The Gift That Keeps On Giving

| 8 Comments

You've probably heard by now about John Kerry's slam on the military. Of course, the Waffler can't get his damage control straight, lashing out at the folks who called him on it:

The Massachusetts Democrat called the White House attack "a classic GOP textbook Republican campaign tactic" that reveals Republicans' "willingness to reduce anything in America to raw politics."

"I'm sick and tired of a bunch of despicable Republicans who will not debate real policy, who won't take responsibility for their own mistakes, standing up and trying to make other people the butt of those mistakes," he said. "It disgusts me that a bunch of these Republican hacks who've never worn the uniform of our country are willing to lie about those who did."
while simultaneously trying the old bully-caught-red-handed-by-the-principal tactic of 'it was all a joke:'
Kerry said the comment in question was "a botched joke about the president and the president's people, not about the troops ... and they know that's what I was talking about."

First of all, there's the old Freudism about there being no such thing as a joke, from which one could infer that Kerry does indeed hold the military in contempt. Second, was he trying to say "pay attention in school, or you'll end up President of the United States?" Sure, that'll be a deterrent. Third, even if he was trying to say "pay attention in school, or you'll end up like Bush," that would just be another Operation Foot-Bullet for him, because Kerry didn't do any better at Yale than Bush did!

John F. Kerry was the candidate often portrayed as intellectual and complex, while George W. Bush was the populist who mangled his sentences.

But newly released records 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.

Incidentally, here's one of those "Republican hacks who've never worn the uniform of our country" (from the second link above):

GOP Sen. John McCain, like Kerry a decorated Vietnam veteran and a potential 2008 rival, said while campaigning for Republican candidates in Indiana that "the suggestion that only the least educated Americans would agree to serve in the military and fight in Iraq is an insult to every soldier serving in combat today."

The backlash is so bad that Democrats are diving for cover:

A Democratic congressman told ABC News Tuesday, "I guess Kerry wasn't content blowing 2004, now he wants to blow 2006, too."
and recognizing a Lurch endorsement as the kiss of death:
A Democratic Congressional candidate from Iowa is canceling a campaign event later this week with Senator John Kerry.

Brucy Braley says Kerry's recent comments about the Iraq war were inappropriate.

Braley is running against Republican Mike Whalen in Iowa's First District congressional race. It's a contest considered to be one of the most competitive House races in the country.

Braley's decision to distance himself from Kerry came as a furor grew from comments Kerry made about the Iraq War during a campaign stop in California on Monday.
A Democrat running in "one of the most competitive House races in the country" doesn't want to be associated with his party's candidate from the previous Presidential election. Priceless.

Tags:

8 Comments

Seriously dude, keep the political diatribe to yourself. People come to your site for Michigan football, not to hear your hacked and reused viewpoints. You are tolerable as a sports writer. As a political analyst you fail.

I'm tolerable as a sports writer? Huh. And all this time I thought I was just a Michigan fan with a TV tuner card and enough time to roll a couple of highlight videos every week. Thanks for the promotion!

Why can't we focus on what we have in common? If you don't like my political stuff, don't read it.

Maybe you'd prefer this link: http://www.dangerouslogic.com/archive/cat_michigan_football.html

On the other hand, I come here for White Trash Wednesday, the Bob & Tom updates, the sarcasm with conservative overtones.

I merely tolerate the Michigan Football clips.

Or is John none other than Kerry himself?

We're all very touched by your self-deprication, wait... no, its a little too contrived... so maybe just marginally amused? Anway, whether you are a sports blogger, sports writer or piracy promoter, you seem to have a good perspective on Michigan football. That makes you worth reading. When you lose perspective and spew biased lop-sided propaganda, you become just another waste of browser cache. All I'm saying is that if you stepped back and applied some thought to your political commentary you might be the lemming that steps aside at the cliff.

I would go with the "marginally amused", add a good bit of common sense and politeness, and just a hint of annoyance.

Seriously, telling a blogger to change content focus is as much a waste of bandwidth than actual spewing of biased lopsided propaganda.

And come on, that incredibly poorly-timed blunder on Kerry's part *begs* for commentary.

Agreed, Kerry is a walking, breathing SNL skit. Having Imus publically beg you to stop talking and disappear until next Wednesday must be the equivalent of getting drop kicked in the nuts by an elephant... with spikes. But taking that for granted, is it more pathetic to latch onto that 1 comment as if it somehow is equivalent to any real issue... hmm.. like wars and lying maybe?

Hey Chris. I came across your blog via the Michigan highlights thing, and I like reading what you have to say and the random stuff you dig up. I am of the opinion that it's your blog and you can post whatever you want. If someone only comes here for Michigan highlights, why would they comment on a post that is completely removed from that?

I'll add my two-cents briefly on the Kerry thing. Kerry called the president stupid. He certainly wasn't eloquent, but that's what he was saying. That our president is stupid. He did not call the troops stupid and if you look at his quote in context, it's a clear attack on the president (no one seems to bring up his two previous sentences). At both face value and the comments' deepest level, he called the president dumb.

Now, the president is either so stupid that he doesn't realize that he had been called stupid in the first place and assumed that Kerry called the troops stupid (unlikely), or he is intentionally quoting Kerry out of context for his own political advantage. There is no other option here. Given that the president has been making up all kinds of stories about Democrats lately (e.g. "Democrats say that the best way to fight terrorism is to wait to be attacked again"), I have to go with the latter. In which case, it's just more bullshit from our president. Kerry is certainly not eloquent, and I would expect him to botch the simplest of knock-knock jokes, but his intetn was pretty clear if you don't listen to Bushy's "interpretation" of it.

OK, so that wasn't brief. Sorry for the ramble...

John said:
"All I'm saying is that if you stepped back and applied some thought to your political commentary you might be the lemming that steps aside at the cliff."

Gee, you misspelled "stepped back and thought the way I do."

And your calling me a lemming tells me everything I need to know about *you*.

Leave a comment

Pages

Powered by Movable Type 4.34-en

About this Entry

This page contains a single entry by Chris published on November 1, 2006 8:41 AM.

Northwestern Highlights Are Up was the previous entry in this blog.

Hello, Britain! is the next entry in this blog.

Find recent content on the main index or look in the archives to find all content.