APOLOGY ACCEPTED. LET’S MOVE ON
A day late and a dollar short but welcome nevertheless:
As a combat veteran, I want to make it clear to anyone in uniform and to their loved ones: my poorly stated joke at a rally was not about, and never intended to refer to any troop.
I sincerely regret that my words were misinterpreted to wrongly imply anything negative about those in uniform, and I personally apologize to any service member, family member, or American who was offended.
Short, sweet, and to the point. Sincere? My friend Bird Dog at Maggies Farm made a point overlooked, I believe, by many on both the right and the left:
Let me begin by saying that I do not think that Kerry misspoke. I believe he said what he meant, regardless of whether it is what he was scripted to say.
Why do I think that? Because what he said is classic, typical Eastern lefty condescending elitist talk: I hear this kind of thing at every Cambridge cocktail party. It is completely normal talk in the Kerry’s circles. And because he is still stuck in 1968.
I’ve been back and forth on the issue of whether he botched a joke or, as BD suggests, simply was being himself in disparaging the troops. In the end, since his apology was so obviously forced upon him, we’ll never know where the truth lies.
Of course, the Senator couldn’t let an opportunity slip by to blame someone else for his own hubris and stupidity:
It is clear the Republican Party would rather talk about anything but their failed security policy. I don’t want my verbal slip to be a diversion from the real issues. I will continue to fight for a change of course to provide real security for our country, and a winning strategy for our troops.
Does he expect us to believe that he really wants to implement a “winning strategy” in order to “win” the war when he has offered a timetable for withdrawal not based on anything except the passage of time? The Senator’s withdrawal resolution was rejected by the Senate 86-13 and would have required all American troops to pull out of Iraq by July 1, 2007, one year from the date of passage.
Two weeks later, 11 insurgent groups demanded that American troops leave Iraq in 2 years. In short, the enemy was willing to give our military twice as long to quit Iraq as the Senator from Massachusetts.
I guess that’s a liberal’s idea of “victory.”
And Kerry’s acknowledgement that his “verbal slip” was a “diversion” could mean that the issue resonated a lot deeper with the American people than many Democrats are willing to admit. Not surprising if you peruse lefty websites and take a gander at the comments left by the netnuts that talk about how retarded or ignorant our men in uniform for being suckers and defending the United States. With this kind of attitude prevalent on the left, the Democrats were probably desperate to put that display of “patriotism” and “supporting the troops” back in the basement where they’ve tried to keep it the entire campaign season.
They tie it up right next to the economy - another issue that’s hardly seen the light of day this election season.
Kerry’s gaffe and forced apology have injected an unknown element into the campaign going into the final few days. My own sense is that it may affect a few state wide races - Burns and Talent in Montana and Missouri especially may benefit. But on the local level in Congressional districts, it might not be more than a small boost to Republican turnout. Helpful but not decisive.
Will Democrats be able to forget this and give Kerry another look when the 2008 campaign season starts? Stay tuned.
UPDATE
Allah has a list of who is accepting the apology and who isn’t.
Preston has a point about the statement being an attack ad more than an apology. But six days before an election, would we expect anything else?
As for the others, they’re not going to get anything better from Kerry plus the story is now dead. Making a commotion about his apology might be a good way to squeeze one more statement or blog post out of the matter but for all practical purposes, it’s over. Let’s move on.
UPDATE II
Ladies and Gentlemen…May I present a prominent member of the new majority party:
I don’t want to be around people too afraid of their own shadows to be worth anything. I want to be around fighters.
Like Sherrod Brown:
Rep. Sherrod Brown, a Democrat leading in late polls in his bid to unseat Republican Sen. Mike DeWine, said Republicans are merely trying to change the subject. “The people who should apologize are George Bush and Mike DeWine for sending our troops into battle without body armor and without examining the cooked intelligence,” he said.
Thats the way you show strength. That’s the way you beat back bullies. That’s the way you win in America. Not by going around whining about “apologies” and worried that Rove and his Republican bullies might say “boo!”
All you hand-wringers — grow some cojones or get the frak out of our way.
Somebody botches a joke. Big f**king deal. Laugh at those who would make it an issue, kick them in the shin for good measure, then move on.
