“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
Posted on 10/31/2006 3:58:39 PM PST by MadIvan
The Republican Party on Tuesday gained a late burst of energy in its flagging midterm election campaign following remarks by John Kerry, the 2004 Democratic presidential candidate, in which he said college students could “get stuck in Iraq” if they do not study hard.
While campaigning in California, the Massachusetts senator told a college crowd on Monday: “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. If you don’t, you get stuck in Iraq.”
George W. Bush on Tuesday seized on Mr Kerry’s remarks: “The senator’s suggestion that the men and women of our military are somehow uneducated is insulting and shameful,” said the US president at an election rally in Georgia. “The men and women who serve in our all-volunteer Armed Forces are plenty smart – Senator Kerry owes them an apology.”
John McCain, the leading Republican contender for the 2008 presidential nomination and - like Mr Kerry - a veteran of the Vietnam war, also responded strongly: “The suggestion that only the least educated Americans would agree to serve in the military and fight in Iraq is an insult to every soldier serving in combat.”
Republican strategists, who have been watching helplessly as opinion polls have turned against them in the last six weeks, on Tuesday drew renewed purpose from a gaffe that many believe could help motivate the party’s demoralised supporters to turn out to vote at the polls next Tuesday.
Meanwhile some Democratic strategists worried about Mr Kerry’s response to the Republican Party’s criticism of his comments, which appeared to deepen the controversy. Mr Kerry referred to Tony Snow, the White House spokesman, as a “stuffed suit” and said that his remarks had been directed at Mr Bush rather than at US soldiers serving in 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,” said Mr Kerry. “If anyone thinks a veteran would criticise the more than 140,000 heroes serving in Iraq and not the president who got us stuck there, they’re crazy.”
Mr Kerry’s ebullient response was in sharp contrast to the way he handled the 2004 presidential campaign, in which his campaign team waited more than a week before responding to the negative advertisements put out by the “Swift Boat” veterans questioning the senator’s war record.
“This was a slip of the tongue and the American people are not going to let this sway them over the important issues facing them in this election, which includes the Iraq war,” said Simon Rosenberg head of the New Democratic Network, a centrist group in Washington.
However, some Democrats suggested Mr Kerry’s remarks would almost certainly damage his presidential hopes. “Senator Kerry botched his remarks – as he has in the past,” said James Carville, campaign manager for Bill Clinton in the 1990s. “But Mr Bush has botched the war in Iraq.”
Regards, Ivan
Ping!
The DBM keeps adding this to all the Kerry articles, but it's not true at all. The Elephant has the Big Mo.
The Heritage Foundation says that the the demographic characteristics of volunteers have continued to show signs of higher, not lower, quality.
http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1729485/posts
The question now on the table is - will Kerry have the courage to take a principled resignation before the election on Tuesday? Or will he stay on as a sparring punching bag to doom his party before Big Tuesday '08?
Don't forget BOXER/Hilary in 08!
When someone as blinkered as Carville realises a mistake has been made, it's a tremendous error.
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But, it wasn't an error. This is REALLY what the ThugoRat trash really think of our miltary. Remember Kerry's history? His treasonous tirade in front of the Congress about our soldiers in Nam??
What filth this absolute loser is -- and equally braindead and malfeasant are the mindless, selfish liberal voters that almost put this filthy scum in the White House. In some ways he make Clinton look like a saint -- and that is saying something.
Ha ha, centrist compared to the ACLU maybe.
Regards, Ivan
And Hillary winks, points, and says 'Thanks for having my back Big John!'
Kerry,....Apologise to Our U.S. Troops,....NOW!!!!
While that may be true, let's not forget that Carville is a clintonista. Hilary's bid for the 2008 just got a lot stronger because of Kerry's gaffe.
Any GOP/conservative voters out there still thinking about sitting this one out?? Thank you, Senator Kerry, for your crass, thoughtless remark about our troops. . .
Any GOP/conservative voters out there still thinking about sitting this one out?? Thank you, Senator Kerry, for your crass, thoughtless remark about our troops. . .
No description could be further from the truth in our household this election. Our family has become active in Get Out The Vote efforts this year that we have never before been motivated to do in 35 years of voting for Republicans. I have to believe that the same atrocious actions and rhetoric from the Democrats that lit a fire under us has similarly encouraged untold numbers of conservative voters elsewhere in the USA.
Thank you Karl Rove. My sources say that Karl Rove was seen in the basement of the Hall of Presidents at Disney world Monday morning. Rove confiscated the automatron of failed presidential candidate John Kerry, programmed it and sent it off to Pasadena to say something stupid to provide us with our October surprise.
“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
Amen. My wife and I were lukewarm about voting about 1-2 months ago, but the relentless MSM din about how bad the GOP is -- coupled today with Kerry's ill-advised remark -- have energized us like we didn't think we could be. We filled out and mailed in our early ballots last night here in Chandler, AZ. Two votes for Jon Kyl and Jeff Flake in the bag. . .
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