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I can see we're going to have to set up some sort of "Democratic PR school" soon. There seem to be a few remedial lessons they are lacking, as the John Kerry incident demonstrates.
First of all -- I don't care if John Kerry was eating live babies on TV, one week out from an election you do not repeat GOP talking points. Ever. It makes you look like a big pussy who can't stand up to the Republicans, even when they're playing from an exceptionally weak hand on an issue you own. For all those anxious to be seen as the tough defenders of national security, huddling in a crouch position while they pummel you about the head and saying "yes, yes, we deserve this" is just not the best option.
Secondly -- did I mention that the Democrats own the issue of Iraq? Even the WSJ acknowledges it is the #1 issue influencing people's votes this election. If the Republicans want to bring it up, that's a perfect opportunity to pivot and attack:
- "John Kerry's inability to tell a joke probably should disqualify him from further appearances on Comedy Central, but I'm glad you brought up the topic of Iraq. What a fucking Republican quagmire that is..."
- "John Kerry is a decorated war hero and I have no doubt that his comments were meant to denigrate George W. Bush, who dodged military service. Why else would Bush be abandoning American soldiers behind enemy lines? I don't think anyone who had ever served in combat would ever do that, and I think you should ask my opponent what (he/she) has to say about this."
- "I'm glad you asked that, Chris. I think the real insult here to our military is being delivered by George Bush and my opponent (fill in the blank), who simply will not admit that the Administration's policies in Iraq have failed. That's why I'm running, so we can stop wasting $250 million a day in Iraq and bring our soldiers home."
See? It's that easy. Jesus H. tapdancing Christ, it's not like there's a shortage of material, George Bush's JAR is in the gutter and nobody trusts him to run this war. Tie him to your opponent then kick him every time someone mentions the "I" word.
How difficult is that?
(video by Jamie at Intoxination)
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fitz
GET OUT THE VOTE!!!
Volunteer today. Yes, I mean YOU.
If shy little egregious can get out there and Talk With People, you can too. The nation depends on YOU. No pressure.
I live for the day it’s you and Christy on TV instead of these clowns.
Logic…intelligence…actual answers to important questions…
Why Kerry lost the election. He is stiff as a board,takes himself too seriously, and doesn’t go for the jugular when it really counts. He should have shut up after the first really strong response. Why the hell doesn’t he trust his instincts? He’ll never be president.
You got it Jane. Any chance the spotlight feature can be enhanced with congresscritters?
Ok, egregious.
Campaigning for Steve Sinton in GA-06 today.
Any other Atlantans want a piece?
Let me know.
Right on Jane! Enough of this apologist caca, John Kerry can handle himself just fine and finally.
Dems, move along and realize there is nothing to see or smell here but your own self manufactured fear. Kerry’s gaffe handed you an opportunity.
Thanks Jane.
What egregious said.
Yes, Jane…
Take them to school!
You are so right, Jane. No real people are talking about what Kerry said, only those invested in keeping it in the news cycle. That video is phenomenal and worth a thousand words. Thanks for posting it, and I hope we can send it around and get some further exposure for it.
–
My post from near the last of the old thread.
GOP’s Arza resigns House seat over message with slur, obscenities
By LAURA WIDES-MUNOZ
Associated Press
Posted November 1 2006, 2:25 PM EST
HIALEAH — State Rep. Ralph Arza resigned Wednesday from the Legislature, bowing to pressure to quit after leaving messages filled with obscenities and a racial slur on a colleague’s voice mail.
snip
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/s outhflorida/sfl-11arza,0,7726693.story?c oll=sfla-home-headlines
John who?
We really, really need our own version of the Mighty Wurlitzer.
I’d just like to say that Jack Murtha did this on MSNBC this morning — just after the Lynn Cheney Interview Hour — and Andrea Mitchell could not get him off the show fast enough. SIGH How hard it is to not hand people the ammunition they then use to shoot you in the face?
Attack! Attack! ATTAAAAACK!
h/t Trex
Jane, you nailed it.
