobs in the civilian world. If you have no academic credentials, you are not going to end up in the military. If you are uneducated, you are much more likely to end up as an ignorant civilian supporting Kerry than a grunt in Iraq.
In the Air Force, I met a fair number of sergeants with bachelor's degrees, some master's degrees, and even a couple PhDs. I don't see the same in the civilian blue collar work force.
As an officer, you must earn a master's degree to win promotion to major, which comes at the 13 year point. That means all the mid-level managers in the officer corps have graduate degrees. The same is hardly true of civilian mid-level managers. In the Air Force, one out of eleven officers, have doctorates or professional degrees (JD, MD, etc).[http://www.afa.org/magazine/may2006/0506structure.pdf, p. 53, USAF Educational Levels] I do not see the same level of education in the civilian world, where only a third of the people have an undergraduate degree. [http://www.time.com/time/covers/20061030/who_we_are/]
All this academic work is aside from the system of professional military education which teaches military members to do their jobs, unlike the civilian system where workers learn their jobs largely by trial and error. The military values education and training and puts its money where its mouth is, maintaining a myriad of programs and institutions to improve yourself. By contrast, the civilian world would rather somebody else paid for training its workforce.
I suppose now that Kerry will tell us that he was for the military before he was against it.
- Steve G.
***
The Influence Peddler writes: "It's a shame that John Kerry doesn't have the good sense to just shut up."
Actually, if he keeps his mouth wide open the next seven days, Nov. 8 will be sweet revenge.
Here's his campaign schedule. Readers, if you can make it to any of these, bring a camera or tape recorder and let us know how he explains himself to the troops:
***10/31 7:35am updated with more reax below...
...909am update San Gabriel Valley Tribune/Pasadena Star News reports on the Angelides campaign event at Pasadena City College where Kerry trashed the troops..."Kerry then told the students that if they were able to navigate the education system, they could get comfortable jobs - "If you don't, you get stuck in Iraq," he said to a mixture of laughter and gasps."***
915am update. Here's a pic of Kerry and Angelides from the event posted by the Angelides campaign...
Losers
And another in the Pasadena Star News captioned "Some help from his friends:"
You can ask Angelides whether he endorses his friend Kerry's disparagement of American troops at his campaign blog here.
9:54am. Watch the video here.
***
Trashing the troops
Demonstrating his trademark jerkitude, John Kerry said this about the troops in Iraq during a campaign event in California for loser Democrat gubernatorial candidate Phil "Bring the Troops Home Now Or I'll Sue" Angelides:
“You know, education, if you make the most of it, if you study hard and you do your homework, and you make an effort to be smart, uh, you, you can do well. If you don’t, you get stuck in Iraq.”
Listen to the audio: Allah and KFI's John Ziegler have it.
***
Reader David e-mails:
After just a quick search, I found the following:
Academic Education
-- 49.2 percent of officers have advanced or professional degrees; 39.4 percent have master's degrees, 8.5 percent have professional degrees and 1.3 percent have doctorate degrees.
-- 22.8 percent of company grade officers have advanced degrees; 16.5 percent have master's degrees, 5.9 percent have professional degrees and 0.3 percent have doctorate degrees.
-- 85.4 percent of field grade officers have advanced degrees; 70.7 percent have master's degrees, 12.1 percent have professional degrees and 2.5 percent have doctorate degrees.
-- 99.9 percent of the enlisted force have at least a high school education; 73.3 percent have some semester hours toward a college degree; 16.2 percent have an associate's degree or equivalent semester hours; 4.7 percent have a bachelor's degree; 0.7 percent have a master's degree and .01 percent have a professional or doctorate degree."
That comes from http://www.af.mil/news/story_print.asp?storyID=123027385 (about a third of the way down). I'm sure there's better information out there. Also, while I was in the military, I remember reading a study showing that the education levels in the military FAR outstrip anything seen in the civilian world. Unfortunately, I couldn't find anything like it in the short time I looked. I'd bet that if you contacted an official military liaison, they could give you good information instantly.
***
Now go read about Petty Officer 2nd Class Michael A. Monsoor, who gave his life in Ramadi last month, here and here and here:
A Navy SEAL sacrificed his life to save his comrades by throwing himself on top of a grenade Iraqi insurgents tossed into their sniper hideout, fellow members of the elite force said.
