I've never been a fan of John Kerry. I think the guy's got mincemeat for brains. But, because I believe he's not too bright, I may have to cut him a little slack on his most recent comments.
Perhaps you've heard of the newly released records which show that Bush and Kerry had a virtually identical grade average at Yale University four decades ago.
"In 1999, The New Yorker published a transcript indicating that Bush had received a cumulative score of 77 for his first three years at Yale and a roughly similar average under a non-numerical rating system during his senior year.
Kerry, who graduated two years before Bush, got a cumulative 76 for his four years, according to a transcript that Kerry sent to the Navy when he was applying for officer training school. He received four D's in his freshman year out of 10 courses, but improved his average in later years."*
So... we're not exactly dealing with a rocket scientist here.
As you all probably know, here's the comment he made which is causing all the furor:
“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.”
Here's what his spokesperson claims that he meant to say:
“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.”
(If you ask me, his spokesperson should be running for office).
Many conservative talk show hosts pounced on this immediately, as did George Bush and other politicians. I've heard some pundits righteously declare that even Hillary Clinton spoke out against Kerry's comments, therefore why should we cut him any slack?
However, let's not forget that Hillary's got her eyes on the goal. She wants to be the first female President of the United States. Kerry was one of her main competitors. Hmmmm. Could she have a hidden (or not-so-hidden) agenda?
And I think it's pretty obvious why others were eager to make hay out of Kerry's SNAFU. However, love him or hate him, it's very possible that he had not intended to make such a politically suicidal comment. But it's also very possible that he had never considered the repercussions of his hypocritical attack on George Bush's IQ (which he claims was his original intent).
PeeWee Herman used to say "It takes one to know one!" John Kerry is claiming that Bush is an idiot, and I don't disagree. But... when I start quoting PeeWee Herman as a more intelligent source than John Kerry, it's time to stop writing for the day.
* Source: The Boston Globe
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26 comments:
Hi Saur Kraut,
the truth is half of america (US) are prepared to justify war, destroy invade and occupy a country for its oil, because it is good for the american economy.
The arms industry and the war industry is good for the american economy, for the half who depend on arms industry & war, for their wages, profits, pensions, medals and glory (vanity & ego).
Oddly enough the economy is not dependant on this half, nor are this half necessary to fight off some inminent threat from a foreign invader, on the contrary this halve is dependant on the other halve to keep them in the manner to which they have become accustomed.
See Republican Generals in the Pentagon, Republican Judges and Lawyers, Republican Money lenders, Republican Media and the Republican publicity machine, don't want a 'thinking' president.
They want a president who will play ball and keep them inriches, high profit and low taxes...
squeeze (enslave) the poor with higher prices, higher rents, higher debt ... more for the haves by burdening the have nots - and that is what they've exported to Iraq too. To enrich a few pro-US Iraqies they've indebted Iraq and the Iraqi people for the nexr twenty years (a whole generation)
And sadly halve (if not more) the democrats in Congress are really just republicans in sheeps clothing
So wishing you a good day!
But if you gotta vote for someone better kerry than bush, but kerry aquandered all the good will of the ant-war movement at the last elections, and betrayed all those who marched against the war, by jumping on the war bandwagon at the last moment effectively derailing the peace train.
Mind you who have Labour got here, Blair, the most right wing leader the (conservative) party never had.
I heard the perfect response Kerry should have made. He should have said he was sorry, me messed up the joke and the joke was now on him. To all soldiers, etc, he is deeply sorry and wouldn't it be nice if President Bush apologized to them for all Bush's mistakes in Iraq.
Unfortunately Kerry left out the last part in his apology.
Pee Wee Herman should be running for office. I think it would be a signficant character improvement....
BTW, didn't Paul Reubens get busted in your neck of the woods?
Also, I tried the MAC....BIG improvement *S*
Kerry isn't very sharp, that is evident everytime he speaks. Its hard to imagine that the very best the dems could do was Kerry in the last election. I'm betting they get it right in the next election and offer a candidate someone other than their base can vote for. Or maybe they won't learn and will offer clinton dean or gore up for slaughter, and thats exactly what those 3 will get if they are the candidate in 06.
I do wish both sides and the press would talk about the candidates positions and things that really matter rather than attacking each other personaly.
jsull28fl
What if Kerry is right? Yea, there are smart people who willingly go into the military. All things considered, it is just as hard if not harder to get into the US Navy Academy than it is to get into Harvard. Same goes for the Air Force Academy, West Point, and anything else I am leaving out.