Am I alone in thinking that John Kerry doesn’t have a dang thing to apologize for?
All they needed was something to push George Allen’s thugs out of the news cycle. If it hadn’t been Kerry, it would have been something else - maybe water-skiing squirrels or just footage of shiny, shiny car keys jingling on the screen.
Meanwhile I’m waiting for the belated October surprise to turn up. Hows that carrier group doing off of Iran?
EPU’ed and OT, but hopefully of interest…
schedule for lamont bus tour has just been announced.
any interest in an fdl/bloggers meetup on saturday night in new haven for the grand finale (including Squirrel Nut Zippers performance) of the bus tour?
trex and tommy yum will already be there!
See a tongue-in-cheek posting that employs the same GOP tactic used in relation to Senator Kerry to creatively interpret remarks made by the President in the most unfavorable manner…here:
www.thoughttheater.com
My high school debate coach would have given me hell if I had wasted time addressing a tangential assertion of my opponent when there was a gaping hole just waiting to be ripped out of the heart of their argument.
Luckily W. is the gift that keeps giving. He just gave an interview saying Rummy stays until the end of his term.
Each day W. helps us by using his bully pulpit to keep Iraq right in the glare of the news. Strange.
Albatross @ 14
Umm, war games with area nations were set to start yesterday. If a GOP congressman gets caught in flagrante delicto with a live boy or a dead girl, watch out.
Albatross @ 14
exactly. ’bout time D pols figure out how to deal with it, since they ought to know that they will be confronted with it.
Oh yeah. I’ve got the South Park Jesus tapdancing my head now.
I guess only the Republicans observe the 11th amendment. I bet it’s the only one that they remember.
According to MSNBC News online, Kerry is cancelling campaign appearances.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13018908/
It’s possible he’s doing that at the request of candidates he was going to speak for, in which case he would be right to honor their requests.
But I hope that he is not cancelling appearances on his own volition. What he should be doing is taking every opportunity to use the spotlight to pound away at the Bush administration’s disasterous policies in Iraq, while ignoring the silly controversy over the botched joke.
Attack.
Great ad by Jaime! Wish someone would pick it up and run with it.
Right on Jane!
I have to admit that I cringed on seeing the clip of Kerry’s botched joke. I then had the opportunity to see more of the that speech leading up to the “botched joke”.
It is obvious that Kerry misspoke at most and the media being way too lazy besides conditioned in their duck and accommodate as the right-wing scream machine frames the “issue”. In the big picture, this is a relatively minor statement.
However, this makes me wonder if the unnamed Democrats voicing concern are the concern trolls who are behind a potential Democratic presidential candidate and they are feeling pressure to weaken a potential Kerry run.
Most of all though, I am furious with these weak-kneed Democrats who are voicing concern over this …… this is exactly how the right wings plays us and we are way too quick to feed that public narrative. No wonder people view Democrats as being weak.
Kerry came out swinging in his initial response and we should have applauded but instead we get the hand wringing from these nameless Democrats voicing their concerns.
Heck, I am a grandma with a bad hip and it makes me want to go out and kick a little Democratic butt on this.
Thanks for the therapeutic rant opportunity.
Furthermore, Ford in TN is now on my list as a Tennessee Lieberman
Since we’re on the subject of Idiot Son, I wanted to submit this. It’s also cross-posted at theLeftCoaster and dailyKos.
http://tinyurl.com/ye6jtb
I created this brief video from the New York Times’ October 29th photo essay, “A Mornful Month”.
This photo essay brings all the loss and sorrow home.
I hope it stays with you.
End this war. Vote November 7.
selise @ 15
LOL - I just sent you an email with the schedule.
…I see your point, Sean, and I would like to take this opportunity to ask Mr Bush,Jr. to apologize to our troops for putting them under foreign command; for sending them to die on a bogus mission; for undermanning the mission; for withholding armor; for making them pay for their own armor; for not allowing photos of their coffins to be printed; for not attending their funerals; for cutting their benefits; for exposing them to depleted uranium; for not having an exit strategy; for not listening to your generals……
Mr Bush, when will you apologize to the troops?
