Posted on 10/31/2006 5:07:02 PM PST by chaos_5
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic U.S. Sen. John Kerry drew election-year fire from President Bush and other Republicans on Tuesday for saying college students could "get stuck in Iraq" if they do not study hard. ADVERTISEMENT
But Kerry, who unsuccessfully challenged Bush in the 2004 presidential election, refused to apologize and said his remark was a "botched joke" aimed at the president, not U.S. troops.
With the Iraq war a dominant issue in the November 7 elections, Kerry's comment on Monday gave Republicans, struggling to maintain control of the U.S. Congress, a chance to fight back.
Kerry's office said later the Massachusetts Democrat had misread his prepared remarks that included the words "Just ask President Bush," which he omitted.
Kerry, who was criticized for mishandling national security issues during his losing White House campaign, angrily accused Republicans who have never been in war of making unfounded attacks.
"The people who owe our troops an apology are George W. Bush and (Vice President) Dick Cheney who misled America into war," said the Massachusetts Democrat.
While campaigning in California, Kerry 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."
Kerry's office released his prepared remarks, which said, "Do you know where you end up if you don't study, if you aren't smart, if you're intellectually lazy? You end up getting us stuck in a war in Iraq. Just ask President Bush."
Bush quickly seized on the controversy, releasing a demand that Kerry apologize. He was to repeat the call at a campaign event.
"The men and women who serve in our all-volunteer Armed Forces are plenty smart and are serving because they are patriots -- and Senator Kerry owes them an apology."
Paul Morin, national commander of the 2.7 million-member American Legion, the nation's biggest veterans' organization, expressed outrage.
But Kerry, combative at a news conference in Seattle, insisted: "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."
Kerry served in the Navy in the Vietnam War. Bush was a member of the Texas Air National Guard during that war, spending his time in the United States. Cheney avoid Vietnam with student deferments.
If the White House misconstrued Kerry's comments, apparently so did others, including Sen. John McCain (news, bio, voting record), an Arizona Republican and a fellow Vietnam vet who has had an amicable relationship with Kerry.
McCain said 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."
Other Republican lawmakers and conservative talk-show hosts made similar calls as both parties jockeyed for position in next week's elections.
White House spokesman Tony Snow had called the comments "an absolute insult," to which Kerry responded: "I'm not going to be lectured by a stuffed-suit White House mouthpiece standing behind a podium or doughy (talk-show host) Rush Limbaugh."
"If anyone thinks a veteran would criticize the more than 140,000 heroes serving in Iraq -- and not the president who got us stuck there -- they're crazy," he added.
Incidentally, while Kerry probably didn't say what his supposed prepared remarks indicated, his actual comments directly insult the troops - "you" will wind up in Iraq. Compare this to Trent Lott's remark about Strom Thurmond, which has to be interpreted to get to segregation and racism.
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