From NEWSMAX

Sen. John Kerry has sparked outrage by suggesting that U.S. troops in Iraq are uneducated and not "smart.”

At a campaign event for California gubernatorial candidate Phil Angelides at Pasadena City College on Monday, the Massachusetts Democrat and Vietnam veteran said: "You know, education, if you make the most of it, if you study hard and you do your homework, and you make an effort to be smart, uh, you can do well. If you don’t, you get stuck in Iraq.”

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John Kerry’s arrogance is unequaled, except by the slick-mister. I hope the dem’s continue to keep Learch front and center. He is exactly what conservatives need to fire up their base into a fighting mad fevered pitch just in time for the elections. The only thing that was missing was James Carville and a box of chickens.

Keep it up John...

Didn't he say that he was a Vet himself back in the last presidential election but never really served or something like that?
I hope my memory serves me correct...

Just what we need, The Rove Machine is going to post this a$$hole's comments all over American TV for the next week and the a$$hole isn't even running for office.


Like I said, his voting record speaks for itself.

I wonder if any bumper stickers made it into the garbage.

Ummmm... Unlike our current draft dodging president. John Kerry is a veteran and served in Vietnam.

Put any angle you want on that but those are the facts

Interesting to see that dem's running for re-election are canciling joint campain appearences with him one after another today. This is completely understandable.

Looks like he just sealed his fate as being a "also ran / has been" like Bob Dole and Al Gore.

To Hillary's credit she has not made a similar error.

What's the differencee between Iraq and Veitnam?


Bush had a way out of Vietnam.

Gotta tell ya.. I am Dem but pulling for McCain

McCain's ass kissing of the current administration has all but cost him any shred of integrity he had left. He handed his spine over to this administration for his own political gain. It is rather shameful!

I had been pulling for McCain in 2000 but since then he has lost all credibility in my book.

This is funIer thun hek

Wonder what KK thinks of this one... hee hee

Typical of this admins tactics. Say something loud and often enough and it becomes true for simpletons.

"Wonder what KK thinks of this one... hee hee"

He is busy over at Darcy Burners raiding her hamper looking for some liberal panties to wear fishing this weekend.

Looks like the troops got the news already.

It's just a joke stlhead. Sheesh. Do the simpletons need to explain it to ya!? It wasn't meant as a personal attack on Kerry. They were just trying to tell a joke about Kerry helping bring home the troops...just got misinterpreted...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLuMWiQ6r2o



This is the same man (Hanoi John Kerry) that democrats like Maria CantVoteWell

Hanoi John Kerry has been stabbing our troops in the back for over 35 years.

What a SCUMBAG!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLuMWiQ6r2o


Has Maria Cantwell demanded that John Kerry apologize to our fine troops and their families, or does she agree with him that they're a bunch of 'uneducated people that went in to the military because they had no other options in life'?


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Why Kerry's crack matters

For several reasons, Kerry’s crack matters. Those reasons are:

