Posted on 11/02/2006 7:49:02 AM PST by LS
Senator Kerry's comments about uneducated people being "stuck" in Iraq — essentially calling the men and women of the American military stupid — is one of the political blunders of the age. Seldom does a candidate single-handedly sink his party once, let alone twice, though William Jennings Bryan came close. Mr. Kerry may have done so.
Worse, it's simply not right to promote the idea that soldiers are dumb or even undereducated. New York Times reporter Chris Hedges asserted, "poor kids from Mississippi … who could not get a decent job … joined the Army because it was all we offered them." In reality, however, the American military — yes, even the foot soldiers — is the most educated in history and better educated than the American public on average. Annually, thousands of top honor students take the military entrance exams. The recruitment test, which all inductees must pass, includes questions that many Ph.D.s would miss, and I would gladly hold a contest pitting any 10 American Army soldiers, randomly selected, against any 10 public school teachers on a standardized test.
(Read the remainder of the article at the Sun)
(Excerpt) Read more at nysun.com ...
I wonder who'll read it to the troops?(/sarc)
Smart guy, no bout a-doubt it.
Good job! I read every word.
Sure. Have you seen the entrance test?
BTTT, and Great Article!
I take my hat off to you Professor, that is a fine editorial and as Joe Don Baker might have said, "ya done good!" :)
When my daughter was a teenager I did everything in my power to encourage her to join the military.
And she did. Sort of.
A military recruiter signer her up. At some point, after my daughter turned 18, she managed to get out of it. Evidently she changed her mind. She'd signed up at age 16 but wasn't scheduled to leave until after she graduated from high school.
I was so very disappointed when she got out of it. I can't tell you how proud I would have been of her. As it is I suppose she's done okay with her life; she's a wife and a mother and this is important. It also could be that she just didn't think she was cut out for the military and I suppose she's not.
Whatever, whatever, the point is, and this is just me, but I would NEVER, EVER have been ashamed of a military child and I daresay no proud parent would be.
I've asked, over and over again, many people of my acquaintance who have children that they are a bit disappointed in how they would feel if that recalcitrant and unruly child were to be in the military. How would they feel to see him or her all dressed up in their uniform, to know that they endure the most rigorous of training, that they learn a skill, that they exhibit a bravery I cannot comprehend.
All of them, and yes this is anecdotal, but all of them perk up and respond that they could not tell you how proud they would be of that child.
I'd softly suggest that this is a prevailing American wisdom out here in la-la land. Americans are very proud of their military children. As well they should be.
John Haughty Kerry really did dirty with his comment and go to hell his first response made the whole thing even worse. When you kick the mighty American Middle Class in the teeth you do the very worst thing a politico can do.
Forget the homosexual contingent, forget Hollywood, forget the so-called poor, it's the Middle Class that carries this country on its back and it's the Middle Class that raises the citizens and soldiers to man our army. It's the Middle Class that ELECTS the politicians.
What Kerry can't get beyond is that at one time the military was viewed with an undeserved disdain. This was during the Vietnam and I shamefully admit that I mine own wise self was a liberal nutjob who mocked the troops.
But that military was DRAFTED. It makes all the difference in the world. Of course, now years later, I am so shocked to realize that the vilification of our military during the Vietnam era was all a dramatic show and the entire drama was for the benefit of us minions who thought it was true.
The repercussions of this Kerry statement will be felt through the 2008 election.
Congrats - great editorial!
Congratulations on a job well done. I hope to see many more of your editorials published in the future.
I can get the reading questions off the cuff, of course, because I write for a living.
I hope they give the test-takers scratch paper and plenty of erasers (and time), because it took me some noodling to work out the math questions. But I got 'em . . . I think (is -4/5 an answer?)
I chose my college because it didn't require a math course for graduation!
I would gladly hold a contest pitting any 10 American Army soldiers, randomly selected, against any 10 public school teachers on a standardized test.Are you kidding? The randomly selected public school teachers would have a hard time finding the the right side of the paper.
I'd bet even money on the soldiers against 10 randomly selected Ivy League humanities professors.
(Note: I said humanities. The GI's might have a harder time beating science profs, but I think they'd still make a contest of it.)
Great piece, LS. So glad the really smart people are on our side.
Folks, please note that you can leave a comment on the article.
Great article, Larry. Well done!
Good job LS!
However, William Jennings Bryan was a three time loser.
Francis the Talking Mule has morphed into John Forbes Kerry, the Talking Fool.
New York Times reporter, Chris Hedges
Give Kerry time :)
This is still the American spirit as witnessed by all of the materiel privately sent over to the sandbox, especially body armor and personal weapons. It's sad to observe that it no longer is apparent at such august institutions as Yale.
Thank you. As my shipmates used to say in the Navy, "It takes a college education to break 'em, and a high school education to fix 'em."
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