And even if you get into one of these schools because your daddy pulls political strings for you, that will not keep you there. You have to be smart to cut it in the USAF Academy (or West Point and so on).
But the fact is that everyone can not be an officer.
When I was in High School, the kids who signed up for military service were not going to college, even if they had the money to go.
And who is more likely to sign up - a person from an upper middle class background, or someone from a poorer background who is not going to college and is willing to do anything to get out of a town with limited opportunities?
In Vietnam, many loopholes were created so that if you had money, you did not have to go. But if you were poor, you got drafted. Yes some people that could have skipped out went, but that was by their choice - not because they could not dodge the draft.
So where does that leave us today? The military has dug out those commercials from the 1980s again! They lowered the minimum standards. They will now take someone who drops out and has an arrest record. This used to not happen. You had to at least graduate and keep your record clean - then the military would accept you and figure out if you could be trained to do anything.
Why are they doing this? Why lower standards? Not enough people were signing up. And with Iran looming in the near future, where does this leave us? Well we can either abandon Iraq and Afganistan to have the troop levels needed if another place needs to be occupied (which will be counter productive), hope enough people volunteer for service (unlikely given the current state of affairs), not go in the first place (unlikely - the next need might be a real one against a real threat), or start the draft.
And who goes if there is a draft? Does everyone of draftable age have the same chance of not being able to dodge it? Probably not.
While I think Kerry's comments were of bad timing - I fail to see why the real issue is being ignored. And what are those issues?
1. What now? Before the war Bush said that the people would be happy, and democracy would grow like flowers all over Iraq. We are looking at being stuck in the middle of a civil war. Bush was totally wrong on everything involving Iraq, and now the Democrats are expected to have a magical solution to correct everything?
2. How many people from the Bush, Cheney, or Rumsfield Family have volunteered for military service and gone off to Iraq?
3. Kerry is old news and not even running for anything. So how are comments he makes revlective of what anyone else is thinking?
Lazy Iguana, I can always count on you for a very truthful, sometimes politically incorrect opinion. And here's the shocking part: Although I have two brothers in the military, I completely and absolutely agree with you. You made excellent points here.
Because the truth is that not everyone is equal mentally and yes, the military caters to the lowest common denominator as well as the uppers.
Both of my brothers are officers, but they're not the pampered type; they worked their way up through the ranks. Why did they make it up through the ranks? Intellect. Plain and simple. They outdid their peers, they work hard consistently, and are dedicated.
But... it is true that even if Kerry misspoke or simply didn't intend it to have the impact that it did... there are very few people that willingly go to Harvard and then sign up to do gruntwork in a land war.
The military is a little like WalMart. There are a few qualified people at the top who run things, some competant middle management, and the ones that can (or want to) only perform the basics. As you point out, we're running out of those, and we're now saying we'll take them older and we won't turn down felons.
In fact, I know a convicted ex-felon that seriously considered it for a short while. I need to add that no one should give him a gun and turn their back on him, even though he's never been convicted of a violent crime.
Crime is a series of gradual steps. He's a little lower on the staircase than the rest of us, and it's much easier for him to take that last and final step, when we might still need to take 4-5 steps to get to that same place. So, in my opinion, a convicted felon in the military is more likely to repeat an incident like Abu Ghraib than someone without a criminal background.
whether he meant to say that or not, he needs to apologize. Period.
"When you realize you've made a mistake, make amends immediately.
It's easier to eat crow while it's still warm". ~Dan Heist
as for Hilary? As long as there is breath in my body, I will do everything I legally can to keep her from becoming President.
Jef, yeah, that joke would definately have backfired. If I had to guess, I'd say that Kerry was going off the cuff here and that what he said had never been planned or discussed with his handlers. I'm a former handler, and I know I wouldn't have let it stay in the speech! I would be too worried about the reflection back on him and his academic record.
JS, It's the same old story. I've accused Bush of doing this, but really all politicians are magicians. They distract you with their left hand, while their right hand is feeling you up for your wallet. This is yet another distraction from the core issues of the war.
Mal, yup! Paul Rubens was doing the nasty with himself in an adult porn theater. One wonders if he'd ever heard of pay-per-view TV service in hotel rooms... And certainly you're right, he'd make a great politician. That alone qualifies him, sadly.
Ed, you're absolutely right. That's what he should have said, and it would've saved his rear end. Now it's too late.