Mr Bush, why won’t you apologize to our troops?
Mr Bush, why do you hate our troops?
This would also be a great time for the Democrats to roll out an ad that shows Bush doing his hilarious “Where are those darned WMDs” shtick that he did for the White House Whore-respondents Dinner.
“You thought John Kerry’s joke was in poor taste? At least 2800 American soldiers didn’t die because of it.”
PR 102: Attacking with Facts
1) http://www.washingtonpost.com/.....00621.html
Air Force said to seek $50 bln emergency funds
By Andrea Shalal-Esa
Reuters
Tuesday, October 31, 2006; 2:50 PM
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Air Force is asking the Pentagon’s leadership for a staggering $50 billion in emergency funding for fiscal 2007 — an amount equal to nearly half its annual budget, defense analyst Loren Thompson of the Lexington Institute said on Tuesday.
The request is expected to draw criticism on Capitol Hill, where lawmakers are increasingly worried about the huge sums being sought “off budget” to fund wars, escaping the more rigorous congressional oversight of regular budgets.
Another source familiar with the Air Force plans said the extra funds would help pay to transport growing numbers of U.S. soldiers being killed and wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan.
2) http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11.....r=homepage
Bush Reaffirms Support for Rumsfeld and Cheney
By DAVID STOUT
Published: November 1, 2006
WASHINGTON, Nov. 1 — President Bush reaffirmed his support for two of the most polarizing figures in his administration today, saying he wanted Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld as well as Vice President Dick Cheney to remain until the end of his presidency.
The president’s verbal embrace of Mr. Rumsfeld and Mr. Cheney, offered during an interview with The Associated Press, seemed to be another reflection of Mr. Bush’s belief in the basic wisdom of the Iraq war and his determination not to back away from it as the Congressional elections approach.
Mr. Bush praised Mr. Rumsfeld’s supervision of the military campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan and his attempts to revamp the Pentagon bureaucracy. “I’m pleased with the progress we’re making,” Mr. Bush said during the interview in the Oval Office.
The president said he valued the advice and judgment of Mr. Cheney, by most accounts one of the most influential vice presidents of modern times. “The good thing about Vice President Cheney’s advice is, you don’t read about it in the newspaper after he gives it,” Mr. Bush said.
[snip]
“Both men are doing fantastic jobs,” Mr. Bush told The A.P….
You’re absolutely right Jane. These spineless Dems haven’t a clue. Maybe the Dems want to keep the Repubs in town because they’re the only living entity in the Beltway with lower IQs than the Dems and their consultants.
(The repubs can’t govern, but they can sure campaign.)
That Girl,
No, you are not alone. But the over/under on how many days (hours?) its going to be before the Dems throw him under the bus is 2. And the Dems need no PR lessons. They need a spine transplant.
Why is it that those who “get it” aren’t running the party and those who are running the party don’t get it?
Just askin’.
OT - This article just got my tears going this afternoon. One of our female soldiers who died in Iraq back in 2003 apparently did not die from an accidental firearms discharge (as this administration would want you to believe) but COMMITTED SUICIDE after having to interrogate Iraqi prisoners. What was she having to do that after two days of interrogations she refused to participate and instead took her own life? But no, we don’t torture….
Makes me sick to my stomach.
Christy Hardin Smith @ 10
egregious @
2
FDL TV - egregious you are a genius! Stop my pounding heart! ;~D
That was most refreshing Jane — like a tornado ripping through a ranch in Crawford, Texas at the same time a Noreaster is ripping apart some home on the coast of Maine. Of course without injuries and/or death — in case the NSA is doing a particuarly thorough monitoring job on innocent Americans — as well as not to further the mistaken MSM notion that I am one of the many crazy left-wing wackos.
But I am sure, like Kerry’s comments, the MSM would be more than thrilled to take it out of context if it sells their souls further down that hole of purgatory with which they are galloping at full speed.
two beers @ 27
Why can’t people on television talk about these issues? Are they just joking around to show how clever they are? People are dying. It is important to talk about why.
