Kerry (with a little help from Republicans) Has Democrats Scrambling

The war in Iraq is an unqualified mess, confidence in elected officials seems to be at a low and Republican leaders are scrambling trying to get some cover. Enter John Kerry.

The former presidential candidate made a “botched joke” (his words, not ours) involving college students, the Iraqi quagmire and George Bush, and Republicans are taking the opportunity to turn the tables on the Democrats in hopes of generating some traction before next week’s mid-term elections.

According to Reuters: “Kerry told the students that if they studied hard they could do well, but if they didn't ‘you get stuck in Iraq.’ His office said he neglected to add the punch line: ‘Just ask President Bush.’

Yea, that punch line woulda really sealed it.

Republicans, however, aren’t the only ones getting worked up. The comments by the quickly-becoming-persona-non-grata among Democrat hopefuls, has some Democrats calling for an apology from the charisma machine from Massachusetts.

Chris Bell, for whom Kerry was campaigning in Texas recently, has responded.

“He should apologize,” Bell said today during a campaign stop in Corpus Christi. “I certainly don’t think he meant any disrespect — he’s a decorated veteran — but that’s not the point now … It’s the way it was taken.”

Unfortunately for Mr. Bell, Kerry’s faux pas is probably the least of his worries at this point.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@austinist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By matthewodam in News on November 1, 2006 4:04 PM 0 Comments

Comments [rss]

Grape Ape

Thinking the military is completely voluntary is a little naive. If you dig a little deeper and actaully look at the issues that cause people to "choose" the military as a career option you'll probably find that a lot of it has to do with economic status (read class segregation) and how the elite promote a climate which influences the "choice" most of those people make. I'm not sure how many years you served, but when I was in the service most of the people who "chose" to come there were of poor to lower middle class who really had no other alternative. I din't run into a whole lot of trust fund babies saying they were there to serve their country proudly. And I sure as hell never met a child of a politician.

Bah Humbug

"...like our president who has screwed over the "working class" and sent many of their sons and daughters to die in a ridiculous quagmire."

Uh, we have an all-volunteer military. The military's purpose is to fight wars. You join the military, you know there is a chance you may have to fight in a war.

And what is with your fixation on Ted Haggard? That has nothing to do with what Sen. Kerry said. That dude has been bad-mouthing the military since the early '70s.

odam

there's our good ol right-wing friend gladiator. i guess that would be like me saying all evangelicals are lying hypocrites who can not live up to the moral code they hold for others just because of this story:

http://www.denverpost.com/ci_4588998

actually, that is not a perfect analogy, but you should be able to parse my meaning from it, BH.

i bet you're a "compassionate conservative," though, right, BH? like our president who has screwed over the "working class" and sent many of their sons and daughters to die in a ridiculous quagmire. thanks for helping us all to see the light.

see ya at applebees

Bah Humbug

Elitists like Sen. Kerry have no respect for the military. Or for regular old working-class people in general, for that matter.

Grape Ape

Unfortunately your comment about my theory being wrong is in fact, wrong. Ppl who are voting for Kinky are most likely people who would have voted Democrat, but find Kinky "cool" and think he's all for legalizing pot, gambling and whatever else they think he's cool for. Point is, voting for Kinky is a vote taken from the Democratic voting pool - not the other way around. I find it hard to believe that Micheal Dell is changing his vote to Kinky over Perry or that any other voting Republican is doing that.

mike

This is what the joke was supposed to be,

"Do you know where you end up if you don't study, if you aren't smart, if you're intellectually lazy? You end up getting us stuck in a war in Iraq."

get 'us' stuck.

odam

agreed, able. so very sickening.

citizen Able

One mis-statement, taken out of context is not going to magically erase 6 years of Republican incompetence.

Brenner

... States Air Force. And so don't think that some fucking butter-bar Second Lieutenant or even a full bird Colonel is gonna be less stupid than I am, because you'll be mistaken when you get to the bigger percentiles, y'know?

And ... aw, to hell with it. The fact remains that it is mostly the undereducated and the less smart that go into the military because, aw fuck, what else are they gonna do with their lives. The fact also remains that Kerry was telling the truth with his ill-advised jibe but is now acting like a total puss about it, like Stew ~ Hi, Stew! ~ said ... which is way embarrassing for someone who basically prefers the asses over the elephants.

Y'know?

Holy fucking Krishna, I need to lay off the caffeine ...

Brenner

It's not only Grape Ape but Paul who's adept at proving his own theory wrong. Because, Paul, first you suggest that not everyone in the military is stupid because, hey, a lot of them are officers and, whoa, officers are college educated. Then you turn around (well, probably not literally, but maybe so, maybe you're autistic and you're stimming, right?) and say "Do you have to go to college to be smart?" and you offer Bill Gates as an example to prove that, no, you don't have to go to college to be smart. Which only implies that people can go to college and still be ~ relatively ~ stupid. But, hell, it's true: people CAN go to college and still be, relatively, stupid. (Okay, relative to ME, if you need a baseis for comparison. *blush*) And, man, i was IN the military, okay, I was an enlisted man in the United

Stew

Grape Ape,

You've seem to have proven your own theory wrong. You say a vote for Kinky is a vote for Perry. But then you go on to say that Kinky is a Republican at heart. By that logic, people who vote for Kinky are actually taking away votes from Perry, because by voting for Kinky they are in fact voting for another Republican who has no chance of winning.

It is weak to blame other candidates for failure...Gore shouldn't have blamed Nader and Bell better not blame Kinky or Strayhorn. If Kinky wasn't on the ballot, I wouldn't vote for Bell, in fact I'd probably not vote at all.

Scratch that...GO James Werner!

Paul

Mike, what a idiotic statment. Dead on? Kerry is no brighter than Pres. Dimwit. While many of the soldiers enlist before they go to college all officers are college educated. I don't know how many officers are in Iraq, but they too would be included in Kerry's dumb ass remarks. Do you have to go to college to be smart? See Bill Gates, Michael Dell, etc. He needs to learn to read a teleprompter better.

mike

Kerry's statement, although callous, is dead on. If you look at who is serving, it is overwhelmingly dominated by kids from lower and lower-to-middle income households from this country. The GI Bill was created precisely to entice this class of non-college-educated Americans to join the armed forces.

Grape Ape

A vote for Kinky or Strayhorn is a vote for Perry. Besides, Kinky's a (R) at heart - he just didn't have a chance of being the primary so he went Independent.

apv

A vote for Kinky is a vote for shameless publicity. He is in this unwinnable race to sell books. Period. Both he and Strayhorn are like dolls who have five set phrases that are randomly generated with the pull of a string.

Stew

What a puss.

This is exactly why I am going to vote for Kinky for governor. We need politicians who make comments like Kerry's, but then don't retreat behind the walls of apologies. And shame on Chris Bell for criticizing Kerry's comments. This is just another prime example of how politics and campaigns bastardize legitimate people.

Brenner

Exactly.

JUBCHA

DEAR MR. KERRY:

AS AN EX CAMPAIGN MANAGER I HAVE SOME ADVICE: STFU. THIS GOES FOR YOU AND ALL THE OTHER DEMOCRATS. SINCE YOU HAVE SUCH A TREMENDOUS LEAD THERE IS NO REASON TO SAY A WORD. NOTHING, NADA, ZILCH.

KEEP IT ZIPPED OR ELSE YOU'LL STARTING MOVING AT FULL SPEED---IN REVERSE.

JUB