1. He clearly meant it.

The day after his breathtakingly clumsy remarks at Pasadena City College suggesting that the uneducated and unsuccessful got “stuck in Iraq,” he made a laughable attempt to clarify his sentiments by insisting he meant to insult President Bush, not the troops in the field. Unfortunately for Mr. Kerry, videotape captured his actual observations (“You know, education, if you make the most of it, you study hard, you do your homework, you try to be smart, you can do well. And if you don’t you get stuck in Iraq.”) and so did many eye-witnesses. One of those reporters on the scene, Cortney Fielding of the Whittier Daily News, described the Senator’s statement and the context in which it appeared: “Kerry charmed the crowd with tales of surfing at Mission Beach and got laughs for a series of one liners, including telling the crowd he had just returned from Texas, ‘Where the president used to live –now he lives in a state of denial.’ Kerry then told the students that if they were able to navigate the education system, they could get comfortable jobs – “if you don’t, you get stuck in Iraq,’ he said to a mixture of laughter and gasps.” If Kerry had meant his comments as another jab at Bush, why the gasps? And why not any attempt to explain his lame attempt at humor on the spot by adding, for instance, words that specified, “and a prime example of somebody who didn’t do his homework, and didn’t try to be smart, and who didn’t do well, is George W. Bush…. “or some comments to that effect. The actual tape shows Kerry delivering his fateful (and perhaps politically fatal) remarks, getting the decidedly mixed response, and then racing on without hesitation to fulsome praise of his Senatorial colleagues, Boxer and Feinstein. If the context of his words about getting “stuck in Iraq” had in any way exonerated him from the charge of insulting the troops then why, even twenty hours after the event, had his handlers failed to call press attention to the full tape (which most of America still hadn’t seen, as of this writing)? Only the blindest partisan could fail to acknowledge the Senator’s intent to portray the U.S. forces “stuck in Iraq” as pitiable losers, while he tried to encourage his student audience to avoid their fate by concentrating on educational success.

2. Kerry’s Comments Highlighted the Democrats’ Longstanding (and uncomfortable) Position on the Wrong Side of the Nation’s Key Cultural Divides.

Despite their flamboyant efforts to masquerade as Church-going, duck-hunting, gun-loving, flag-waving, NASCAR fans, the leaders of the Democratic Party clearly feel more at home with the values of San Francisco or Nantucket than with the down-home mores of Biloxi or Boise. In June, an important Gallup Poll asked respondents to rate 15 institutions in terms of “public confidence.” The military came out on top, followed by police and then preachers. As the survey reported: “At different times in the past, banks, the presidency, the Supreme Court, newspapers and public schools have commanded a high degree of confidence from at least half of Americans. However, this year the top tier group is limited to the military, the police, and church or organized religion.” The key GOP advantage in this political campaign (and all other battles in the near future) involves the accurate, unshakable public perception that Republicans display far more genuine and consistent support than their opponents when it comes to the three institutions that Americans embrace most enthusiastically. How can Democrats pose as “friends of the police” when they regularly endorse the agenda of the ACLU, and show more concern over police brutality and the rights of the accused than for aggressive, effective law enforcement (energetic interrogation – or wiretapping –anyone?). When it comes to religious institutions, liberals not only split with most believers on big issues like abortion and the defense of traditional marriage, but also warn of the dangers of “theocracy” when their opponents promote even the most innocuous displays of religious symbols.

It’s no surprise that weekly church-goers generally favor Republicans over Democrats by margins of nearly two to one. It’s also long-accepted that military families tilt overwhelmingly toward the GOP, despite Kerry’s ostentatious and incessant references to his own time in the service more than 35 years ago. During the current controversy, his initial statement responding to White House demands for an apology declared: “If anyone thinks a veteran would criticize the more than 140,000 heroes serving in Iraq and not the president who got us stuck there, they’re crazy.” But insanity isn’t required to note that at least one celebrated veteran, Kerry, has compiled a long history of criticizing our “heroes” in shockingly intemperate terms– beginning with his celebrated (and slanderous) claims to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that our forces in Vietnam committed widespread atrocities on a daily basis. Just a few months ago, the Massachusetts Senator slammed members of the US military in Baghdad for “terrorizing innocent Iraqis” in their homes. Despite the assumptions of Kerry and company, military personnel aren’t stupid: in fact, recently released Defense Department figures show that 2005 recruits are more intelligent, better off financially and, yes, more educated than their counterparts in the public at large. These willing warriors in an all-volunteer military understand that the loud-mouthed lunatics who want to cut back on our defense budget, see American power as a threat to world peace, and regularly deride our troops as baby killers, all find their natural political home in the Democratic Party.

3. Kerry’s Words Expose the Essentially Fraudulent Nature of Contemporary Liberalism: Expressing Disrespect for the Very Americans the Left Claims to Defend.

