Iraq Debate Heats Up, Kerry’s Joke at Bush’s Expense Lingers
by Pamela LeaveyAs the debate over Iraq heats up again, we’re still seeing John Kerry’s ‘joke at Bush’s expense’ still lingering in the news, with a few on the right perpetuating it and some LTTE’s in support of Kerry. Bill Mahr was thrown a couple of questions by USA Today about the election and John Kerry and he laid it on the line in support of Kerry… Here’s his responses:
Q: How happy are you with the election?
A: I’m incredibly happy. The moderate majority in the last two elections was cowed into voting for Bush because they were afraid, and the fear card was still working. It stopped working.
Q: You caused a flap right after 9/11 with a remark construed as insulting to American troops. The same thing happened recently to Sen. John Kerry. You seemed really angry on his behalf on your show that week.
A: There’s a lot of fake outrage in America. There’s enough to get truly outraged by that they don’t have to turn their sights on people misspeaking or a botched joke. It’s such a cynical way of doing business because George Bush knew what John Kerry was saying just as those guys back in 2001 knew what I was saying. … It’s doubtful that something Kerry, the Dixie Chicks or I say is going to affect the morale of the troops.
I also ran across this LTTE in the South Florida Sun Sentinel earlier today (by way of Google News) that makes clear that the brouhahha was all hype for political purposes. We all know that — it’s good to see others get it too (and great to see LTTE’s like this getting published).
Kerry’s joke was at Bush’s expense
Mel Glickman
BOCA RATON
Posted November 15 2006It has become very tiring, reading the letters of people who believe John Kerry was disparaging our troops. If those angry writers had listened to the comments he made before his so-called gaffe, they would have realized Kerry was trying to make fun of President Bush, not our armed forces.
To me, this uproar is just another example of the continuing dumbing-down of America. Many of us just don’t get it. Are we so ill-informed that we can’t tell when a bad joke is uttered? Kerry was attacking President Bush’s lack of intelligence and warning the students how stupidity could lead to bad decisions. If you don’t do your reading or study history, you might wind up in Iraq.
Maybe a bad joke. Perhaps he should have said, “You might wind up leading the country into an unnecessary war, like Iraq.” Maybe not too funny, but this was really the point of the comments.
I’m sure Kerry didn’t apologize immediately because he couldn’t believe that his joke could be so misconstrued. All the political broadcasting pundits knew where Kerry was going with his remarks. President Bush and his cohorts, with no hope of saving their incompetent, corrupt administration, jumped at a last chance to denigrate Kerry and make it appear that Democrats don’t care about our troops. What a sad attempt!
It’s time to end the discussion about Kerry and what he meant to imply. It’s sad that many of us don’t know the difference between slander and joking. Let’s all get serious and work to end the mess in Iraq and bring our troops home.
It really is time to lay this all to rest. The continued quibbling over Iraq doesn’t cut it any more. John Kerry was the first to stand up and say we need to get our troops out of there, that is one point I will not hesitate to quibble over, Kerry started the ball rolling, Murtha and other’s followed suit. Kerry is a threat to the Republican leadership and he’s a threat to the Bush administration. That’s what the brouhaha was about, anyone who won’t admit that can’t face the truth.
And for the record, John McCain is in ‘denial’ with BushCo, while at least some Republicans like John Warner get that that “on Nov. 26, U.S. troops will have been fighting in Iraq longer than they fought in World War II.”
Bring them home.
UPDATE: Speaking of how “barren and corrupt our political dialogue” is, read Glenn Greenwald on political dialogue and Iraq.
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If you want to stretch your imagination to think John Kerry wasn’t slamming our troops thats your choice. He has not hesitated at numerous occasions in his life to do just that. Why would you excuse him now?
If it was a joke trying to say President Bush was not well educated it would have been an even worse blunder on John Kerrys part since George Bush Had a Higher Grade point average at the same university Kerry attended than did Kerry. John Kerry needs to just go back home and retire and stop pretending that he and his Far Northeastern pals can really relate to the rest of the country. Everytime he opens his mouth he hurts the democratic party.
