John Kerry supports the troops

BINGO! WE HAVE BINGO!!!

 

Chris --
I give you a decent, respectable answer, and I get back invective that you learned from your I Remember The 60's coloring book. Don't you believe that soldiers in every war have come to the point that war crimes, as we now know the concept, were "part of their jobs."?

 

Sarcasm font must not have been on. Sorry.

 

Oops. My bad. Glad to hear that people are at least level-headed enough to realize that Bush is a kook, too.

Hopefully, everyone now agrees that Kerry meant no harm to the military with his blunder. But it still doesn't mean he escapes cleanly. The guy shouldn't be knocking the president in front of students anyway. Save that stuff for the campaign trail. Frankly, I'm not sure I have high hopes for the '08 presidential election. We have Kerry the buffoon and a lady who didn't boot her man to the curb when he was caught having an affair with an intern. Please God, give me Obama and a prayer.

 

Everybody doesn’t agree that Kerry meant the military no harm. I honestly think that he said exactly what he meant. His “botched joke” was his third or so try at an excuse and came, what 48 hours later? After his “I will never apologize” didn’t fly. He didn’t “misread” it. When you went back and compared what the he came up with 48 hours later, and then read what he said, there is no way he “misread” it.

This isn’t surprising. Kerry has a 30 year history of throwing troops under the bus while behind a microphone, even though he is a decorated war vet.

I guess the strongest argument that can be made is “he would never do that – he was a soldier as well”. Fine, people change. He’s clearly not the same man he was 35 years ago. Shaq won three NBA championships while playing for the Lakers. Try to find a nice word he says about the organization now.

It doesn’t mean that Kerry is history’s greatest monster. It just showed a window in the man. If you’re a democrat, you should be happy. His national political career is now over, and you don’t have to worry about him making it to the big stage in ’08 and sticking his foot in his mouth again.

 

This about the most glib, fact-free summation of the situation I've heard in the past week.
Nobody -- n-o-b-o-d-y -- has done more for veterans in Congress than John Kerry. The idea that he's anti-military would be laughable even if it wasn't coming from important people who have enabled Donald Rumsfeld. I think it's time for you to go back to posting stories about scary Muslims now.

 

I don't care if he personally cleans the bed pans at the VA hospital. The talking point wasn't Kerry's record in congress.

The point of this thread (a subject you really REALLY have trouble focusing on) is Kerry's remark in Pasadena. Get it, Fenian? That is what this thread is about. His remark in Pasadena. Not George Bush, like you tried to do five different times on this thread. Not 1,000 other things. His remark in Pasadena.

That he thinks that you have to get an education or else, you'll become a dreg of society with no other alternative than to become a soldier and get stuck in Iraq. That's what he said, that is what, IMO, he meant. It fits perfectly with his modus operandi of speaking about troops for the last 30 years behind the microphone, IMO.

Continue on with your childish insults. You haven't started the name calling yet.

 

Nor do i intend to.
But the paraphrase of what Kerry said is, again, fact-free and, honestly, stupid. What possible benefit would accrue to him for saying what you accuse him of having said? Seriously. What advantage is there to be gained? He called George Bush stupid, which he is, and he didn't do it well. To read what he said as an insult to the troops is, well, to be something of a sucker.

 

I, as have you, have spent a lot of time, on this issue this past week. The reasons, IMO, that I believe he said what he meant, are as follows:

The subject of context, or, out of context, has been brought up several times here. Kerry was bashing GWB. But the last 10 words before that youtube clip started, were something to the effect of: "Let me talk to you about education." Education, not GWB, but education. I don't have a link, but someone can find it. That might not be word for word, but close enough, IIRC.

So when he says:"Let me talk to you about education." And then:

"You know, education, if you make the most of it, and you study hard, and you do your homework and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well. If you don’t, you get stuck in Iraq."

I can connect the dots. As I've said before, he's had a history of throwing troops under the bus while speaking.

When you write, "Seriously. What advantage is there to be gained?" - none that I can think of. He was in his element, feeling good, college crowd (if PCC is considered college), and perhaps he said what he felt.

I am too far past giving celebrities and politicians the benefit of the doubt and think, "nah, he/she would never say/do that! That would be too stupid". Who would ever think that a congressman, Foley, would be dumb enough to send sex IMs to a page? Or take big bags of traceable money, like Duke Cunningham? Who would ever be dumb enough, like Kenny Rogers, to put a big clump of pine tar on your hand on national tv?

Who would ever think that congressional leaders would call the internet a series of tubes? Or that they sent an internet? Who would believe a senator would crash his car in a river and go home to leave his date dead? And get away with it?

You wouldn't give the benefit of the doubt of "too stupid to actually say that" if this were a Republican. I don't give the benefit of the doubt to politicians from either party.

I firmly believe he meant what he said. I don't know for sure. It's just what I think, and I think there's enough support for it. If one's a Kerry supporter, one can come up with enough evidence to justify that it was just a botched joke. At the end of the day, nobody is going to change each other's minds.

And with that, I've made my last post on this thread. There must be more anti-muslim stories out there.

 

Poindexter, YOU brought up Kerry's track record by alluding to something he did 35 years ago. And some folks actually believe he showed bravery and great personal conviction for standing up against some of the horrors he saw on the battle field. And don't forget that he was a very young and impressionable man at that time.

He knew it was going to be an unpopular move in the eyes of some members of the military, but he did it because he does care about the United States, its military and the images of both around the world. And, at a basic level, he believed in justice and a person's right to live in peace. The record shows there were atrocities committed in Vietnam. And that should be enough to give Kerry the benefit of the doubt.

Is he perfect? No, he isn't. But then, he doesn't even have a chance in the world of public opinion if people are going to disclude his excellent track record of supporting the troops through his voice in Congress. How exactly can you tell FB that none of that matters while you're basing your whole premises on something that happened 35 years ago?

 

Kerry is an incandescent assclown, but for entirely other reasons.

But I don't know that any class valedictorian or salutorian is going to turn down a chance to study at a Princeton, Stanford or the University of Chicago and say, "Nope, you know what Mom and Pop, I do believe I'll be going to Iraq next year."

 

Poindexter's not too good at analysing things or getting below the surface. That's why he thinks Kerry meant it.

But then anyone who accuses Kerry of "throwing troops under the bus for the last 30 years" can't be taken seriously.

And yes, just post your Muslim stories. At least you don't have to think.