Great post!
I know choochmac @ 33. ;(
From the chimp’s interview on the doughy one’s show:
Fling that poo right back at them! Bring ‘em on.
newspaperbrat, I may indeed be a genius but it is cause for much anguish, am I using my talents sufficiently to serve God. It’s kind of an ongoing question.
Ok ok ok, I’m going on that walk now.
Once again, FDL is the only major blog working right now. Dkos, AmericaBlog, Atrios, and MYDD all seem to be down.
Hastert gets dumped on for sheltering a pedophile and and Bush campaigns with him. Limbaugh gets dumped on for making fun of someone with Parkinson’s disease and Bush shows up on his show.
John “Shecky” Kerry makes a botched joke - and I gather he is now the pariah of the Dem leadership - as everyone runs for cover.
These are the same idiots who allow themselves to be “bitch slapped” by Lieberman (who is now putting the three potential Dem congressional seats in jeopardy) and do absolutely nothing about it.
By the way, what happened today that would prompt Jane’s statement of disgust? Can someone update me on what’s going on? Have there been Dems on TV who have allowed themselves to be brow beaten over this fabricated situation?
And don’t get me started on Ford & Lieberman.
Kos isn’t down.
MyDD isn’t down.
Atrios and americablog are on blogspot, which is often hinky.
#32. Read Glenn Greenwald’s most recent post. I think he has it right. Those of us who saw the fascism from the get-go in the Bush wing of the Republican Party get frustrated because everyone else was so slow to wake up. The Dem professionals are so traumatized by three straight losses that they have lost the capacity to judge shifts in public opinion. It doesn’t help matters that they made their bones under trying to shave a few points off the middle instead of trying to convince the middle. I just had a colleague come into my office wringing his hands over Kerry. He falls into the latter category.
Jane, I wish you were advising these people before they go on TV, though Wrangle performed magnificently yesterday and Kerry fought back. It is the media. Anything to keep from looking directly into the eye of the storm. It’s amazing that Katrina got the coverage it did. Due only to the fact that the anchors were down there in person and the physical footage was so overwhelming.
Yes, let’s weigh the issues and make it really simple for the people to understand just what is at stake here ..Botched War vs. botched joke.
Dean response to the the Prez up on Raw Story:
http://www.rawstory.com/news/2....._1101.html
Oh a Kerry Fu#*!#g apology on CNN now. Idiot!
I didn’t know Jesus tapdanced…
They were for a good 15 minutes. That’s the second time in the last 2 days where I went to all those sites, and this was the only one working!!
I expect them all to have a tough time come election day!
OldSchool @ 7
“A big Pussy!”
Jane, You da’ man!
That video was great. Good job, Jamie.
I know I am a one-note commenter here, but more on CA-11:
The Big Dog is coming to CA-11!
Tonight, at 9:00 pm in Stockton, President Clinton will be here for a GOTV rally for Jerry McNerney. The campaign only had 24 hours notice, so if you are anywhere near Stockton or have friends or family near, please come one, come all!
RSVP here.
No one should ever refer to Dick Cheney other than as “Five Deferment Dick.” George Bush is “Flight Suit George” and, of course, don’t forget “Blue Man Rush.” Let’s ask Blue Man Rush how many viagra it takes to stiffen his spine. Remind the country it takes more than landing on an aircraft carrier that you have steaming in circles to make you a “war president.” Remind everyone that it takes more than sending no bid contracts to your old company for Five Deferment Dick to understand how our economy really works. Turn the clowns into real clowns in the minds of the people.
“They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we.” –GWB
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/a.....bush1.html
Love your comment regarding Comedy Central–great minds must think alike. :)
I started my first defense of Kerry at Liberal Values with comparisons to David Letterman and Johnny Carson.
While I agree that this gaffe may disqualify Kerry from being on Comedy Central, or from being the next host of The Tongiht Show, Kerry certainly followed in Johnny Carson’s tradition of turning a botched joke into a success. In Kerry’s case, instead of following up with a joke as Carson would, Kerry followed with his strong attack on the dishonesty of the Republicans.