Tazzer
Truth is I was there that day and Kerry was not slamming our troops. He was giving a speech on education and how messed up the system is in California. Something I know a lot about, having a kid in public school here for 12 years. The joke about Bush was a lead in to the discussion on education and it was about the need for kids to do well in school so they don’t end up like Bush, stuck in Iraq.
So yes, I’ll excuse him and FYI, I’m one of those far Northeasterner types, and I relate just fine to the rest of the country. As a matter of fact you just noted that you got what I was saying in another post here.
Last but not least, I met the men who served with Kerry in Vietnam, you would think twice about slamming him and dropping right wing talking points about his support for the troops if you ever had the opportunity to meet those men. Loyal friends and comrades, all who believe that John Kerry has done a lot of good for this country and should continue to do more — likewise I believe the same thing.
Tazzer,
Wow, sounds like you are a koolaid drinker, and puhleeeze cut out the hurt of the Semocratic party, John Kerry has made it stronger in the past 3 years. I also could go on about who “is” hurting the party, but I’ll leave that for another day.
As Pamela said, she was at the event, and if ANYONE thought that JK did anything but botch a joke, I’m sure he would have been countered immediately right then and there. Of course the RW hacks like Malkin, Drudge and Limpballs, whom by the way Rushie liar admitted to his audience after the elections that he has lied for the right, talk about a hypocrite.
As for the troops, if you knew even a little bit about John Kerry, you would know he wouldn’t even think about insulting the troops, so your credibility is questionable and with the RW talking points added, it is lame.
Lastly, my husband who served 20 years and enlisted back during the Vietnam war, thinks that those who insult Kerry are the ones that need to take a good look in the mirror for their image would show that of cowards. He is tired of this RW crowd using the troops that in itself is the biggest INSULT of all to our men and women serving.
Arrgh, on edit that is “Democratic”. I need to proof read better and quit typing in the dark.
Tazzer,
You have to realize that this whole incident was just hyped up for election points. If you were in charge of the GOP and the polls were looking like they did with no relief in sight, what would you have done? They were desperate with no good news coming out of Iraq, Foleygate, Haggard, etc. The real stink in my opinion wasn’t the GOP jumping on it, it was other Dems. Hell, even Bill Freakin’ O’Reilly said he knew what Kerry meant, if that isn’t an admission to a Dem who did no wrong I don’t know what is.
One important point I want to make as well (because there’s rumor of MORE troops being sent to Iraq for a “final push”). Over and over and over people in America who protest wars have been labeled as “unpatriotic” and “not supporting the troops”. Keep in mind these people are sacrificing their time, energy and in some cases their well-being to get our soldiers OUT of the line of fire. I am sure just like anything else there may be a kook or two that is just protesting for the sake of protesting, but the vast majority of these groups over the years have been the MOST patriotic and sypathetic supporters of our troops. John Kerry did this in 1971 when it was political suicide to do so. He could have easily set himself up for office if he had “played by the rules” and rode into elected office as a decorated vet. Instead he chose to fight to bring his brothers home, having seen too many coffins come home for a questionable war.
This same thing is happening again, we have a lot of sacrifice for this war and a lot of people trying to position themselves politically rather than solve the crisis. The voters spoke to this on election day, and people like John Kerry who have spoke against unjust wars over and over are going to eventually educate our citizens that “disent is the highest form of patriotism”.
Tazzer,
The grade point average doesn’t mean a hell of a lot at this point. For one thing, JK has every ADHD trait I can think of. For ADD/ADHD, average grades can be very common – but that doesnt stop them (us) from being able to use a lot of knowledge that wasn’t reflected in test scores (homework is even worse).
Kerry has succeeded in MANY ways after he left school – his war record alone showed a very good mind. What has W succeeded at besides getting appointed to POTUS by the Supreme Court, with the help of his brother and the MSM?
The worst part of this for me is that I have cared for vets over 3 decades in nursing and am fully aware of how badly they have been treated most of that time in benefits- especially health care. One of the first things I learned about JK 3 years ago was what a strong supporter and fighter he had been for vet benefits and issues.
Now a significant group is enraged – not because of what he really said or meant, but because the RW echo machine took the Rove ball and ran with it, many asserting erroneously that he HAD insulted the troops. If they continue to diss him and he loses traction in some of his efforts on their behalf, it’s really sad – for all of them.