Petty Officer 2nd Class Michael A. Monsoor had been near the only door to the rooftop structure Sept. 29 when the grenade hit him in the chest and bounced to the floor, said four SEALs who spoke to The Associated Press this week on condition of anonymity because their work requires their identities to remain secret.
"He never took his eye off the grenade, his only movement was down toward it," said a 28-year-old lieutenant who sustained shrapnel wounds to both legs that day. "He undoubtedly saved mine and the other SEALs' lives, and we owe him."
Monsoor, a 25-year-old gunner, was killed in the explosion in Ramadi, west of Baghdad. He was only the second SEAL to die in Iraq since the war began.
Two SEALs next to Monsoor were injured; another who was 10 to 15 feet from the blast was unhurt. The four had been working with Iraqi soldiers providing sniper security while U.S. and Iraqi forces conducted missions in the area.
In an interview at the SEALs' West Coast headquarters in Coronado, four members of the special force remembered "Mikey" as a loyal friend and a quiet, dedicated professional.
"He was just a fun-loving guy," said a 26-year-old petty officer 2nd class who went through the grueling 29-week SEAL training with Monsoor. "Always got something funny to say, always got a little mischievous look on his face."
Other SEALS described the Garden Grove, Calif., native as a modest and humble man who drew strength from his family and his faith. His father and brother are former Marines, said a 31-year-old petty officer 2nd class.
Prior to his death, Monsoor had already demonstrated courage under fire. He has been posthumously awarded the Silver Star for his actions May 9 in Ramadi, when he and another SEAL pulled a team member shot in the leg to safety while bullets pinged off the ground around them.
The honor and courage of Monsoor and his team members make me weep.
The cravenness and condescension of John Kerry make me sick.
***
Reader Andrew Porsch responds to Kerry:
I’m currently attending American University in Washington, DC, but I enlisted in the Army immediately after my graduation from high school. Guess my decision to enlist prior to going to college means I was lazy, uneducated, and don’t want to even attempt anything academic. Oh, by the way, I was a Korean linguist in the Army.Mr. Kerry, I served in Afghanistan, and proudly at that. Nobody forced me to join the Army - my parents were supportive of my decision and I don’t reget a second of my service. My enlistment was not a punishment or a final option as a result of being lazy and not wanting to put forth any "brain power." Some people just happen to be patriotic or want to better themselves through the military.
Andrew Porsch Proud former (and possibly future) Soldier
***
Here's another answer to John Kerry:
Via Major John at Miserable Donuts, watch "A Call to Duty" about American boots on the ground.
Guess they didn't make enough of an "effort to be smart," eh, Sen. Kerry?
***
More reax:
Michelle,
I really became ticked off about the message John Kerry is sending to my kids, those serving, and those who have served. He is saying that I'm uneducated and to stupid to do anything else! Well, I would rather have any 100 random service men or women serve in the Senate than the current group we currently have serving today. Jerry Kerry has inherited all of his wealth, other than his very short time in the Navy, I would say he has not really worked a day in his life. Effectively he has been working on the public dole his whole life. So, who really is smarter?
My father served in the Air Force, served in Korea, and 3 tours in Vietnam, earned a bachelors degree, Masters degree, and almost finished his PhD before retiring from the USAF as a Chief Master Sergeant (NCO). I earned a BS in Engineering, volunteered to serve in the Army as an officer, earned an MBA while serving, fought in combat twice, and retired from the service. The men and women I served with in the military are better than the average person you walk into on the street. There are many reasons why that is true, but the big one is that they give a damn about our Nation.
Maj. Ben M. Bauman II (U.S. Army, Ret.)
Roger B:
But he supports the troops.
And don't question his patriotism.
Lynne S.:
John Kerry's orange pancake make-up and his deteriorating yellow rubber Armstrong bracelet have created a toxic soup in his befuddled brain as poisons are absorbed through his thin skin. This chemical imbalance and synapse damage have created a violent, jealous syndrome causing impulsive-repulsive bleating bursts of nonsense. He has no idea what he is saying until bloggers spell it out for him.
Just because Kerry was mediocre at Harvard (with average grades) does not mean that our great volunteer soldiers are lacking brains nor courage. Kerry is obviously envious of brave men he cannot be: our soldiers and President Bush. He craves the same respect but knows his Heinz catsup bottle will always be half empty.