Jane - exactly.
And Olbermann last night, alone amongst the idiot talking heads, was beautiful:
“Senator John Kerry has, in essence, called out President Bush for not being smart, not studying, and being intellectually lazy, and the president and his minions have replied by demanding Kerry apologize to the troops in Iraq. Kerry called them stupid, and they were too stupid to know he called them stupid.”
Of course, in the repubs’ case, calling them too stupid is being generous. It’s not that they’re too stupid to know he called them stupid (at least, the Tony Snowjobs in the WH aren’t that stupid), it’s that they’re shamefully, intentionally, and pathologically disingenuous - as they have been about everything else.
If it’s not clear to all Americans by now, it bloody well should be: they distort and lie… about everything. That’s the real outrage.
Pivot and attack. Absofrigginlutely.
Young Turks has hired Mike Stark.
as i said, for the publicans’ outrage to be valid, they have to concede the point that the men and women in uniform are indeed “stuck” in iraq.
.
.
re 36 and 27
“Why can’t people on television talk about these issues? Are they just joking around to show how clever they are? People are dying. It is important to talk about why.”
Apparently, they consider asking such questions to be “heckling” and deserving of physical assault.
Kerry is lucky we’re all holding our collective breaths till next week or I’m sure he’d be turned into permanent ground beef by our side. He may still be next Wednesday. Fortunately, the otherside is caught between a rock and a hard place with this. Small favors.
Sen. John Kerry issues a statement saying: “I personally apologize to any service member, family member, or American who was offended” by comments he made about being “stuck in Iraq.”
raven - Imagine me throwing large objects at my TV!
Egregious, you da man, or woman, whatever. I bow to your superior coveted zero posting acumen.
I don’t know which is more pathetic; the repubs demanding an apology for a botched joke, or Kerry apologizing for a botched joke. They’re all a bunch of pussies, as far as I’m concerned.
And I’m now done with this issue, gotta go get Webb elected.
Moran doing a great job wrt Kerry and Webb on Tucker.
heh! exactly, Dru @ 56.
Just spent a few minutes watching CNN and MSNBC continue to flog this “story.” Since it wasn’t good for the blood pressure, I flipped over to AMC and was relieved to see that we won WWII.
It’s so obvious that Kerry was taking a shot at Bush, and the corporate media is once again carrying water for an increasingly desperate GOP. It would be sad if it wasn’t so stupid, and it would be stupid if it wasn’t so infuriating.
Fiyero @ 54
KO’s going to make a “Commentary” at the end of tonight’s show. Hopefully - HOPEFULLY - he will finish Kerry’s line with the question I’d really like to see raised. Namely, “President Bush and other members of Republican Leadership: are YOUR children fighting in the war YOU created?”
Why, oh, why won’t anyone ask that simple question? Maybe tonight…
Wolfie on CNN now reading John Kerry’s latest written statement - profound apologies to the troops among others. It is personally very painful to hear his words. Not unlike my late husband, who was also an officer in Viet Nam, the melancolia and sadness Kerry carries in his heart is painful and almost unbearable to witness.
Love the ad above. It says it all.
Kerry should be able to handle the damn pivot all by himself: “I’m sorry I offended the men and women fighting in the quagmire in Iraq.” Short, simple, to the point. It will get play on all of the networks, and it conveys two major points: (1) Kerry is apologizing for being an ass, and (2) Iraq is a mess. It will immediately shift the debate to the failure of the Iraq war. Try it on your right-wing friends: “I think Kerry should apologize for offending the men and women fighting in the quagmire in Iraq.”
Kerry has been ‘dead man walking’ since the election. Now with his latest gaffe (remember ‘I voted against it before I voted for it”?), he has helped to scatter his own ashes. Having said that, I am uncomfortable with his DEM peers calling his comments “stupid” and “inappropriate”.
Jeeze, even Boehner waited a couple of days before he stuck his shiv into Hassert.
I am really down today … bummed out to the max. Seeing these Dems roll over and play dead makes me realize how deep a hole we are in.
