"I apologize to nobody!"
Posted on 10/31/2006 1:52:37 PM PST by Rennes Templar
Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry’s “botched joke” about students needing to study hard or risk becoming “stuck in Iraq” has ignited a political firestorm over the war exactly a week from the election.
Kerry lashed out at the White House at a press conference in Seattle this afternoon for attacking him for his comments. The White House, however, called on Kerry to apologize for troop-bashing. A defiant Kerry refused.
“Let me make it crystal clear, as crystal clear as I know how,” Kerry said. “I apologize to no one for my criticism of the President and his broken policy. If anyone owes our troops in the fields an apology, it is the president and his failed team.”
Kerry then admitted “my statement yesterday, and the White House knows this full well, was a botched joke about the president and the president’s people, not about the troops.”
Yesterday, at a rally for California Democratic gubernatorial candidate Phil Angelides, Kerry told a cheering Pasadena City College audience: “Education, if you make the most of it, you study hard and do your homework and you make an effort to be smart you can do well. If you don’t, you get stuck in Iraq.”
Video snippets of the speech have popped up on www.youtube.com, prompting irate calls by mothers of U.S. soldiers to Boston radio talk stations.
U.S. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) issued a statement today calling on fellow Vietnam veteran Kerry to say he’s sorry.
“Senator Kerry owes an apology to the many thousands of Americans serving in Iraq, who answered their country’s call because they are patriots and not because of any deficiencies in their education,” McCain said in a statement posted on drudgereport.com.
And the White House also called on Kerry to apologize.
“Senator Kerry not only owes an apology to those who are serving, but also to the families of those who’ve given their lives in this,” White House press secretary Tony Snow said. “This is an absolute insult.”
Kerry, a decorated Vietnam veteran, fired back, saying the president and his administration are the ones who owe U.S. troops an apology because they “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.”
“This is the classic GOP playbook,” Kerry said in the harshly worded statement. “I’m not going to be lectured by a stuffed suit White House mouthpiece standing behind a podium.”
"I apologize to nobody!"
"Let's get this straight: John Kerry is saying that he should not apologize for the vicious comment he made, because even though we have him dead to rights on video, he claims he never made the comment.
He is out of his mind."
Actually, he's saying he botched the vicious comment he was going to make, and instead made an even more vicious comment that actually reflects his inner feelings.
wow, someone has time on their hands. But that is great!
It wasn't that close. It was illusion.
I never feared this POS would ever be POTUS.
Remember the "We're Sorry" folks? ahahahaha!
The Wellstone memorial was a classic wedge moment in 2002. This Kerry flub was the Wellstone moment of 2006.
Very clever and creative rendition.
All he needed to be wearing was his "blue bunny suit" from the 2004 election trail.
Obviously you lend new meaning to the word "lousy" if survival training is preferable :)
It certainly entitles you to my gratitude!
sKerry is not a real war hero IMO.
KA-BOOM!
And a landslide victory for all Republican congressional candidates!
Looks like this going to have at least a few legs - let's keep plugging away. The Democrats must be exposed for what they are. The MSM will not do it so we must.
Congrats to your son.
Our modern military is made up of young men and women of high calibre.
My own grandson, currently serving on the USS Jimmy Carter, has a Bachelor's in Theology. He was going to be a minister, and then 9-11 happened. He decided he would rather serve God and Country in uniform.
These kids are the cream of the crop.
Kerry has insulted all of them, their parents, their siblings, aunts, uncles, grandparents, relatives and friends.
There is going to be a tremendous backlash at the polls on November 7th.
It sure as hell can't hurt!
There's the sociopathic personality we all remember coming to the fore again. If his excuse for the comment was true, it wouldn't have taken a strategic genius to see that if he'd simply said, "I was trying to insult Bush and blew it. Sorry about that, troops."; then he'd have completely disarmed his political opponents. But either (a) the excuse is pure b.s., (b) even that degree of admission is something that his ego won't allow, or (c) all of the above. Personally, I'm going with (c).
"this is the classic g.o.p. playbook."
it's amazing. when liberals get caught, they lash out like rabid animals;
no shame, no sense of responsibility, no decency.
the only thing that matters is the internationalist agenda.
Are we absolutely sure he isn't on the GOP payroll? Can he really be doing this on a volunteer basis? Enquiring minds want to know . . . I expect even Cindy Sheehan would be hard-pressed to say a positive word about Kerry at this point.
"“my statement yesterday, and the White House knows this full well, was a botched joke about the president and the president’s people, not about the troops.”"
Yes, John, the White House can read your mind. You said what you said and meant it. Now defend it you POS or apologize. This isn't your debut at this sort of thing with our troops.
What an ugly mug shot! It makes the original Lurch look handsome. Only a mother could love IT! (maybe?)
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