Most people understand the difference between pity and respect. You may well feel sorry for the drunk collapsed on the street corner but you don’t, in any meaningful sense, respect his current condition. You probably look on a nursing infant with tenderness and affection but given his helpless, utterly dependent state you don’t view him as an equal. In similar terms, the Democrats who claim to care only about the less fortunate among us, who insist that they speak for the struggling victims suffering from cruel capitalist excesses, view these masses as helpless, unlucky, unintelligent and, ultimately, pathetic. On my radio show today I spoke with a caller from Santa Monica, California, who defended Kerry’s comments and noted that in his opinion the military option represented a “last resort” for unfortunates with no other options in life. To show his sympathy for the young soldiers, the caller said he sent “care packages” to the troops in Iraq. I noted in response that he might also send care packages to starving villagers in Africa, since the gesture suggested he felt sorry for our soldiers rather than inspired by their example. The consistent theme of Democratic propaganda is pity for the purportedly helpless and hopeless, including the middle class as well as the poor, all of whom can’t succeed or even survive without the efforts of liberal activists and the government programs they promote. If the Dems insist that ordinary citizens can’t succeed without government help, and the GOP emphasizes that hard work and decency still bring the American dream if bureaucrats and do-gooders stay out of the way, which side demonstrates the greater respect for the ability and potential of American strivers?

Despite their pose as “the party of the little guy,” the dominant Democrats are patronizing elitists who were born to privilege – people like Hillary Clinton, Howard Dean, Ted Kennedy, Nancy Pelosi and, yes, John Kerry. As a matter of fact, the very phrase “little guy” or “little people” is obviously condescending. The people who volunteer for our armed services aren’t little in any sense: they’re big and self-reliant and proud and powerful and determined, and rightly annoyed by Kerry’s demeaning but revealing attitude. Predictably, major veterans’ organizations (including the American Legion) have demanded his apology.

4. You Can’t Portray the Troops as Pitiable Victims and Still Say You Support Them in their Mission.

The Kerry comments demonstrate the hollowness in Democratic insistence that “we support the troops.” If you believe that the difficult mission to which they’ve devoted their lives represents a war crime and a catastrophe; if you suggest that they’ve been snookered- or forced -into a meaningless, perhaps genocidal errand based on lies and greed and neo-con manipulation; if you see the soldiers on the ground (and in the air and on the sea) as hapless, helpless pawns in some monstrous oil-company conspiracy, then in what significant sense do you support these poor, abused troops?

They see themselves as part of history’s most formidable fighting force – as self-reliant adults capable of following the Marine motto (“improvise, adapt and overcome”) for the sake of an important mission that history will judge generously. Which side in the current debate about the war – Republicans or Democrats—comes closest to expressing the soldiers’ conception of themselves? The margin for Republican candidates among military voters (which regularly approaches three-to-one) provides the most direct answer to that question. The Kerry controversy represents a significant event because it highlights the contrast in GOP and Democratic attitudes with unexpected clarity.

And that brings up the most perplexing question regarding the whole sad affair: why did an experienced politician like John Kerry allow the situation to spin so far out of control without issuing the simple retraction and apology that could have put a quick end to it? Kerry might have responded to the first hint of criticism by announcing, “I obviously misspoke. I meant no disrespect to our troops, but no one was more horrified or appalled at the clumsy and awkward way my words came out than I was. I apologize for any offense caused by my ill-considered statement, since I’ve always meant to support – not insult – my brothers and sisters in uniform.” Instead of that sort of controversy-calmingapproach, Kerry chose to fire back in wildly overwrought, intemperate tones at “assorted right wing nut jobs” and “despicable Republican attacks that always seem to come from those who never can be found to serve in war, but love to attack those who did.”