Quasar, I agree with you entirely, but for the "better Kerry than Bush" comment. During the last election, my parents and I discussed the options and came to the grim conclusing that Bush was ahead, but only by a hair. We held our noses and voted. I'm still glad that I voted for Bush, because we ended up with some very conservative Supreme Court judges that will interpret the law carefully, according to our constitution. That means we stand a better chance of eventually discarding The Patriot Act (unless there is an actual change to the constitution itself, which will require most of the states to ratify it).
Emma, dittos, all the way. But Hillary stands a very remote chance. I dislike her views and personality, but the real reason she will probably lose is that she's female. There are still too many people that will not be comfy with the idea of a female in the White House.
The man issued an apology, it was a stupid comment, let's move on. It's a sad state of affairs when you're going down hill so quickly that you will grasp anything in order to slow the momentum.
The Republicans are running scared. It's possible they might those their majority and any little thing to distract from the actual issues will be pounced upon and overexaggerated to the point of nausea.
Kerry made an inappropriate, poorly worded stab at the current administration. Bush got us where we are. I think I can overlook the lesser of the two evils.
Heather, on the other hand... if Kerry's comment was merely "a poorly worded stab", then why didn't he amend it and apologize immediately? Why did he first attempt to act as if it didn't even happen? Remember, he said that he would make it "crystal clear" that he would not apologize for anything he says against Bush... and yet, he surely knew by then exactly what he had said. He was behaving in a very arrogant manner, and (IMHO) in the hopes that the American public was stupid enough to believe that they had misheard him.
He was cutting and running while his handlers were re-crafting what he said into something that would be more palatable.
I don't honestly know what the true scenario is here. If he didn't realize how he'd mispoke, and honestly had believed that the furor was because he was speaking out against Bush, then he really is dumber than Bush. And that's quite a distinction!
Yeah, I was just thinking....where did she come up with the PeeWee quote?
haha
Have a wonderful day!
~xo
Despites Kerry's spokesperson's spin on the comment, it is pretty clear that Kerry's idiotic comment came out directed at the troops. Sadly there is a lot of truth to the comment. Kerry is definitely not the brightest bulb around.
HA HA HA! You gotta laugh at the desperate GOP, as power slips from their fingers they gotta throw mud at a gaff that was in NO WAY meant as an insult to the troops.
But I'll tell what is an insult: not giving them the means to do the job; sending them to Iraq without a coherent plan and under false pretence.
Or if you want a real gaff, how Bush making jokes at the Press Ball about not being able to find WMD, is that not a terrible insult to the 2800+ dead American soldiers?
When it comes to crass comments that demean the servicemen and women out their Bush has it all sown up.
Saur, conservative Supreme Court judges that will interpret the law carefully, according to our constitution. That means we stand a better chance of eventually discarding The Patriot Act
So you support Bush, Rumsfeld, Cheney, The Iraq War, lower taxes, more profits for big business and the Oil & Arms Industry - and you support it because you believe Republicans are more likely to repudiate the Patriot Act than Democrats? - I must have been spending too much time talking to democrats, they would do away with all the above and the Patriot Act.
Europe is proof that Socialist and Labour or Democrat governments are not bad for business, that higher taxes are not bad for business or the economy, that fair wages, fair pay and fair pensions for all are bad for the economy is a false conservative claim or mantra
low taxes only benefit big business and the better off, higher taxes means you can spread the wealth, and thereafter tax low earners & small businesses less.
That is a fact - Europe is living proof, and has been for the last 30 years. Conservativee thinking belongs in the 20th century and should have been buried along with foreign wars in the 20th century.
Only liars and the ill informed would support destruction of foreign countries and the old ways because it is allegedly good for the economy, whivj halve of the economy is it good for??? the better off halve of course.
Quasar, I am most assuredly against the war. I want us out, and I want us out now. I think the Republicans have damaged us a great deal. However, I am saying that having a conservative Supreme Court is of tantamount importance. They will last longer than this ill-gotten war.
Do we belong in Iraq? No. I think we need to get out now. Did we make a mistake going in? Actually, I think we were correct, given the info that we had at that time. But we turned it into a land war. I believe we should've bombed the hell outta them, and retreated. Let them worry about rebuilding. We are not the World's Policemen and we are not in the business of Nation Building.
Daniel, undoubtedly Bush's gaffe was unpardonable. I don't celebrate the GOP losing it's hold. I mourn the fact that they lost who they were many,many years ago. I hope there's a viable third party candidate this upcoming election. In our local gubernatorial race, I'm voting for the 3rd party candidate.
