I am already so sick of the uproar, both actual and feigned, over Sen. John Kerry's remarks Monday that I was just going to start ignoring all conversation regarding them. For those of you who have been hiding under a rock, or those who's television watching habits revolve around Dancing with the Stars, Sen Kerry (D-MA) was speaking to a college audience Monday. During a speech, in which he repeatedly bashed President Bush, Kerry said, "If 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." When I initially heard just that 10-15 seconds of the senator's speech Tuesday I was irritated, not outraged mind you, because I have come to expect comments such as this from most of those in positions of leadership in the Democratic Party. Some time later in the day I heard a longer portion of the speech. It immediately became evident, to me at least, that he was attempting to disparage the President, and not servicemen of any stripe. Since then though, I have gone over to the outrage camp.
My outrage fuse was prepared when the honorable senator gave an angry, gesticulation filled, refusal to apology. The major theme of his adamant non-apology was that since he was obviously ridiculing the President of the United States, with a poorly articulated joke, no apology was necessary. This, in spite of the fact that the President actually received better grades than him at their cherished alma mater. Sen Kerry angrily denounced the republican spin machine, Rush Limbaugh and the vast right-wing conspiracy as fueling a nonexistent fire. Prominent democrats, most of whom I believe harbor these anti-military sentiments, rushed to label his comments as, in the words of Sen Hillary Clinton (D-NY), "inappropriate." Wow. With such stinging rebukes how could Sen Kerry do anything but what he did yesterday? In a carefully worded statement posted on his website the senator said, "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."
Well a few things are wrong with this apology. First, the apology was at least one day too late. Second, it should have been delivered the same way the initial insult was: in front of television cameras. Third, what exactly was the joke? And finally, it rings a little hollow when he does his politico-qualifying about regretting his words were "misinterpreted." Okay though, apologize he did. Unfortunately the statement does not end as it did in the previous paragraph. It goes on to state, "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." With that final paragraph he undercut the apology by further politicizing his error, and lit my fuse. It became clear to me, as both an infantryman and an American, that the senator does not care if he offends me, or anyone else not joined to him at the hip. Why else would he consider it acceptable to a) post the statement and not deliver it and b) undo any good he had done by reverting to partisan politics?
What everyone on the left, and that includes the Democratic Party's minions in the major press outlets, fails to realize, or in this case chooses to ignore, is that life does not exist in a vacuum. The honorable senator has made disparaging comments for political expediency before. Upon returning from Vietnam he delivered the now infamous, and mostly discredited "Winter Soldier" diatribe. Most people will remember it for the pompous way he pronounced Ghengis Khan, but in it he accused huge swathes of veterans of being murderers, perpetrators of war crimes, rapists and more. I will not revisit it in full, but if you want the entire transcript you can find it here http://www.richmond.edu/~ebolt/history398/JohnKerryTestimony.html. The good senator has also made remarks where he accused American soldiers in Iraq of "terrorizing women and children in the dead of night." There is more than a pattern here. There is a close- held ideology, shared by many on the left, that the military is intrinsically bad. War is a messy business, so its purveyors must be unenlightened slobs goes the uber-liberal mindset. The senator is simply buying into that idea, whether he wore the uniform or not.
In the last two days I have heard various news outlets refer to Sen Kerry's remarks as, "a badly delivered joke," "unintended slip of the tongue," and parroting the good senator, "a poorly articulated joke." Nowhere, except talk radio, have I heard any indignation, nor even the use of alleged, or the like, before the provided explanations. It seems the venerated, honorable men and women of the press, (so cynical when it comes to the utterances of those evil republicans), have accepted whole hog the senator's explanation and cannot wait to exonerate him. These are the same people who castigated Trent Lott for making a bone-headed comment at a frail Strom Thurmond's 214th birthday party. The press hounded Lott so relentlessly he was forced to resign his leadership post after he had made multiple, public apologies for mis-speaking. Likewise, Rush Limbaugh (no bastion of decorum himself) made less than charitable comments about Michael J. Fox's commercial for a congressional candidate in Missouri, and has been blasted every day for nearly two weeks. The honorable junior senator from Massachusetts even referenced Limbaugh in his non-apology screed, which he delivered before his written apology. The vaunted men and women in the press were nowhere to be found when both George Clooney and Michael Moore ridiculed Charlton Heston's Alzheimer's. In fact, the prevailing wind seemed to be that Moses had brought it upon himself by having the temerity to Chair the N.R.A. When questioned about his references to Heston's Alzheimer's, Clooney reportedly said "I don't care. He's the Chairman of the National Rifle Association. He deserves what anyone says about him." I did not hear the press howl with outrage at the battering of this victim of mental illness. Maybe it is just because Clooney is so damned pretty.
Sen. John F. Kerry is certainly not being treated with kid gloves because of his movie star good looks. So, what is one to think? Obviously, certain groups are fair game for ridicule and abuse, and the press will dutifully report it as the dems being "tough on their aggressive opponents." We have to remember that up until yesterday Sen. Kerry was still the titular head of the Democratic Party. As his party's presidential candidate in the last cycle we have to presume that he still holds some standing in the party. Nobody loves a loser more than the left-wing fringe. Don't think so? Witness Al Gore and Jimmy Carter's unceasing adoration amongst the great unwashed, hippiesque masses. So, when Sen. Kerry says things that are outrageous, outlandish and simply inane I have to think that a plurality of his party agrees. Why else were there laughs at the line which initially got him into so much trouble? What joke did those stellar college students get that all the rest of us missed? Not too long ago Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) compared American soldiers to the regimes of the Nazis and Pol Pot. He eventually provided a "to the extent that I offended anyone I am sorry apology" too. Or how about the senior senator from Massachusetts who, while speaking of the Abu Ghraib abuses (and they were abuses of power, not torture) said, "Shamefully, we now learn that Saddam's torture chambers reopened under new management. U.S. Management." Senator Kennedy's (D-MA) more thoughtful brothers are, no doubt, spinning in their graves. Howard Dean, the Chairman of the DNC, can make all manner of off-color remarks and the press is suddenly too busy reporting on cats in trees and the dangers of trans-fats. If that's not a sign of the press' political leanings I do not know what is.
Sen. Kerry's sin, at least in the eyes of those running for election in his party, was not that he said what he said, but rather that he said it so close to the election. That reason alone is why the apology was finally made. It also explains why he made it in writing. Apparently, even the good senator's hypocrisy has a limit. I do not know why he feels the way he does. I do know he seems to think himself smarter than all the rest of us; this after he wore those atrocious shorts while wind-sailing to prove his masculinity. I do know he has a fondness for saying things like, "I did vote for it, before I voted against it." His slips of the tongue are at least as prevalent as the president's, but no constant ridicule befalls him. I do not think John Stewart, or David Letterman will beat this particular horse. Regardless, the senator did serve honorably in combat, for which I applaud him. I honor equally any man or woman who has ever worn the uniform, whether they saw combat or did their time pushing paper around a desk. Only ten percent of us have ever served, in any capacity, and that does bear recognizing. What the senator seems to have forgotten though, is that his service does not entitle him to carte blanche when it comes to his statements or actions. We are all accountable, and in this case the senator is no different. So, having already banned Heinz products from my house two years ago, I will simply say, one veteran to another, Senator, that you may or may not have left the word "us" out of your prepared statement does not matter. That I truly believe you intended to ridicule the President of the United States does not matter either. It was tacky and tasteless, but so then is all politics. What matters Senator, is that you dishonored all the men and women who have ever served, and you know we deserve better.
1 comment:
Well? WELL????????
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