Kerry can’t believe that keeping the dispute alive will actually assist his fellow Democrats on November 7, but it might well enhance the Senator’s own position among rabid activists within the party. It’s easy to imagine the failed Presidential candidate huddled with his advisors on his plane to Seattle, resolving that this time they won’t allow themselves to be “swift-boated” and will shoot back with all partisan barrels blazing. If nothing else, the red-meat rhetoric about feeling “disgusted” at “Republican hacks who have never worn the uniform of our country” might stir the pulse of the party’s perpetually outraged base that views Bush and Rumsfeld (who both did wear the uniform, by the way) and Cheney and Tony Snow as personifications of pure evil. Kerry’s only hope at winning another nomination over Hillary Clinton and, perhaps, Barack Obama is to run to their left --- so he hopes that the George Soros wing on the party will remember his stalwart stridency on this issue, even if it costs Democrats the Congress.

In this context, it’s possible that the current episode will emerge as more than a passing diversion in the midst of intensifying hysteria that inevitably precedes a crucial election. If nothing else, Kerry’s initial gaffe and his subsequent refusal to retreat or readjust demonstrates the Democratic difficulty of accommodating the passions of Moveon.org and CodePink at the same time they attempt to reach out to the American mainstream.

Rory, are you obsessed with Kerry's crack? Shame on you. I thought you neo cons only liked pages?

Pmartin, I wasn't replying to your posts or picture.

From John Kerry's official website:

http://blog.johnkerry.com/2006/11/a_statement_from_john_kerry.html


He has apologized. I say this story gets one more day (today) then the desperate cons will have to scramble for something else to divert attention away from their record of miserable failure.

Looks like Bush announced that he's keepin' Rummy 'til the end of his term. I wonder how republican candidates who are distancing themselves from him are gonna respond when they're asked how they feel about it?

If this were a presidential election year... I'd say there would definitely be some fallout for the democrats. But since it isn't, attention will soon return to how bad republicans have been for this country.

Id rather have a guy making cracks about the education levels of our soldiers than leaders who molest little boys and/or cover up for it.

Gotcha Stlhead

While Some Democrats Cancel Fundraising Events with Kerry, Cantwell Remains “Silent” on Kerry’s Remarks and Money Raised at Seattle Event


Seattle – While numerous Democrats distance themselves from Sen. John Kerry’s remarks about the troops in Iraq and cancel fundraising events, Sen. Maria Cantwell continues her silence over Kerry’s derogatory comments and counts campaign cash raised at yesterday’s Seattle event with Kerry. “Senator Cantwell’s silence is deafening,” said Washington State Republican Party Chairman Diane Tebelius. “Her response to all this is to count the money and go hide.”


“Hillary Clinton says John Kerry’s remarks were ‘inappropriate,’ while Maria Cantwell remains silent,” said Tebelius. “In Tennessee Democrat Senate candidate Harold Ford, Jr. calls on John Kerry to apologize, while Maria Cantwell remains silent. In Montana Democrat Senate candidate Jon Tester says Kerry ‘owes our troops and their families an apology – while Maria Cantwell remains silent.”


In contrast national outrage by Republican leaders and Senate candidate Mike McGavick has been swift and clear on the issue – John Kerry owes an apology to our brave men and women in uniform fighting terrorism in Iraq. “Maria Cantwell should have done the right thing and cancelled her fundraising appearance with John Kerry on Tuesday in Seattle,” said Tebelius. “Instead, she took the cash, and hid behind her campaign staff.”


Tebelius said that a number of Democrat candidates had cancelled fundraising events with Kerry; including Pennsylvania gubernatorial candidate Bob Casey, congressional candidate Bruce Braley in Iowa, and congressional candidate Tim Walz in Minnesota.