Even if we win next week, we still have some serious climbing to do. It all seems overwhelming.
While Tony Snow is demanding an apology and the media is all twittering about Kerry putting his foot in his mouth, our fearless leader Dubya was putting something else in his mouth as he fellates Iraqi Prime Minister al-Maliki. al-Maliki ordered US troops off the streets of Baghdad after they blockaded Sadr City while searching for a kidnapped American Soldier. Bush caved to al-Malaki and left one of our own behind to the tender mercies of Moqtada al-Sadr, the real boss of Iraq, while he bitches and whines about John Kerry. This is just total bullshit. Bush is all mouth and no balls.
Great. Kerry just apologized to the troops, which is a complete capitulation to the GOP talking point. Goddamn it. Now I’m gonna have to go out and buy another pint of ice cream to eat tonight just to feel better.
Taylor Marsh, not surprisingly, has a good take on this too.
Jeebus, why is he apologizing and canceling appearances.
I just wrote an angry email to my Sen. Hillary. I am one pissed off liberal today. What kind of f&*(ing idiot can believe that a joke, botched or not, does not get 105 Americans killed in a month?
I am tired of coddling these people. If the joke or the point is too smart for you –buy a damn dictionary, read a freaking book and free yourself from f&*king ignorance.
God, I am so f&*(king tired of idiocy.
(Deep breath, deep breath, deep breath.)
Ok, now back to phone banking.
James Carville–mole in the Democratic Party?
EllenG @
69
Ellen, I felt that way last week, but today for some strange reason I am optimistic. In fact, in a few minutes I am going over to the Charlie Brown office to make calls for a few hours.
This is the
beginning of the endsecond act in that play where the DLC types get purged from the party. (The first act was the rest of us waking up; essential, but unseen.) The third act begins November 8.Prairie Sunshine @ 74
Nah, he’s already sleeping with the enemy.
Too obvious!
Tas @ 51
My standard line (which I use as often as I can :) ), is “George Bush has more costumes than the Village People.”
That gets people thinking in several directions….
Exactly
Kerry is lame
So what
He is also not a candidate (thank god!)
i’m leary of the soldier behind enemy lines story though
one report said he was out of the green zone without permission to visit family
i would keep the focus on the larger ABJECT FAILURE
just sayin’
Terry Jeffries [sp?]–the high-pitched voice of the rightwing on CNN right now still keeping up the anti-Kerry shilling.
All out of time to discuss anything except Kerry/apology…. thanks a lot, Wolfie. More Rethug Infomercial efforting.
Jane, your talking points are great! Where are the Dems with the savvy to use ‘em?
John Kerry yesterday said he has nothing to apologize for (he doesn’t) yet today the papers are picking up his chat with Imus this morning as “an apology”. What a sack of shit media this country has! I heard the same Kerry speech everyone else did and never thought he was aiming it at anyone but BushCo. I guess it’s coz I’m educated and did my homework.
But John, you should’ve said No, I’m not sorry, it’s only really sad that the assanine media and a percentage of stupid Americans would’ve heard me ragging on anyone but Bush.
Geez, it’s not hard to stand up and say Fuck You, you’re stupid coz you didn’t get it. Never back-pedal.
Dan
PS, I’m not a lurker. I just don’t have time to write after reading every word from my fellow firedogs. I’m a better listener than orator or writer.
oh
i really meant to say
Jane, you hit it exactly though
NEVER let the opposition frame your argument,
ESPECIALLY WHEN YOU ARE WINNING
I just had to share this from John Cole/Ballon Juice (yeah, Kerry again):
“Apparently Kerry apologized this morning on Imus (via the Instapundit) for screwing up his joke.
I guess this means we are winning in Iraq now that Kerry has capitulated. Thank goodness the right-wing blogosphere was successful in removing that last barrier to victory.
What, you say? Iraq is still a mess? Shit. How are the Democrats causing us to fail now?”
Now, there’s a Democratic response if I ever heard one!
btw - my personal impression upon hearing kerry’s speach was that he is best ignored
Prairie Sunshine @ 73
Indeed, though I like to use shrew.