CrankyPutz, ;o)
LeeAnn, :D You too, sweetie.
I'm voting for George Carlin, I've had enough!
Saur Kraut said: "I believe we should've bombed the hell outta them, and retreated."
And your reason for believing that?
What justifies bombing the hell outta country?
Apart from the Pentagon wanting to empty its armoury (warehouse) and dispose of outta date arsenal - to make way for the Pentagon to issue vast armament contracts to replenish and update the US WMD Weapons of Mass Destruction
Why not simply drop it on the Moon or the Nevada Desert or the Sahara
Boast by Rumsfeld "We dropped more hardware in Iraq in six days, during Gulf War II (the sequel) than we dropped on Germany & the rest of Europe during the whole of World War II"
Now if someone is proud of that boast, my answer is, they are the one's that should be in chains in Guantanamo Bay -
shall I be shocked by the twin towers and 3000 deaths, when you can so callously condone the destruction of a thousand twin towers and the deaths of 600,000 Iraqies.
I still love you honey, I always will. But I'm thinking I certainly wouldn't wanna get on the wrong side of ya when you are having a bad hair day
Elites are elites, whether they be Republican or Democrat. If we want to be honest with ourselves, we, the people, lost our say in government to groups of high-powered fascist and socialist financiers a long time ago. What remains is just an illusion of what used to be, sadly. Most of us have simply been too busy enjoying the good life to notice.
I believe it was Karl Marx who may have coined the term "Useful Idiots". That's what they think of us when they hear us bicker between ourselves the way we do, all the while being completely oblivious to the snare we are now utterly entangled in.
Is there hope? Yes. But not in this world which is quickly passing away.
It is better to keep your trap shut and let everyone think you are an idiot then to open your trap and prove you are an idiot.
Someone needs to send this memo to anyone who holds office.
I love Hillary Clinton...I just do
no way to Hillary
iguana:
Hostility to the truth I expected, but not a threat by a fellow citizen to turn me in to the authorities for speaking my mind in an open forum, at least not yet. Who are you, a self-appointed anit-free speech Nazi?
Sorry, but since you reverted to name calling I guess it's okay for me to compare you to a Nazi. (for the record, I don't believe you really are one, though. Just trying to make a point)
As for the "Useful Idiot" label, that's not who I think the American People are, but I know for a fact it is what elitists think of us.
Quasar, the justification? A direct threat to the U.S. I'm not saying we should've nuked them, but a strategic series of bombings, with the intent to kill off the primary leaders, would've been fine by me. Then if new leaders took their places that were another direct threat to the U.S.: rinse, repeat. This is actually the most pragmatic answer with the least cost to American life.
Valerie, or Bozo! What's another clown in office?
Anon, Lazy Iguana and I would agree w/ your comments. You misunderstood his last comment. It wasn't directed at you; re-read it.
Lazy, very true.
Nihilistic, why?
Live, Love, Laugh, we are in agreement!
Saur Kraut,
Does an intelligent being
really believe that Saddam or Iraq
were a threat to either the US or Britain? Really? What were they going to throw at you?
How many aircraft carriers did Iraw have in the Gulf of Mexico or Tampa Bay?
How many aircraft did Iraq have in Cuba or anywhere close enough to target the US
Saur Kraut how many people did Iraqi scuds kill - zero
evil scuds couldn't even manage to hit Israel,
And where were the 500 planes which the whole of the Iraqi airforce had, even Israel has more war planes than evil Iraq.
So I still love sweet lips, but no NO JUSTIFICATION, It was a false war, a crime against humanity, I don't blame the soldiers (cannon fodder) or even the USAF medals & glory seekers. The blame for this crime against humanity is squarely on the shoulders of Cheney (still fighting the korean war against evil slant eyes in his head) Rumsfeld, Markovitch (who thought it was a board game and he could just walk in and become governor of Iraq) and Bush & Blair, stupid enough to believe the only way to write your name in history books is by invading (and occupying) countries and winning wars.
Pathetic little men!
Who fooled enough people with their pathetic little lies!!!
The first bunch of 3 deserve to be locked up in chains in Guantanamo bay. Bush & Blair deserve to be sent where Napoleon was sent
I don't think Kerry is as dumb as people think he is.
He did say something stupid, which everyone does every now and then.
I thought I heard that he did apologize for his remark though.
Hillary will never be President. I agree that there are many people who aren't ready for a female president. She won't make it out of the primaries.
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