[dangerfield]

"I've looked at Kerry's words every way possible, and it's a stretch in my view to say for sure that he meant the president. If that's what he meant, then he's really lousy with words..."

Agreed! He's a dimwit. But this isn't first degree or even second degree attacking the troops. He meant Bush. He was (foolishly) joking about Bush's intelligence, hoping his audience wasn't aware of his own sad academic record.

[Silly]

Where was he referring to Bush in his statements? Please provide the context which reveals this.

[Syncro]

Agreed! He's a dimwit. But this isn't first degree or even second degree attacking the troops. He meant Bush. He was (foolishly) joking about Bush's intelligence, hoping his audience wasn't aware of his own sad academic record.

That's his story and he is sticking to it! Are you?

[Not A Snowbird]

He meant Bush.

Unless you're channeling him, you can't know that for sure.

[Toespi]

If you look at Kerry's political history, this is typical of him. If he is with veterans, he is a veteran, if he is with college students, he is a college student, if he campaigns in a state strong on guns, he is a duck hunter. The reason, and I remember it well, that he turned on the military after Vietnam is because he didn't want to be associated with the riff-raff, it is not different today. If he is so #$@!ing smart, why does he always have trouble formulating what he really means? No excuses for this elitist snob.

[fatima]

You are the only one on this thread that thinks that.

[jwalsh07]

Agreed! He's a dimwit. But this isn't first degree or even second degree attacking the troops. He meant Bush. He was (foolishly) joking about Bush's intelligence, hoping his audience wasn't aware of his own sad academic record.

You're so FOS it's oozing through my screen. This is nothing new for John Kerry. He's a born liar. He lies and slanders soldiers with remarkable regularity. I know becuase I was one a long time ago.

Bush got degrees at Yale and Harvard and then flew jets.

Tell the truth now, are you Chris Mathews or Keith Olberman?

[Question Liberal Authority]

But this isn't first degree or even second degree attacking the troops. He meant Bush. He was (foolishly) joking about Bush's intelligence, hoping his audience wasn't aware of his own sad academic record.

The audience laughed and applauded. Nobody stood up and said "please Senator, you couldn't have just meant that the way it sounded. As you know, we Democrats hold the military in the highest regard. For the love of God, please tell us that it was a muffed joke!"

***

With that said, I agree that we should get this ugly episode past us as soon as possible so we can get on with the honest debate and important campaign issues about how all Republicans are gay child molestors who want to kill old people so they can give tax breaks to lobbyists from oil companies who destroy the environment so that women, minorities and immigrants will suffer because Jesus told them to, according to the pornographic novels written by the Vice President's wife.