Also, “He has not hesitated at numerous occasions in his life to do just that.” Just what times would those be? Please don’t cite the comments to the Fulbright comission. His actual statements have been distorted yet were factual and have been proved not only true, but minor compared to the facts that eventually came out. If you have not actually listened or read his testimony (which a lot of people forget was under oath), please don’t spread that garbage.
tazzer Says:
November 16th, 2006 at 12:24 am
Tazzer, I must say that John Kerry DID NOT mean to degrade the troops. On the contrary, JK has continued to fight for our troops and veterans. I am proud to have the Senator speak out for us veterans. The whole thing is really old. It was a botched joke about a botched president. PERIOD! This Marine admires and respects John Kerry for all that he has done to give a voice to not only the current troops, but millions of vets that have gotten the short end of the stick from the Bush administration.
It really does stink going over and over this point with people, but I’m afraid everyone here at the DD and elsewhere MUST keep doing what we have done here. The only way to reverse this distortion is to keep doing the above in the blogs, person to person conversation, etc. It’s a tough cross to bear, but hey, the public is now seeing through W, Cheney, Rove, Iraq, and the like. We need a bada$$ form letter to post everytime we get one of these “uninformed” people here
Even Chris Mathews said on Donnie D’s show tonight that Kerry was talking about bush and how the media degraded the american people by thinking oh we got a fight but we must referee instead of letting the public see it for themselves. Donnie agreed and they both basically said the media, John 2 faced mccain, and the gop were hyping this up.
It won’t go away and the senator needs to get out there and continue to speak up and throw Mccain and hillary under the damn bus for a change.
I’ve jumped on quite a few folks about this joke farce and when they get presented with the facts to their face they back off.
What the militray and american public needs to realize is it was the bushes, GOP and msm that thought they weren’t smart not John Kerry.
As for you wing-nuts? Go to Ann” voter fraud” Coulter site and leave us the heck alone.
We aren’t backing down and you will get no validation here.
Hey did anyone watch Cspan tonight and see JK laughing with DiFi then on the final vote he said something to hillary and she kept ignoring him. I hope hillary gets hers soon enough. Hill, reid and schumer may think they can ignore Kerry but I hope it comes back to bite them.
I’m no fan of trent lott’s by any means but Lott will be Hill’s nightmare in the senate. He doesn’t like her and he will do his best to make sure to block her every chance he gets.
Pen,
Maybe Lott will give Hill a taste of what she would be up against as Pres.
Pen,
. I think the biggest thing that I feel is sort of a powerlessness to help the candidate I choose for ‘08. If he stays out of the limelight it’s hard to really go out there and try to get other people on the bandwagon. There’s just nothing new, and you have to basically push old positions, speeches and talking points (you know, like most of the other inhabitants inside the Beltway do every week 
. One of the greatest attributes of JK is he seems like he is always doing something new and is constantly provoking debate on the issues in this country. I liked that element a lot, and I miss being able to say “look what JK’s doing now for this country”.
I totally agree with you about the Senator “going public” again. There’s a lot of different and well thought out opinions on this (even among people here at DD who don’t often disagree a lot
Hey Pen,
Be sure to catch JK on Fox News Sunday on FOX network this Sunday. Airtimes are 9:00am and 6:00pm.
Hey, Showman thanks for the heads up on JK being on Fox. I said a week ago he needs to go to the heart of the enemy.
I hope he got some rests because he will need to have his A game on.
Pamela- will you have a transcript of it? It’s hard for me to watch fox but I’ll definitely try to check out the 6 PM show.
Javelin- JK has to get out there.
He can take a lead on Healthcare and the plight of small businesses in this country.
OF course he should still speak out on Iraq but I think Kerry would be a natural to speak out about dafur and the Congo.
Also, something to watch for as the new DC mayor tries to push for DC to have representation. JK would be a natural fit for that to.
DC needs to have a representative with voting power. Over a half a million people who pay taxes and get no representation.
All clinton did was hop on the bandwagon at the last minute of his presidency and get a license plate with “No taxation without representation”.
As slow as the feds are can you imagine waiting for congress to agree to whether your street gets repaired or if there is enough money in the budget for snow removal