You may view the comments on YouTube.com at the following link, or access NBC news video at the following link:


(NBC 4's Website, www.nbc4.tv <http://www.nbc4.tv/video/10195506/index.html> Accessed 10/31/06)


Click here to watch Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) belittle U.S. troops: <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLuMWiQ6r2o>


“Apparently, John Kerry thinks our men and women in uniform fighting in Iraq are uneducated losers and Maria Cantwell stands by Kerry’s side to fill her campaign coffers and says nothing,” Tebelius said

[/QUOTE]
At what point do you think it's OK to stereotype our soldiers? Do you realize Kerry was WRONG? Your average soldier scores higher on tests than your average civilian of the same age.[/QUOTE]

Don't buy into the spin Aunty.. He happened to be talking about the mental midget in the white house and could have worded it better. He was only stereotyping one person, not the armed forces as a whole.

So who was he taking about when he said our soldiers were terrorizing Iraqi citizens or when he came back from Vietnam and said they were all comitting war crimes etc etc. How about his voting record re the military? It may be a blunder when you do it once but when it becomes a pattern it is much more.

In the context of the speech it is obvious he is talking about Bush and not the average soldier. Kerry should apologize, but anybody who gets their panties bunched up in their butt over this has a great big red button on their forehead that says "Push Me".

I prefer to focus on the fact that the Conservatives have held both houses of Congress, and the excutive branch, and now the Supreme Court, and have done nothing except get us stuck in a war that has no end, imprison and torture hundreds if not thousands without even the benefit of a kangaroo court, cut and burn the civil liberties of American citizens, hand over the environment to corporate hogs, and run up the largest deficits in history. I could go on and on, but the scoreboard should be visible to anybody watching the game.

If people are willing to let this keep happening because Kerry said if your a C student you'll end up stuck in Iraq, maybe we'll really deserve the politicians we elect.

Except Kerry served.

That makes him nothing like Bush.

But yes, he IS a pompous and arrogant ass.......one that should really keep his yap shut.

What civil liberty have you lost Vhawk?

VHawk, excellent post.

The thing that riles me is that any fool who would take the time to read the text of the speech should be able to understand the reference. How many hear listened to or read the speech? Judging from the posts very few as the rhetoric wreaks of something similar to what we can hear over the airwaves 24/7! To many opinions from the right are forced fed crap! Fries with that?

Funny Iraq picture. That alone indicates to me Kerry ought to apologise to the troops, he owes no one else an apology. I wonder how much it cost the Evil Genius (Rove)?

Sincerely,

White folks in the days of slavery.

Not hard to see how warrantless domestic surveillance is an infringement on everyone's civil liberties. But hey, it's just domestic surveillance... Who needs a warrant?

quote:
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What civil liberty have you lost Vhawk?

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... chuckled Jose Padilla.

The Constitution of the United States of America

Amendment IV

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.


In spite of the Supreme Courts recent rulings on warrantless searches, the GOP plods ahead with more winners. Here's from a recent action alert:

VHawk

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Kerry's '72 Army Comments Mirror Latest

Nov 02 2:03 PM US/Eastern
By JOHN SOLOMON
Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON


During a Vietnam-era run for Congress three decades ago, John Kerry said he opposed a volunteer Army because it would be dominated by the underprivileged, be less accountable and be more prone to "the perpetuation of war crimes."
Kerry, a decorated Vietnam veteran who turned against the war, made the observations in answers to a 1972 candidate questionnaire from a Massachusetts peace group.



After Kerry caused a firestorm this week with what he termed a botched campaign joke that Republicans said insulted current soldiers, The Associated Press was alerted to the historical comments by a former law enforcement official who monitored 1970s anti-war activities

Kerry apologized Wednesday for the 2006 campaign trail gaffe that some took as suggesting U.S. soldiers fighting in Iraq were undereducated. He contended the remark was aimed at Bush, not the soldiers.

In 1972, as he ran for the House, he was less apologetic in his comments about the merits of a volunteer army. He declared in the questionnaire that he opposed the draft but considered a volunteer army "a greater anathema."

"I am convinced a volunteer army would be an army of the poor and the black and the brown," Kerry wrote. "We must not repeat the travesty of the inequities present during Vietnam. I also fear having a professional army that views the perpetuation of war crimes as simply 'doing its job.'

