Way to go John Kerry!

JRS · 1 Nov 2006 at 12:02

Insult all the servicemen over in Iraq in one fell swoop....you really are awesome :rolleyes:

From the Times Online:

Kerry must say sorry for insulting troops, says Bush

A “BOTCHED joke” by the Democrats’ 2004 presidential nominee yesterday allowed George Bush to go on the offensive over Iraq for the first time in a midterm election campaign in which anti-war congressional critics had hoped that they could seek revenge against the Administration.

Senator John Kerry spent most of the day refusing to apologise for comments made to a student rally in California on Monday night when he told them that if they did not “study hard . . . and make an effort to be smart you can do well” they would “get stuck in Iraq”.

The White House described the remark as an “absolute insult” to servicemen in Iraq, while veterans’ groups said that the Democrat was “slapping every soldier in the face”. In an apparently co-ordinated onslaught against Mr Kerry, John McCain, the Republican senator, and later Mr Bush, issued ever more strident demands on him to say sorry for “troop bashing”.

But the Massachusetts senator said that it was Mr Bush who should apologise. “My statement yesterday — and the White House knows this full well — was a botched joke about the President and the President’s people, not about the troops.”

Yesterday’s row will only have added to the sense of frustration among those Democrats who have spent three years longing to investigate both the case for the Iraq war and the conduct of it.

But Henry Waxman, the senior Democrat on the House Reform Committee, has said that he wants to focus on “waste, fraud and abuse” across the federal Government — especially rebuilding efforts in Iraq — but is unlikely to launch an inquiry into the use of intelligence in the build-up to war.

Oh boy. He really doesn't know how to get out of his own way does he? Jokes about Bush's lack of inteligence were funny. Emphasis on were....it's just tired, and if that's the best the Democrats can come up with then it's no wonder that Kerry lost the last election. And if you're going to make a joke about it, then a) make it pretty damn funny and b) don't bloody botch it!

locutus12 · 1 Nov 2006 at 12:10

i wouldn't worry, that's minor press B.S. there's not much the republicans can do to stop themselves taking a beating in the November mid term elections thankfully.

Metalface Mark · 1 Nov 2006 at 12:12

Im for the war, but against the troops.

locutus12 · 1 Nov 2006 at 12:15

InwardSinging said:
Im for the war, but against the troops.

Superdude · 1 Nov 2006 at 12:23

American patriots may feel a bit sore after this comment but I think most educated voters will look at this negative spin by the republicans and eventually see it as an act of despiration to claw back votes before the mid-terms.

AJUK · 1 Nov 2006 at 12:26

Sadly Kerry is probably right.

Flash Maclean · 1 Nov 2006 at 12:27

locutus12 said:

It's called a joke.

chesterstu · 1 Nov 2006 at 12:28

I think it was awesome and respect to the guy for saying it. If i was an American, I would vote for him

semi-pro waster · 1 Nov 2006 at 12:31

Flash Maclean said:
It's called a joke.

It is an old joke at that, Bill Hicks said pretty much exactly that.

I think I can see what John Kerry was trying to say but it was badly phrased and it is a bit like throwing the present administration a liferaft when you should be drowning them(metaphorically of course).

PaulStat · 1 Nov 2006 at 12:32

Made me chuckle, and is probably true in most cases

JRS · 1 Nov 2006 at 12:35

Superdude said:
American patriots may feel a bit sore after this comment but I think most educated voters will look at this negative spin by the republicans and eventually see it as an act of despiration to claw back votes before the mid-terms.

Does that mean that your co-called "American patriots" aren't "educated voters"?

Wow, what is it with all the insulting remarks flying around lately?

semi-pro waster said:
I think I can see what John Kerry was trying to say but it was badly phrased and it is a bit like throwing the present administration a liferaft when you should be drowning them(metaphorically of course).

Exactly. And any team that can't ridicule the current administration without screwing up the punchline doesn't deserve to be in politics

KNiVES · 1 Nov 2006 at 12:45

Kerry is kinda right to be honest if you look at it in the way the press did. You don't need an education to join the army, and if you do have one, the army isn't exactly the best place to go. Put two and two together...

Alan! · 1 Nov 2006 at 12:46

nero120 · 1 Nov 2006 at 13:00

I was under the impression that many american military officers were graduates?

shifty_uk · 1 Nov 2006 at 13:14

nero120 said:
I was under the impression that many american military officers were graduates?

Only the officers. Not the "grunts".

Beren · 1 Nov 2006 at 13:25

InwardSinging said:
Im for the war, but against the troops.

Another fan of Bill Hicks perchance?

Ho hum, the mud flinging before american elections is almost as tasteless as christmas decorations in shops... and starts as long before the event!

nero120 · 1 Nov 2006 at 13:25

shifty_uk said:
Only the officers. Not the "grunts".

So therefore what kerry was saying was untrue, as even those who "do well" get "stuck in iraq" - implying that the us forces were all dumb. Thats quite a large paint brush he's got there!

Murf · 1 Nov 2006 at 13:33

nero120 said:
So therefore what kerry was saying was untrue, as even those who "do well" get "stuck in iraq" - implying that the us forces were all dumb. Thats quite a large paint brush he's got there!

What he meant was morons like Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld have got themselves stuck in Iraq, cos they're complete and utter idiots, among other things. Any person with half a brain knows that's what Kerry meant. It'd be political suicide for any politician in just about any country, especially the US, to criticise the troops themselves.

Andy298 · 1 Nov 2006 at 13:41

Murf said:
What he meant was morons like Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld have got themselves stuck in Iraq, cos they're complete and utter idiots, among other things. Any person with half a brain knows that's what Kerry meant. It'd be political suicide for any politician in just about any country, especially the US, to criticise the troops themselves.

Exactly! This is the way I interpreted it when I read it. I can understand some people taking it the wrong way though, but it's obvious it was a stab at the Bush Administration!

JRS · 1 Nov 2006 at 13:53

Murf said:
What he meant was morons like Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld have got themselves stuck in Iraq, cos they're complete and utter idiots, among other things. Any person with half a brain knows that's what Kerry meant. It'd be political suicide for any politician in just about any country, especially the US, to criticise the troops themselves.

Oh for the love of....can I get a huge "DUH!" over here please?

Of course he meant that! But you just don't hand ammunition like that over to your opponents! When something can be taken out of context so easily like that, it's almost inevitable that it will.

The 'joke' in full:

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.

If he or his advisors couldn't see what the Republicans would do with that then they should get out of politics right now.