Sincerely yours,
Kerry Finally Apologizes Update: Apology rejected by pro troop group
From his website:
Statement of Senator John Kerry
As a combat veteran, I want to make it clear to anyone in uniform and to their loved ones: my poorly stated joke at a rally was not about, and never intended to refer to any troop.
I sincerely regret t…
Trackback by Leaning Straight Up — 11/1/2006 @ 7:17 pm
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Pingback by FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog » John Kerry Watch: Kerry Makes Direct Apology to Troops — 11/1/2006 @ 7:34 pm
Well, I certainly do NOT accept his insincere apology! After all, just how many times does he have to denigrate the troops before we believe what he says, not what he says he would like us to believe?
I still consider his actions during the Vietnam War to be the actions of a traitor and his statements (regarding the military) during the past few years enhance that belief.
Comment by Deagle — 11/1/2006 @ 7:42 pm
DEVASTATING on Kerry:
Wednesday, November 01, 2006
Kerryism [Victor Davis Hanson]
Kerry surely must be one of the saddest Democratic liabilities around. Some afterthoughts about his latest gaffe, which is one of those rare glimpses into an entire troubled ideology:
(1) How could John Kerry, born into privilege, and then marrying and divorcing and marrying out of and back into greater inherited wealth, lecture anyone at a city college about the ingredients for success in America? If he were to give personal advice about making it, it would have to be to marry rich women. Nothing he has accomplished as a senator or candidate reveals either much natural intelligence or singular education. Today, Democrats must be wondering why they have embraced an overrated empty suit, and ostracized a real talent like Joe Lieberman.
(2) How could Kerry possibly claim that he was thinking of the uneducated in the context of George Bush, who, after all, went to Harvard and Yale?
(3) Some of the brightest and most educated Americans are not only in the military, but veterans of Iraq. Two of the best educated minds I have met-Col. Bill Hix and Lt. Col. Chris Gibson, both Hoover Security Fellows-were both Iraqi veterans. What is striking about visiting Iraq is the wealth of talent there, from privates to generals. Without being gratuitously cruel, the problem of mediocrity is not in the ranks of the military, but on our university campuses, where half-educated professors and non-serious students killing time are ubiquitous. Personally, I’d wager the intelligence of a Marine Corps private any day over the average D.C. journalist. Every naval officer I met at the USNA, without exception, seemed brighter than John Kerry, whose “brilliance”, after all, has managed to offend millions of voters on the eve of a pivotal election. If the Democrats lose, it will be almost painful to watch the recriminations against Kerry fly.
(4) This is not the first, but third, time he has denigrated soldiers in the middle of a war-and there is a systematic theme: John Kerry’s assumed superior morality allows him to pass judgment from on high about supposedly lesser folk who become tools of a suspect military: thus we go from limb-loppers and Genghis’ hordes to terrorists to dead-beats. The only constant is that the haughtiness is always delivered in the same sanctimonious, self-righteous, and patronizing tone.
(5) The mea culpa that Democrats are blaming the war and not the warriors is laughable after Sens. Durbin, Kennedy, and Kerry have collectively compared American soldiers to Nazis, Pol Pot’s killers, Stalinists, terrorists, and Baathists.
(6) The problem is that Kerry is not just a senator, but the most recent presidential candidate of the Democratic Party, and thus in some sense, especially given the diminution of Howard Dean, the megaphone of the entire party.
(7) His pathetic clarification, as he blamed everyone from Tony Snow to Rush Limbaugh, displayed the same Al Gore derangement syndrome, and thus raises a larger question: what is it about George Bush that seems to reduce once sober and experienced liberal pros to infantile ranting?
(8) And why is the supposedly lame Bush so careful in speech, and the self-acclaimed geniuses like a Ted Kennedy, John Kerry, or Howard Dean serially spouting ever more stupidities? For all the Democrats’ criticism of George Bush, I can’t think of a modern President who has so infrequently put his foot in his public mouth, and, by the same token, can’t think of any opposition that on the eve of elections seems to have an almost pathological death wish.
