"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. And if you don't, you get stuck in Iraq,"
That is what John "F'n" Kerry said to an audience of students at Pasadena City College yesterday. Faster than you can say swiftboat, the fit hit the shan. Kerry's comments were wrong on so many levels, I scarcely know where to begin. First, he denies that he was disparaging our troops with his remarks; he claims that he was directing them at President Bush. Ha! ha! ha! ha! ha! Bush is stupid! That is some fresh and cutting edge humor! As author Christopher Hitchens has said, it has become a joke that stupid people laugh at. I am the first to admit that I would rather grind sand between my teeth than listen to George W. Bush make a public speech, but I'm sorry, one does not receive an undergrad degree from Yale and an MBA from Harvard without some modicum of intelligence. Even more amusing is that Kerry's grades at Yale were lower than Bush's grades. Careful who you call uneducated.
So, that is what Kerry said he meant by his comments. Bullpucky! When I heard those comments for the first time, any reference to our president did not even cross my mind. What I heard was an arrogant elitist comment, stated in a Freudian moment of candor, which was directed at our troops. Kerry, like many typical leftists, looks at the members of our military as a bunch of uneducated cornpone rubes who had no other choice in life than to join the military. Never mind that the United States military is the most educated in world history. Never mind that overall, our military is far better educated than our general society.
John Kerry can attempt to spin his comments however he likes. The bottom line is that his comments were directed at our military as a whole, not towards our president. John Kerry had no problem slandering our nation's military 35 years ago, and I see yet another example of someone who can grow older, yet never grow up.
Good Day to You, Sir
"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free... it expects what never was, and never will be." --Thomas Jefferson
3 comments:
The man can't make up his mind about anything. First it was "I will not apologize to anyone!" Then he apologizes to "anyone" he may have offended. And what is with the whole "Katrina foreign policy" thing? Does he really believe that Bush is the only one responsible for the Katrina screw ups? (I'd also like to know when it was decided that the Federal Government is responsible for saving everyone from everything.)
Chanman,
To be fair, it DOES depend on what the meaning of "stuck in Iraq" is..
;)
When I first read Kerry's remarks, I immediately thought that he was referring to the president. I also had no trouble understanding how his remarks could be intepreted as a slander directed at our brave troops who risk their lives literally every second for unknown goals in Iraq. My father, brother, and sister served in the military. My father served in the navy from World War II, to the Korean Police Action, and into the Vietnam Conflict. My brother served 25 years including the evacuation of Saigon, the Gulf War, and in Somalia. My sister did not serve in any conflicts, but remained in the reserves for 15 years after her active service. I am very proud of each one of them: they are brave, strong, and brilliant. I did not serve in the military, not because of some physical limitation or bigotry, but because I am emotionally incapable of facing the incredible demands of serving this nation as a soldier in times or peace or combat. I may be an intellectual elitist, but I have great respect for our soldiers' abilities of all types. I recently met a member of the air force in Baltimore who had just returned from Iraq. We talked for a while, and she told me how grateful she was that she and her brother had returned safely. I thanked her for what she is doing for our country. Her response: "No problem." I almost burst out crying at her genuine devotion for her work and acceptance of her amazing sacrifice. I don't think she's stupid, and I don't think John Kerry would either. John Kerry's ongoing issues are his arrogance/hubris and his inability to communicate so that anyone besides he can understand him. The Democrats can now use Kerry as a pariah and state that he's out of the "mainstream." The Republicans can stand up for the troops, but can't point to success in Iraq: limited electricity and running water, ongoing slaughters of our troops, and the murder of Iraqis by other Iraqis at a level that may even exceed the slaughters under Hussein. There's plenty to criticize in the Bush administration's mishandling of this unfocused and open-ended war, but Kerry's attempts at humor will never help anyone.
[I have chosen to remain anonymous because I have found reasoned discourse is unpopular--it's all paritsan attack, attack, attack. And I just want to talk and share opinions.]
Post a Comment