Posted on 11/03/2006 10:00:36 AM PST by meg88
Commentary: Kerry's flubbed line more like a Freudian slip I'm a big believer in the Freudian slip. I think that the tongue rarely goes off on its own course and says something that is not rooted in actual reason, or actual thought. Watching a football game and talking to your wife might cause a man to accidentally drop a literally offensive term into a conversation about your cousin's wedding gift. In short, it can be dangerous.
John Kerry, failed presidential candidate, is now learning the depth of the danger presented when one's tongue slips. At an event in California, the Massachusetts' Senator told an audience that education was critically important, because people without it would get stuck in Iraq. Effectively Kerry told the world that America's Armed Forces are comprised of morons who couldn't manage to do something else. The only folks, who go to Iraq, if you take Kerry literally, are just too simple to have made something of their lives and avoid it.
For his part, Kerry has been crushed under an outpouring of anger from Democrats and Republicans alike. His explanation for the outrageous remark is that he slipped. He meant to imply that education kept you from winding up like George W. Bush; which in many people's minds is not a desirable outcome.
Of course what John Kerry meant to say is not, in fact, what he said. The insinuation that our soldiers are the intellectual cast-offs of our society is at once the most pessimistic and ugly thing that any anti-war crusader could ever think. It would be easy to pass the remark off as an unfortunate slip from most people, but John Kerry is not most people. He earned his political capital as a Vietnam vet who came home as a staunch antiwar crusader.
During the 2004 Presidential election Kerry was defeated by a vulnerable and unpopular incumbent, in part because some of the people he served with during Vietnam questioned his leadership and his honesty when it came to the facts of his service. Many Vietnam Veterans are still angry with Kerry for his participation in hardline anti-war activities following his return from service.
In testimony before Congress Kerry described alleged 'war crimes' perpetrated by United States soldiers in Vietnam. He supported a plan for peace in the '70s that was constructed in communist East Germany. He was, in fact, an opponent of not just the war in Vietnam, but the overall American position against the spread of communism. He was close, though it is disputed exactly to what extent, with Jane Fonda. Fonda, in one of the most traitorous acts since Benedict Arnold gave comfort to the Viet Cong while we were at war with them.
Kerry reportedly tossed someone else's medals onto the Capital in an apparent bold and self-sacrificing anti-war protest. At the time he claimed they were his own, but reports indicated later that he made the gesture with awards that were not his own. His own, I understand, are back in his Senate office. No doubt they take a position of prominence when Kerry finds it politically palatable to be a war hero. Perhaps when Kerry claimed that the thrown medals were his own, he misspoke?
It seems a foregone conclusion that this incident will keep him from another successful run at a Presidential nomination in two years. I suspect that if a strong Republican (perhaps Mitt Romney) could be convinced to run in the Bay State, John's once comfortable Senate seat could be in jeopardy.
Kerry's words expose what I believe is his own personal bias. He is on the extreme fringe of '70s holdover pacifist liberals. The comments of John Kerry are the secret holdings of a small fraction of blue-blooded snobs who regard people serving in the military with disdain and contempt. From the comfort of their yachts, ski chalets, and wind surfing excursions they tisk with self-serving furrowed brows at the waste of humanity that military service represents.
The Associated Press, on Thursday, released documentation from Kerry's 1972 Congressional campaign. In that campaign the anti-war crusader railed against America's volunteer military. "I am convinced a volunteer army would be an army of the poor and the black and the brown." In effect, what Kerry said this week is not much different; educate yourself and you can avoid the whole mess altogether.
Discourse over the war in Iraq, and arguments about the best strategy to complete our mission there should be ongoing. They are necessary because we, as a nation, will be responsible for the outcome of our actions there. Reasonable victory at a reasonable price should be everyone's goal, even if we have different ideas for how to achieve those things.
No one can take away the fact that John Kerry served in Vietnam. By the same token no one is obligated to forget his more frequent abhorrent behavior, or the political gains it got him. Only now has he finally been exposed, through accidental speech or not, as someone who sees the military through a very ugly prism. An attitude like his is an attitude that can never be carried by a commander-in-chief. Thanks to a campaign stop in California, I don't think it ever will.
ABOUT THE WRITER
Barry Gadbois has been employed behind the scenes with several news organizations, and is a former employee of the National Training Center, Fort Irwin. He is presently employed by a Boston-based news network, and resides part time in Barstow. He can be contacted at talkback@gadbois.us
In before the Rove You Magnificent Bastard.
Kerry said what he meant and meant what he said.
"Holy Genghis Khan, Crapman!"
"If you marry money & trash your country, you can do well..."
His "non-apology" apology states he regrets only that his remarks might have offended, implying that he still believes them to be true.
I believe that this is probably the most likely explanation of Kerry's screw up. I don't think he intentionally meant to insult the troops and I certainly doon't think he flubbed a joke. He just unintentionally exposed his true and deeply held opinions about the men and women who serve this country in uniform. These are the opinions he's held since the 1960's and he's not likely to change. I don't think he's fit to hold public office.
The Bible has a wonderful verse that seems to indicate Kerry's true character, it basically says ,"out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks..." So, this means that we have heard the real John Kerry exactly as he is.
"Honey, you bag ... is on the counter... ooops" is a fruedian slip "Ignant people end up in Irak" is blatant unmasked vitriol from a terror coddling maggot.
Two psychiatrists are walking down the hall. One says to the other, "I noticed myself committing an interesting Freudian slip today. I was having breakfast with my mother, and meant to say, "please pass the salt. Instead, I said, "You ruined my life, you bitch!"
Wait a second, Kerry wears a slip???? Does it make him feel very pretty?
"Concealed Carry" is now favored by the Dims
I can see a new ping list is about to be created.
Kerry = Not Responsible
If this man can't stand up and take responbility for a stupid joke that he couldn't even pull off. what type of responsibility can be expected from him if he were to ever be president (oh that thought just made me SICK). He's like a spoiled rich child that has never had to own up to anything that he's ever done wrong.
I'm not sure he has ever grown up he's just been able to get things his own way due to the money of his wife. This eposide needs to be kept for future reference for his next campaign.
WE NEED ANOTHER RONALD REAGAN. He was "The Man!"
It was NO slip. It was representative of his real thoughts about the people who put on the uniform and serve this country.
The very point I made 2 days ago right here.
Kerry no doubt ad-libbed the insult, but his mouth said what his mind meant to say, - a freudian slip is where your subconscious substitutes psychologically revealing words into a properly formed phrase...
this is squid ink trying to mask the horror of Kerry's statement which shows his ingrained hatred of the US Military.
He's not. Neither is Ted Kennedy or Barney Frank. I sometimes wonder if there's something in the water in Massachusetts.
Carolyn
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