The Democrats should use this occasion to have an autopsy of Kerryism, or this strange new tony liberalism, that has turned noblisse oblige on its head. It used to be that millionaire FDRs and JFKs felt sympathy for those of the lower classes and wished to ensure that the hoi polloi had some shot at the American dream. But today’s elite liberals-a Howard Dean, Al Gore, Ted Kennedy, George Soros, Ted Turner-love the high life and playact at being leftists simply because they are already insulated from the effects of their own nostrums that always come at someone poorer’s expense while providing them some sort of psychological relief from guilt. Poor Harry Truman must be turning over in his grave-from bourbon, cigars, and poker to wind-surfing and L.L. Bean costume of the day says it all.
Comment by Dale in Atlanta — 11/1/2006 @ 7:56 pm
Rick,
If you can really move on after this…then you have not been keeping up-to-date with all of the Kerry anti-military comments (35 years worth).
I’m sure that it is a nice and forgiving post, but you need to do some research before making such blanket statements.
Comment by Deagle — 11/1/2006 @ 9:36 pm
Well, a response without vulgarity would be nice…
Comment by Deagle — 11/1/2006 @ 9:46 pm
Well, since your not responding, I assume that you are a bit embarrassed to use such language. After all, that’s what I expect from a left-wing blog. Yes, I know that you have put down Kerry in the past – I was commenting on your current comments. Do you really expect all readers to know where you stand by your past blogs? That is unrealistic and if you refer to your previous statements (rather than the current), you will have a hard time making your points.
At no point in the current blog post did you make your previous points clear. I knew them from prior readings, but most don’t.
This comment does not in any way give away your other comments from the past. If I, as a reader, came here for the first time, I would not know exactly where you stand on Kerry. So… again, I make my comments in good faith toward your current comments.
Sorry that it upset you, I do not like profanity (do not use it myself) and hope that you would use your literary expertise instead (which I know you have).
Comment by Deagle — 11/1/2006 @ 10:45 pm
Victor Davis Hanson Looks At John Kerry …
… and cringes. He’s got a collection of 8 thoughts pertaining to Mr. Kerry’s flub, self-righteous anger, admission of flub, and ultimate denial-of-responsibility apology that are spot on. A notable one is #4:(4) This is not the first, but third,
Trackback by Joust The Facts — 11/1/2006 @ 10:54 pm
Six thousand Americans saw their demise on George Bush’s watch right before our eyes and Republicans have Kerry on the brain. Iraqi clowns in command of our guys, stops the search for a lost G.I. and Republicans have Kerry on the brain. Our brave young troops are dying, Bush crisscrosses this country lying and Republicans have Kerry on the brain. Just like when Bill was President, it’s the same crass resentment, only then it was a Clinton they disdained. Of course the media chimes in with Right Wing propagandic spin and the Conservatives will probably win again.
Republicans always seem to know what’s important for America.
Banned but not out
Comment by larry in los angeles — 11/2/2006 @ 2:31 am
Larry,
Your ought to be ashamed of yourself, but I doubt that you are. Clinton was castigated because of his obvious lying.
You can believe that the War in Iraq is wrong and argue such…but, just whining about Bush and his policies without “your” suggestions are just talk (much like your Democratic leaders).
Mercy, I would love for the MSM to chime in for the Republicans…Please tell me where I can find that!
Comment by Deagle — 11/2/2006 @ 2:43 am
That is not what I call an apology, the word misinterpreted shoud not have been used, makes us seem that we are too dumb to understand what he was really saying, making kerry sound even more elite than he thinks he is. spittin chrissy or one of the shows last night even rewrote the entire sentence he said saying this is what he was spose to have said and just didn’t read it right from his notes .. how lame do these kerry defenders think we are……!!!!
This Thursday morning imus in the boring morning is playing a new song by willie nelson, its called what happened to peace on earth, one of the lyrics, we listen everyday to they’re gonna attack us, what is a liars word worth? Good God, these loons don’t even think the ememy is dangerous and want to kill us … its hopeless to convenience this moonbats, its up to us sane Americans to keep this country safe … its clear the dems won’t.
Comment by Drewsmom — 11/2/2006 @ 6:47 am
America is lucky this leftist did not become President. He was unable on his own to recognize how damaging his words were. Right on cue, the sole reason the left nominated him for President, he bowed to the consensus. Could one imagine US foreign policy vacillating to the consensus whims? There would have been no Iraqi elections in January, appeasement to N. Korea & Iran. An Iraqi civil war would have occurred instantly with a President Kerry simply blaming Bush. So what if Democrats win the House, stability in Iraq in 08 will put those that wanted to cut & run on the wrong side of history.
