He tried to use his family's influence to keep him out of the service. They had his number back then, too, and not only drafted him, but put him in harms way.
He is scum on an allowance from the wife.
Posted on 11/01/2006 6:13:24 AM PST by Uncledave
Kerryism [Victor Davis Hanson]
Kerry surely must be one of the saddest Democratic liabilities around. Some afterthoughts about his latest gaffe, which is one of those rare glimpses into an entire troubled ideology:
(1) How could John Kerry, born into privilege, and then marrying and divorcing and marrying out of and back into greater inherited wealth, lecture anyone at a city college about the ingredients for success in America? If he were to give personal advice about making it, it would have to be to marry rich women. Nothing he has accomplished as a senator or candidate reveals either much natural intelligence or singular education. Today, Democrats must be wondering why they have embraced an overrated empty suit, and ostracized a real talent like Joe Lieberman.
(2) How could Kerry possibly claim that he was thinking of the uneducated in the context of George Bush, who, after all, went to Harvard and Yale?
(3) Some of the brightest and most educated Americans are not only in the military, but veterans of Iraq. Two of the best educated minds I have met-Col. Bill Hix and Lt. Col. Chris Gibson, both Hoover Security Fellows-were both Iraqi veterans. What is striking about visiting Iraq is the wealth of talent there, from privates to generals. Without being gratuitously cruel, the problem of mediocrity is not in the ranks of the military, but on our university campuses, where half-educated professors and non-serious students killing time are ubiquitous. Personally, I'd wager the intelligence of a Marine Corps private any day over the average D.C. journalist. Every naval officer I met at the USNA, without exception, seemed brighter than John Kerry, whose "brilliance", after all, has managed to offend millions of voters on the eve of a pivotal election. If the Democrats lose, it will be almost painful to watch the recriminations against Kerry fly.
(4) This is not the first, but third, time he has denigrated soldiers in the middle of a war-and there is a systematic theme: John Kerry's assumed superior morality allows him to pass judgment from on high about supposedly lesser folk who become tools of a suspect military: thus we go from limb-loppers and Genghis' hordes to terrorists to dead-beats. The only constant is that the haughtiness is always delivered in the same sanctimonious, self-righteous, and patronizing tone.
(5) The mea culpa that Democrats are blaming the war and not the warriors is laughable after Sens. Durbin, Kennedy, and Kerry have collectively compared American soldiers to Nazis, Pol Pot's killers, Stalinists, terrorists, and Baathists.
(6) The problem is that Kerry is not just a senator, but the most recent presidential candidate of the Democratic Party, and thus in some sense, especially given the diminution of Howard Dean, the megaphone of the entire party.
(7) His pathetic clarification, as he blamed everyone from Tony Snow to Rush Limbaugh, displayed the same Al Gore derangement syndrome, and thus raises a larger question: what is it about George Bush that seems to reduce once sober and experienced liberal pros to infantile ranting?
(8) And why is the supposedly lame Bush so careful in speech, and the self-acclaimed geniuses like a Ted Kennedy, John Kerry, or Howard Dean serially spouting ever more stupidities? For all the Democrats' criticism of George Bush, I can't think of a modern President who has so infrequently put his foot in his public mouth, and, by the same token, can't think of any opposition that on the eve of elections seems to have an almost pathological death wish.
The Democrats should use this occasion to have an autopsy of Kerryism, or this strange new tony liberalism, that has turned noblisse oblige on its head. It used to be that millionaire FDRs and JFKs felt sympathy for those of the lower classes and wished to ensure that the hoi polloi had some shot at the American dream. But today's elite liberals-a Howard Dean, Al Gore, Ted Kennedy, George Soros, Ted Turner-love the high life and playact at being leftists simply because they are already insulated from the effects of their own nostrums that always come at someone poorer's expense while providing them some sort of psychological relief from guilt. Poor Harry Truman must be turning over in his grave-from bourbon, cigars, and poker to wind-surfing and L.L. Bean costume of the day says it all. Posted at 8:35 AM
"John Kerry: The "charles emerson winchester" of vietnam. "
With a touch of Frank Burns tossed in.
Boom!
The mea culpa that Democrats are blaming the war and not the warriors is laughable
For years now I've trying to get my arms around "we support the troops but not the war" that the left keeps spouting...so far, no joy. This joke (and a darn funny one it is) really shows just what the left thinks of those who have gone or are now in the military....that we're stupid boobs.
Tell your husband to not feel bad. Kerry obviously thinks we're all idiots after the flimsy excuses he gave for his comment.
Hint: go over to DU. They are having an absolute cow, coming down with a darn near terminal case of the vapors.
BTW they think (and I use 'think' in the loosest sense of the word) we're all stupid for not getting the joke.
No gratuitous cruelty at all - just a small but necessary amount!
Thanks for posting this insightful piece.
I don't like Kerry at all, but I fail to see what is moronic about snowboarding. I'm a grown man and I like skiing, and I wouldn't mind trying boarding, but since I live in a relatively flat state, I don't get much chance to try without having to drive 3~4 hours which isn't an option right now.
Don't denigrate a sport just cause some moron partakes in it.
Brilliant piece...typical of VDH. Too bad he isn't required reading. Perhaps someone can sue for equal access to the media and give him a front page spot in the NYT.
Hear the hammer hitting the nail on the head? Eric the Oz
Oh yeah, I was over at DU briefly last night, and I LOVE how they're saying "You stupid Republicans don't get it!" without understanding that if people "got it" Kerry would be the favorite politician in America today, instead of an ebola-spreading leper with bad breath.
VDH is the man! Ping.
He tried to use his family's influence to keep him out of the service. They had his number back then, too, and not only drafted him, but put him in harms way.
He is scum on an allowance from the wife.
Thannn Cuuuu.
There's another angle on this being a "botched joke" at Bush that is, even if true, just not working.
Think about it: He was talking to students at Pasadena City College, and he thought it would be funny to be joking about how somebody that has a Bachelors from Yale and a Masters from Harvard is insufficiently educated?
Why does he think a bunch of city college students will think that's funny? Couldn't they too find that a bit insulting?
Supporting the troops without supportign their mission is like supporting songwriters while hating music.
Or loving Derek Jeter, but hating the the New York Yankees.
Its not uncommon to want a short-term loss for your loved one with a hope for a long-term gain. If mom calls police on her son trying to straighten him up; or you cheer against your home team with the hope that they will finally fire that bustard and the days of old glory will return with a new guy. You see what I mean? So, yes, I can imagine how a leftists can be confused (oxymoron, isn't it?) into thinking that they do support our troops but are against the war. It is entirely different thing to actually believe them ...
Kerry looks like an idiot on a snowboard. A tall, lanky 60's something man that looks like he is on a skateboard. Not a manly image IMO. Don't be so sensitive, it's just my opinion. I think he looks like an idiot riding a bike, windsurfing, and catching a football too.
and he believes that he is God's gift to the world.
You mean he's not?
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