Posted on 10/31/2006 3:54:12 PM PST by MikeA
WASHINGTON, D.C., Oct. 31, 2006 — For weeks, Republicans on the campaign trail have been looking for something — anything — to talk about other than the record of the Republican Congress and the way the Bush administration has conducted the war in Iraq.
Monday, they got their wish. While stumping for local Democrats in California, Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., addressed students at Pasadena City College and made a comment about education and the war in Iraq that lent itself to much controversy.
"You know education, if you make the most of it, you study hard, you do your homework and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well. And if you don't, you get stuck in Iraq," he said.
It was a rhetorical gift for the embattled Republican Party which is eager to run against Kerry again. The White House unusually notified the media ahead of time that the president would address the issue in remarks at today's campaign rally in Georgia.
Election Fodder
The Kerry kerfuffle is a prototype of controversies of the new media age. "Thanks to the Internet, all life is on the record now," observed journalism professor Jeff Jarvis of CUNY. "Everything a politician says and does is public and the world can see in a second … that's life now."
After Kerry's remarks were mentioned on the Web sites of local newspapers, including the Whittier Daily News, the video popped up on YouTube and conservative blogs like Newsbusters.org, and then talk radio seized on them.
Though, as opposed to 2004, it didn't take Kerry weeks to respond to attacks against him. Shortly before noon, Tuesday, Kerry, a Vietnam veteran, responded, insisting in a statement that he had not belittled the intelligence of soldiers serving in Iraq, but rather, that of "the president who got us stuck there."
But it may have been too late, the train had left the station.
"I believe Sen. Kerry owes an apology to many thousands of Americans serving in Iraq, who answered their country's call," said Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., campaigning in Indiana.
Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh said, "It tells us what John Kerry himself and the Democratic Party think about the troops and the U.S. military."
By the time Kerry got to a microphone in Seattle this afternoon to explain what he called a botched joke about the president, hundreds of thousands, if not millions of Americans, had already heard about this new issue and Republican candidates were talking about it.
"It disgusts me that a bunch of these Republican hacks who have never worn the uniform of our country are willing to lie about those who did," Kerry added.
What's unclear is if Kerry's comments will help rally Republican voters or help their party portray Democrats as against the troops to score victories next Tuesday. A Democratic congressman told ABC News, Tuesday, "I guess Kerry wasn't content blowing 2004, now he wants to blow 2006, too."
Given the vast list of Democrat a$$clowns, chances are pretty damn good they'll say something to screw themselves.
Keep those microphones close by Kerry.
Kerry got personal about Mc in his rebuttal.
Get out the popcorn.
Rovember.....not mine, wish it were. However I hope it's one that makes democrats sick at the mere mention of it!
If this is a botched joke, he should be called to task and unbotch it and restate it where it comes out that it is Bush that didn't study and Bush that didn't work hard and Bush that ended up in Iraq. (side note, I believe it was Bush that did study and got a MBA from Harvard and got higher grades than Kerry, therefore, the "not studying" or getting good grades and getting Smart would point more towards Kerry than Bush). HE IS A PATHETIC LIAR that won't account for his own comments.
BTW, is a joke an excuse for denegrating a large group of Americans. DO YOU THINK that if a Republican was "Joking" and used the N-word and later said it was a "botched joke" that it would be excused without and apology or even with an apology for that matter.
Michael J. who?
Monica Lewinsky is jealous!!!
Kerry is So Very!
Chrissy is a graduate of Joseph Goebbels school of journalism.
I can think of other things that Kerry can blow, LOL.
Is this where I kin git me a huntin license?
I would love to have seen GWB's and Rove's faces when they heard Kerry's statement.
Anyone know where I can read the text of President Bush's response?
In 2004, the liberals came out to vote against the dreaded George Bush. Well, they can't really vote against him this time, so they aren't very motivated, but the Republicans are pumped!
Bush didn't get "stuck" in Iraq, he got "stuck in the White House! Kerry is "stuck" in the Senate...maybe if Kerry went to less school.
"This election is NOT about you, it's not about your sorry-ass reaction to being smeared in 2004, it's not a chance for you to redeem yourself. It's NOT ABOUT YOU, goddamn it..."
LOL, the noise coming from Kerry is all ABOUT "Me me me me ME ME MEEEEEEEEEE!!" Does he talk about anything else? Even when slamming our President, it's really all about himself.
Awwww . . . I LOVE pugs!
What he said - "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."
What he meant - "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 BEING A SENATOR FROM MASSACHUSETTS."
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