"Equally as important, a volunteer army with our present constitutional crisis takes accountability away from the president and put the people further from control over military activities," he wrote.

Kerry's spokesman, David Wade, said Wednesday the historical document needed to be viewed in the era in which it was written but that it nonetheless raised a "bedrock question in a time of war when sacrifice should be shared by all Americans."

"These are the words 34 years ago of a 28-year-old veteran home from a war gone wrong, wondering who in America will bear the cost of battle and shoulder the responsibility of military service," Wade said.

Kerry filled out the candidate questionnaire at the request of Massachusetts Political Action for Peace, an anti-war group that decades later turned over its historical documents to university researchers.

AP obtained the document from someone who gathered it from archives during Kerry's unsuccessful 2004 presidential campaign against President Bush. Republicans in that election relentlessly assailed Kerry's role in the anti-war movement decades earlier.

Kerry and Bush renewed their rivalry again this week, with the president accusing Kerry of offending troops. Kerry said he botched the text of a joke and didn't mean to insult troops.

On Wednesday, Kerry canceled campaign appearance on behalf of Democratic congressional candidates and issued an apology.

I'm a Viet Nam Vet and Kerry's remarks were stupid but didn't insult me. The best thing Kerry could do is shut his pie hole.
The repugnets finally have something to deflect anyone from looking at jr. bush and his cabals screw ups and making the most of it. Even bringing up things that Kerry did 34 years ago shows just how desparate these freaks are.
Rory - you should be embarrassed. Is this the best the repugnets can come up with? Very sad that people like Rory even bother to come here and post it. Talk about grasping at straws.
Anybody that thinks jr. bush even has an original thought should seek couseling. I'd be surprised if his handlers even let him pinch a loaf without help.

Then again, we do live in a country where as much as 80% truly and deeply still believe in witchcraft and angels...

Rory, Will your Guardian Angel protect you if my wife puts a hex on you?

Tee hee, I do enjoy your posts KK, your flavor of smoke is tantalizing. Thank you. Guess I'll have to behave, for a little bit at least.
What does a yard surgeon do when the snow flies?
It has been snowing here for the last 3 hours, ground is white, street just wet. If the temperature drops, as it will, the roads will be skating rinks.
I have moved about 10cubic yards of leaves from the yard to the garden. Buried the garlic under them, and most of the other things that might need a bit of protection.
Hell with global warming and all maybe I shouldn't worry about things freezing.
Oops didn't mean to be diversive.

Sard: I tried to send you a PM but couldn't. Off topic, but be sure to remove all mulch from your garlic in the spring. Last year I had a "brainstorm" and put a good deal of mulch around about 1/2 my garlic. Thank God I only did 1/2 because that half all rotted. I guess garlic doesn't like mulch in the growing season.

As for global warming I was able to grow eggplant peppers and long season tomatoes this summer. They all grew great with my new secret fertilizer. I shredded the Bush/Rove talking points, and used them for mulch So much BS they grew like weeds.

Let's plan on it. Maybe we can mathc that 17 fish day you had last year. You remember, the day after we fished together!!!

Don't know for sure but I suspect you fellows live in a much wetter area than I do. Even so. I remove the mulch from the garlic in quite early spring. As you say, gotta let it be dry enough not to mold.
Don't know why the PM thingy don't work. ?? Works on that other site. lol

KK I would have thought that you would get a longer reprieve to fish. But then again your main target area has milder winters than Spokane I suspect.

Garlic is a better topic than that frickin' Kerry. Just like fun - I've never had too much garlic.

I was very disappointed in John Kerry's comments. My oldest son is in the Air Force boot camp right now and I am proud of him for stepping up and joining. Had he done better in school and been on the scholastic track, possibly he would have been ready for college, but that is not where he is at right now. He is already conflicted about this countries participation in the Iraq War and doesn't need to hear this kind of drivel.