What does
“James Carville–mole in the Democratic Party?”
refer to?
Josh Marshall at TPM has a post up that Kroll and Bechtel are pulling people out of Iraq. Apparently it’s too dangerous for the hired security folks. Shrub, remind me again about how well it’s going over there?
From Whippersnapp:
… [W]hen I first heard the clip I figured Kerry was referring to the poverty draft, the virtual Hobson’s choice between squalor, privation and crime or military service faced by so many low-income Americans. It’s a real problem, and broaching the matter in public has nothing to do with a belief that our troops are retards, which is basically what the right wing has distilled Kerry’s remark down to.
Kerry apologized this morning, but he should have left it there. Instead he went on to offer a highly suspect equivocation, parroted by the left’s own echo chamber, that he was referring to President Bush as “stuck in Iraq.” As we all know, Bush is not stuck there, our troops are. Bush is just in a jam. He does not need to worry about death or disfigurement and wouldn’t even face removal from office by a Democrat-controlled Congress. No, Kerry made a poorly-worded reference to the over-representation of the lower-middle class and poor in the military, a subject about which we need to have a national dialogue. The shame is that he then lied about it. …
more at Whippersnapp
Aside from the issue of whether Kerry should apologize or not, this whole mess could have been avoided if Kerry weren’t trying to promote himself for the 2008 presidential election.
While I voted for Kerry last time around, I have to say that he turned out to be a profound disappointment. He abandoned the ship in Ohio without much of a fight (the Diebold machines and voting irregularities saga). Whatever happened to “no surrender baby?” And now Kerry sticks his big foot in his mouth as he tries to grab some face time for himself, in my opinion.
Kerry needs to just sit down, shut the hell up and think about someone other than himself. The Dems are going to do well on Nov. 7 and we don’t need any distractions from folks like John Kerry. He’s a hindrance rather than a help.
salon.com War Room
choochmac @
33
As I read the story I choked a bit. My wife asked WTF and I couldn’t tell her without taking a minute to compose.
The nature of warfare is such that to operate day to day one has to reach a disconnect. The feelings that are normal in a human being are shunted into the background, paranoia becomes a survival trait. The warrior becomes a swaggering life taker, a heart breaker.
That was how I coped, then. Others could not make that transition. One man in my company laid down on a bunk, pulled the pin on a frag, and slipped it under his pillow.
I often joked that the most dangerous thing in the world was a pissed off 19 year old in a war zone. I was talking about myself. I still wake with a shout from troubled sleep forty years later.
Jane — what are the possibilities for further distribution of the video. It’s the best response I’ve seen.
Do the video links go through with Spotlight?
neurophius @ 85
without knowing the context, the simple all-purpose answer is “just about anything he does”. oh, and sleeps w/ enemy.
neurophius @ 84
I don’t have the link but the story of James calling Mary on election night ‘04 and telling her the Kerry plan (or lack there of) comes to mind.
If we are now in the habit of asking for apologies, I officially ask Delores Brewer of Alexandria, Louisiana to apologize to Jacques Roy and to every single woman and man who has been molested and raped.
I would add to Jane’s counterpoint bullet list the following:
“All of the time President Bush and his subordinates spend thinking about and speaking about Kerry’s gaffe — tell me again how that’s time spent protecting our troops?”
_
Aravosis turns the tables:
jeffreyw — glad you’re still with us. You’re not alone; there are lots of us here. Hang in there; stay with us.
Dam’ right Jane! It’s SO not difficult it’s hard not to just stand agog at this almost pavlovian tendency to lie down and go limp on cue.
The country desperately needs and deserves better than this, but the fact is the Democratic party is the only organization with the nation-wide presence and experience to have a hope of countering the Republicans’ subversive agenda, institutionalized corruption, extremism and incompetence.
But to paraphrase Rumsfeld, we have to go to the polls with the Democratic party we have, not the one we *ought* to have, and if we can just get a beachhead somewhere, it’ll be a start. Maybe we can slow them down, start to turn things, and in the next few elections improve the ratio of real Democrats to DINOs in Congress and the statehouses, too.