Petty Officer 2nd Class Michael A. Monsoor is more than a hero, he is what Christ asks us to be: Greater Love Hath No Man Than This, That a Man Lay Down His Life for His Friends--John 15:13. May God comfort his family and friends knowing we honor this brave hero who made our world safer.
The Canine Pundit e-mails:
I'm sure your mailbox is overflowing, but I had to write regarding Lurch's comments regarding American troops currently serving in Iraq.
My brother was deployed to Iraq earlier this month. He is a senior NCO and an 18 year veteran of the United States Air Force and Air National Guard. He holds a Bachelor's degree in his MOS, as do many of his comrades in the Guard.
He is currently serving in Iraq not because he lacks the education or work ethic to pursue a different career. He is there because, ultimately, he chose to be. Rather than bemoan his choice and those made by so many other, Lurch should celebrate the fact that there are still men and women among us willing to serve their country in uniform - sometimes at the cost of an arm, a marriage or their very lives. And, God willing, those men and women know that the majority of Americans are a damned sight more grateful for their sacrifices than a hasbeen war protestor still trying to score cheap political points.
SergeantJack:
Mrs. Malkin,
I am a 14-year NCO in the US Air Force. I just returned from a deployment to Iraq. I had to leave my wife and my two-week-old son behind to go serve my country. I could list the academic achievements I've had since I entered the service, but that's not really important. You and I both know that what Senator Kerry said was not only insulting, it was inaccurate as well. Senator Kerry simply said what he really thought, maybe for the first time in a long time. We all knew he despised the US Armed Forces, and now he's just confirmed it.
The Democrats are calling the upcoming election a referendum on President George W. Bush. I say differently. I think the 2006 election should be about removing people from office who don't deserve to be there. And Mr. Kerry has graciously provided us with a list of those people on the home page of his website.
Eric Turner:
One other thing about his statement - there are methods to attend college while actually deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan. With distance education being what it is, soldiers are now able to earn college credit while deployed.
Eric Turner
Sergeant First Class (Retired)
U.S. Army
***
Flashback: DNC supports vets...but from which country?
More feedback:
Michelle,Perhaps Kerry should compare the SAT's of the cadets and midshipmen at the military academies with his college audience in CA. The differences would stagger anyone with the brains that God gave a doorknob.
God bless,
Ed Cottingham CDR, CEC, USN (Ret)
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What a tool.
Typo--- you must have meant --> "What a fool."
Not everyone gets their life saved by a wealthy widow.
Absolutely clueless.
You can send an email to Kerry here.
http://kerry.senate.gov/v3/contact/email.cfm
The democrats have forgotten one very important thing in this election. The democrats have been encouraging the enemy to keep fighting in Iraq and good men are being put at risk.
These good men and women vote. These good men and women will vote in close races. These good men and women will not be voting for Kerry's party. These numbers are not included in "polls."
I've had FoxNews on all morning (in the background), and they have not mentioned this incident at all.
I am surprised it hasn't made more headlines. Maybe Rush and Hannity. Beck and Boortz seemed to have missed it.
I sent him a letter stating that he is an insensitive unthinking waste of taxpayer money and should resign now to spare us any more embarassment.
I'm sure Rush'll be all over it.
To give credit, this (latest) idiotic Kerry comment was exposed last night on John Ziegler's show on KFI Los Angeles. He was incensed about it. Great listening.
Thanks for the link. I ripped him a new one and now I feel cleansed.
Galliger just used it for a large part of his show. Here, he comes on right before RUSH.
I wouldn't be surprised if RUSH and Sean lead with it. It's pretty important. It's bad enough democrats encourage the enemy, but trashing our own military as idiots too is like icing on the cake.
If being smart meant I would have to meet some education requirement or bar set up by a John Kerry , Nancy Pelosi or a Jim McDermott, then I’d rather be as dumb as a sack of hammers.
Boortz did have it, along with Laura Ingraham, Bill Bennett and G. Gordon Liddy.
I was going to add his id to this post but I'm sure he doesn't need the blood pressure spike right now. Mine is high enough for the both of us. FRegards, NVA
That John Kerry, and others of his ilk, are elected officials is truly mind boggling...
What I wish would happen to this guy, I can't post here...sooner or later justice is going to find Kerry.
I don't know if anyone has his big pinglist. :-( And you're right on all counts -- he doesn't need the BP spike which I'm sure would accompany his viewing this thread!
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