When I first read of John Kerry’s remarks holding our troops in Iraq up as an example of what happens if you fail in school, my contempt for the man – already high – passed over into the realm of having the mere mention of his name trigger my gagging reflex. How in the name of all that is good and holy did this man come so close to commanding these very same troops that he has so cavalierly disparaged? And an even more basic question this election season is can’t the Democrats see that Kerry, as their nominee for the highest office in the land in 2004, speaks for them when is quoted thusly?
The contemptuousness that Kerry showed by making those remarks was exceeded by his statement today that, rather than clarifying his remarks or apologizing for them, he hurls the rawest and most shocking invective at Republicans only seen perhaps on the far left websites that the Senator from Massachusetts has been writing for recently:
“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. This is the classic G.O.P. playbook. I’m sick and tired of these 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.I’m not going to be lectured by a stuffed suit White House mouthpiece standing behind a podium, or doughy Rush Limbaugh, who no doubt today will take a break from belittling Michael J. Fox’s Parkinson’s disease to start lying about me just as they have lied about Iraq. It disgusts me that these Republican hacks, who have never worn the uniform of our country lie and distort so blatantly and carelessly about those who have.”
Note for the record that Kerry does not even address the subject of his insulting remarks. Rather, he slimes his critics – a classic defense strategy for murderers and rapists but not, one assumes, a United States Senator who ran for President two short years ago.
Those are extremely personal attacks. Rarely does a politician immerse himself so thoroughly in excremental politics by debasing the motives, the honesty, and the honor of his opponents as Kerry did in that short statement. No doubt, the ignoramuses on the left are cheering Kerry on. This, the man who consorted with the enemy during the Viet Nam War, who met with representatives of the Viet Cong and agreed to carry their propaganda water for them here in the United States while that very same enemy was shooting and killing men in uniform that Kerry now pretends to respect.
Kerry is as cold and calculating a politician as there has been on the American scene since Nixon. Whether he knew his remarks would generate the firestorm of controversy that they have is beside the point. Given the opportunity to give the finger to his opponents while catering to the powerful netnuts and their ability to mobilize money, resources, and political support, the Senator designed his response to appeal to the far left as a way to separate himself from other potential Democratic presidential hopefuls. He has become angry and spiteful – just like them. In this, the Kos Kids and others on the far left see Kerry as a kindred spirit, someone who “speaks their language.” How well this personae will play in 2008 remains to be seen. For the moment, it allows him to bask in the glow of their admiration and affection.
Michelle Malkin points out that coverage of Kerry’s remarks by the MSM is sorely lacking. One week before the election, this shouldn’t be surprising; not the way that most news organs have cheered the Democrats on in shockingly shameless fashion. What little attention that has been paid to the Senator’s remarks have come as a result of reaction to them by the White House and other conservatives.
Lost in all of this was what Kerry actually said – that if you didn’t study hard, do your homework, and make an effort to be smart, a student would get “stuck” in Iraq – and what was implied. The obvious implication that Kerry did not address in his statement today was that our soldiers in Iraq are the dregs of society, that they are failures in school and should not be emulated.
Sickening. And the fact that the Senator doesn’t deny either what he said or what he implied in his statement today shows that the remarks were exactly as he meant them, that there was no misunderstanding.
So far, no major Democratic figure has come out and chastised Kerry for his remarks. We may be in for a long wait if we are expecting such condemnation any time soon. At bottom, it really doesn’t matter in a political sense. Kerry could be discovered naked in Osama’s bed and it wouldn’t help the Republicans that much. And in this respect, it gets me madder at Republicans than I was yesterday. How conservatives so thoroughly bollixed things up in Washington and allowed people like Kerry to perhaps sit in the majority by their arrogance and malfeasance should make all of us mad.
UPDATE
Kerry now says he was trying to make a joke about President Bush and that the last line of the joke was “...You end up getting us stuck in a war in Iraq.” Predictably, the netnuts have rushed to Kerry’s defense.
There is absolutely no doubt in my mind – nor should there be in any rational observers’ – that after watching the video of those remarks by Kerry he meant exactly what he said and that he said what he meant to say.
There was no fumbling for words. There was no stumbling over a sentence – two clues that would lead one to give the Senator at least the benefit of the doubt. And the emphasis he placed on “stuck in Iraq” as well as with the tone of voice that bespoke such utter and complete contempt for the military leads one to the inescapable conclusion that Kerry is a liar of monstrous proportions when he says that he left a couple of words out of a joke on Bush.
Why does this surprise us? He has consistently disparaged the military during his entire public life. He has demonstrated utter contempt for ordinary Americans on numerous occassions.
Those of you who believe this mountebank should go and watch the video. Then you come back here and tell me that he was joking.