Posted on 11/01/2006 9:21:55 PM PST by Valin
John Kerry, Democrat Senator from Massachusetts and 2004 candidate for President is back in the news reminding us all why we didn’t vote for him. If you haven’t been on vacation in New Zealand or living under a rock, you probably have been bombarded ad nauseum with his offhand comment to California college students: “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.”
On its face, what Kerry said is clearly an insult to the troops, and if for no other reason than that alone Kerry both owed them an apology and needed to do some serious damage control to save his bid for the 2008 nomination for the Presidency. Predictably, Kerry did neither. Instead, he used the inevitable criticism as an opportunity to lash out at President Bush and the “Republican hate machine” for mischaracterizing his comments. Few of us are surprised at Kerry’s blunder in itself; this is the guy who voted for the $87 billion before he voted against it. It’s no news that he is his own worst enemy.
But is this all a tempest in a teapot, hurting only Kerry, or does it really make a difference in how Americans view the 2006 election? I think it matters, and perhaps a lot, for a pretty simple reason: for one of the only times during this campaign season Americans are being forced to consider why they haven’t been voting for Democrats in recent years, not on why they are so disappointed in the performance of Republicans.
To oversimplify a bit, the storyline of this campaign season has been dominated by the general discontent with the way that Republicans have been running the government. Spending has gotten out of control, the war is unpopular and getting more so, and few people are enthusiastic about Bush’s leadership right now. Add in the Foley scandal and mistakes by some candidates, and you have a recipe for a bad election year for Republicans.
John Kerry’s comments—at least for the moment—have served as a stark reminder to many swing voters of why they have tended to pull the lever for Republicans in recent years: the cultural elitism of the Democratic Party. Kerry comments, which imply that members of the military are second-class citizens who are stuck there because they have no other options, reflects a cultural bias that we have come to expect from leading liberals. Kerry may indeed not have intended to say exactly that, but this comment will stick like glue to him because we all know that he really meant it in some way. Maybe the troops aren’t exactly stupid, but why on earth would you join the military if you didn’t have to?
Since the 60’s, the intellectual elite of the Democrat Party has revealed a very thinly veiled contempt for the military and a suspicion of patriotism that has deeply hurt it politically. While most Americans are proud of our troops and what they do, it’s clear that a significant minority see them as rednecks inclined to, in the words of John Kerry himself, act in a manner reminiscent of Genghis Khan. Since Vietnam, the Democratic Party has been identified as the home of this minority.
For years, Democrats have tried in vain to erase the impression held that it is reflexively anti-war, anti-military, and even anti-American. In other words, the party of Michael Moore. The 2004 campaign was often punctuated by candidates, led by Kerry himself, decrying all criticism of their foreign policy positions as attacks on their patriotism. And for a very good reason: Democrats know that in the minds of many Americans, their patriotism is indeed suspect.
That conversation has, for all intents and purposes, been off the table this year. Despite that fact that the U.S. is still at war, both in Iraq and against Islamic fascism worldwide, Republicans could not successfully steer the conversation to the issues on which Americans have tended to trust them most, especially war and peace. Simply put, to the dismay of many Republicans, the dominant theme of this campaign has been the exhaustion of the Republican agenda and the incompetence of Republican leadership.
What Republicans couldn’t do, John Kerry succeeded in doing: getting Americans to focus once again on what irks them so much about today’s Democratic Party. Their cultural elitism, their preference for internationalism over Americanism, their…well…Frenchness. Will it be enough? Will this one reminder, so late in the campaign, of what is so wrong with today’s Democratic Party rally the Republicans and Middle-Americans to fight off the Democratic tide this year? Obviously, we won’t know until next Tuesday evening.
But if the Republicans do hold onto control of the House and Senate, or even limit their losses and beat expectations, they should thank John Kerry as much or more than anyone else. He accomplished in one unguarded moment what Republicans have been trying to do for the last several months: make this election a choice between competing candidates and not a referendum on Republican rule.
David Strom is the President of the Taxpayers League of Minnesota.
If he wasnt intentionally insulting our troops he was talking about a future draft if the dems gain control
I know what John Kerry really meant. He was crystal clear. He meant what he said and said what he meant:
Only losers and idiots join the Armed Forces is what he meant.
That, by the way, is not his opinion alone. It is the official opinion of the Democrat Party.
My opinion is that only perverts,degenerates, parasites, robots, idiots, and losers are members of the Democrat Party.
Bingo. It's not a coincidence that Rangel popped off as well, he's pushing draft legislation again (yes again, remember when he went into any black forum he saw and proclaimed Bush would draft them if they didn't vote democrat? Yep, Rangel himself put it on the hill... funny how that never came out).
Exactly. And what are the French doing right now? The utes are rioting in the streets.
Such a story could take many votes from them.
It was my thought after hearing Kerry speak. If you do well in school and are getting good grades you dont have to worry about being stuck in Iraq.
Sounds like The Draft to me
If he didn't mean what he said then why the long wait until such pressure built up that he offered a pseudo apology. It was disingeneous, given his actions over the years speak volumes against such gossamer deceit. In addition, he should apologize to the President, but then there are no pigs on any runways that I know of.
I dont buy the "if you dont do well in school you may end up becoming President of the United States" theory.
Whose side is Kerry on? Not ours?
Whose side is his party on? Not ours.
I hadn't heard that Rangel reared his ugly head again. Thanks for the flash. Funny how he proposes this and people think the Republican's are the authors. People have to start paying attention.
I'm with you on that.
bttt
I don't buy it either. But it's funny if you think about it. The President received higher grades than Kerry, yet Kerry & Co. spin it to make the President look stupid, but then he was smart enough to be the governor of one of the largest states in the nation, and then the President twice!
Judge,
When I told the officer FU and said he was uneducated
because he was an officer, what I really mean't was
that um, hmm, Yea, Bush was FU and uneducated. And btw,
HOW DARE YOU QUESTION ME!
I Get it..
It's lucky for Kerry he has a big mouth. He sticks his big foot in it far too often.
I saw it crystal clear on display while Clinton was president.
The democrat party believes the #1 purpose for the US military to exist is to push their agenda.
The republican party believes the #1 purpose for the US military to exist is to protect our country.
The only time Clinton put troops on the ground was when there was a percieved "humanitarian" conflict. Bosnia, Somolia, Haiti, etc, etc... He attempted to turn the U.S. Military into a version of a UN peacekeeping force. He had the spineless socialist euros kissing his feet with this agenda. When he had the ability to go after those that where killing americans, he would fire cruise missiles at them. Blowing up a bunch of empty tents in the Afganistan desert was considered a major victory in the war on terror to the Clinton whitehouse.
John F'in Kerry sees the U.S. Military as the same thing. A tool to be used by him only when its going to be politically benefical to his agenda.
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