Comment by Fritz — 11/2/2006 @ 8:13 am
In 1972, as he ran for the House, he was less apologetic in his comments about the merits of a volunteer army. He declared in the questionnaire that he opposed the draft but considered a volunteer army “a greater anathema.”
“I am convinced a volunteer army would be an army of the poor and the black and the brown,” Kerry wrote. “We must not repeat the travesty of the inequities present during Vietnam. I also fear having a professional army that views the perpetuation of war crimes as simply ‘doing its job.’
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20061102/D8L4QH580.html
HT Drudge
Comment by Fritz — 11/2/2006 @ 8:51 am
To: Deagle
I have nothing to be ashamed of. I did not vote for George W. Bush, ever! Your own words prove my point. It is obvious that you think Clinton’s lies were more harmful to this country than the Bush lies that led to three thousand Americans dying in Iraq. You actually believe this folly to be rational thought. You are probably just the kind of guy who would have laughed at Bush’s vulgar joke about not finding WMDs under his desk even as our troops on his orders were dying looking for those very weapons. You are stuck on what a twenty something year old said thirty five years ago even as this mature in age President claims that he would do it all over again regarding Iraq, knowing what he knows now. Republicans that I worked with during the nineties wanted Clinton impeached during his FIRST term. The Right wanted to impeach him evermore when he attacked Ben Laden’s terrorist camps. They showed an extreme lack of insight when they accused Bill of dropping Lewinsky bombs even as the bad guys schemed against us.
The reality is that for every Clinton lie that you can come up with I can give you five Bush lies and he still has two years to go. With all due respect the shame should be all yours. You are stuck on stupid about the past of Democrats even as you are blind about the present incompetence exhibited by this Administration. It was this president who sent our brave young people off to battle without the proper armor (on a pack of lies). How many lives did that cost America? Where is your outrage? You’re stuck!
I don’t whine. I educate and smack down partisan hacks, their inconsistencies and their twisted logic, disregarding the pain I cause them. Before Right Wing talk radio started to ban me I regularly gave this Administration many solutions to the problems that they created. They have half implemented some of them, botching the job all the way. Prior to the 2004 election the Democrats did the same and this Administration stole their ideas, repeated their ineptness as they proclaimed “Kerry wouldn’t do anything different than we’re already doingâ€. The entire media let these buffoons get away with that and a multitude of other lies and irrelevant issues (vote for Bush because he goes to church more often than the Dems). As we define our troops as some of our best and brightest they are dying because of Bush’s blunders. Meanwhile you’ve got Kerry on the brain. The next time you make points try to do it in a way where they won’t reach back and bite you in the… My apologies, I digress.
Virtually every political speech Bush makes is broadcast or covered as news on all of the major cable news stations including MSNBC. These are political freebees that were never given to Clinton when he was President. Monica Crowley, Tucker, Scarborough, Alex Witt, Buchanan and Alison Stewart are all Right Wingers or Republican sympathizers who wear their MSNBC Conservative leanings on their sleeves. Imus claims to be a Democrat even as he trashes his purported kind while holding his nose as he endorsing them. Chris Matthews only recently (after the 2004 election) found his balls and started hitting Republicans as hard as he hit Democrats. He still hates everything Clinton related. Keith who had always leaned a little to the left decided that he would give America the ugly truth warts and all. It’s not Keith’s fault that Republicans are more scandal ridden, untruthful and incompetent than Democrats are. When the truth is told Republicans see it as bias. They point to all of the negative Republican stories in the news relative to those run on Dems as proof of liberal bias. Your whining about MSNBC kind of reminds me of a mass murderer complaining about the negative press that he is receiving vs. that of his accusers. Duh! Liars need to be exposed or else they will never stop lying.
Banned but not out.
Comment by larry in los angeles — 11/2/2006 @ 10:20 am
The illusions of grandeur some moonbats have is staggering.
Comment by SAHMmy — 11/3/2006 @ 7:25 pm
To: SAHMmy
Can you believe it?
I do my best to expose these bloated pretenders.
Banned but not out.
Comment by larry in los angeles — 11/3/2006 @ 8:02 pm