A Senator Lamont, if we can manage it, would be a nice harbinger of things to come on that score. Might even temper just a bit the DLC crowd’s likely sense that taking a house of Congress totally vindicates their long-standing policy of “why risk being an effective opposition when we can twiddle our thumbs and wait, and when the Republicans self-destruct the voters’ll give us back the government without us having to get all sweaty and icky earning it (cuz that might upset someone y’know)”.
scarecrow @ 97
thanks for your service, jeffreyw.
All of this is so clearly a distraction from what is actually happening in Baghdad and across Iraq. Major wheels are coming off over there. This is all a Republican smoke screen to distract us from the fact that the Iraq War has moved one giant step closer to outright chaos.
Why do we dignify this bullshit with an answer?
I’m here at Lamont HQ by the way. The mood is upbeat and determined and focused like a laser.
Why are we letting ourselves get sidetracked by obvious GOP dirty tricks?
David Sirota is very handsome in person.
That is all.
punaise — that’s the second time I’ve heard of Boehner making that argument; it got no attention the first time. The first time it was to defend Bush: “Bush listens to the Generals, so if we’re losing, . . . [it must be their fault.]”
Bravo. I’d another:
Bush backs down from Sadr city and put soldiers in harms way just to win election.
I’m not sure who benefits from another day of discussion of Kerry’s comment- but my guy it- the dems do. Why- cause they’re ahead and the goopers need somethin big to break through- this doesn’t smell like something that wil lead em to victory- so by all means goopers- holler about Kerry as you watch your ship slip into the icy grip of the deep.
Leading Dem harrumphing over Kerry - another example of the Dems acting like victims of spousal abuse - if we cower enough in the corner mayabe the abuser will decide to like us. Oh, by the way, the abuser is not the GOP, it is the fricking MSM.
TRex - glad you made it safely to CT. Now, behave yourself!
curve666 @ 80
You (and Jane) get it. The only problem with Kerry’s immediate press release is that he didn’t make it clear in no uncertain terms that when he referred to those who didn’t study hard and try to learn, he was speaking of President Bush. Yes, you and I get it because we hear the actual clip and get the joke, but those disgruntled GOPers who have nothing to rally them to the polls only listen to the GOP spin. People like Hannity and Rush (not to mention Snow Job) can easily spin this into an anti-military statement. That gets the blood pressure rising in the GOP base.
What Kerry and other Dems should be repeating over & over is that he wasn’t clear when he said “then you get stuck in Iraq” should have been “then you send thousands of Americans to Iraq and get our military stuck there without a plan”. I wish that was in the very first paragraph of Kerry’s statement, and that he then talked about how Bush has not been supporting Kerry’s military comrades (body armor, no protection or plan for managing the war, leaving a soldier captured in Iraq, etc.)
While I was happy with Kerry’s tone in his response yesterday, I sure was disgusted with his retreat. The media (including CNN radio, which gives the news on my AAR station) has made the top story of the day about how “the flack over Kerry’s statements, which indicated that if you don’t study or are not smart, then you’ll end up stuck fighting in Iraq”, basically going only with the GOP spin. Then, they follow it with how Kerry is “withdrawing from the campaign trail due to the controversy”. This makes him look weak and guilty.
Now, the MSM is following up with “Kerry’s apology” (see sites like MSNBC.com, which is making it their headline). Just like you mentioned, Dan, they’re gonna run with the “Kerry and the Dems are anti-military pussies” meme.
Kerry should be on the offensive, just like Jane said - and all of his colleagues should do the same.
Why in the hell do our Democratic party leaders NOT understand this? Why can’t they clearly state what needs to be said: the issue is the WAR, stupid. And Bush has been the Stupid One - The Decider whose only clear decision has been to put our troops in harm’s way and leave them there indefinitely, with no defined goals or an exit strategy. Bush continues to dishonor our troops every day with his failed policies and incompetent staff.