Kerry Apologies, Sorta

John Kerry has issued an apology for his comments yesterday at a California rally — far too late to avoid the damage he did. And as always, the apology contained an attack against the President, as anything Kerry says. (One wonders if he tells his staff “put cream in my coffee, and don’t screw it up like Bush screwed up Iraq.” The man is simply obsessed.)

Had Kerry apologized immediately, or recovered from his gaffe as he made it, the issue would have probably died down. Instead, Kerry chose to fight, reminding GOP partisans why they don’t like the Democrats, and forcing Democrats to disavow his comments. Kerry could have brought some attention to key races, but instead the message has shifted, and he’s left candidates high and dry.

Kerry is simply politically tone deaf, and even his attempt at an apology shows a fundamental inability to connect with the American people. Undoubtedly even the Democrats are hoping he disappears — and quick.

21 thoughts on “Kerry Apologies, Sorta

  1. “The man is simply obsessed.”

    Um, no. Obsession would be three posts during a hot election season that each ignored critical campaign issues to impunge a senator who isn’t even on a ballot this year, I think.

    I’ve noticed you’ve stopped referring to him as “John Fucking Kerry”, which suggests your Kerry Derangement Syndrome has abated, slightly.

  2. It is quite telling that Jay considers Kerry the obsessed freak because of his frequent comments on Bush screwing up Iraq. The obsession among Jay and other Republicans is how John Kerry talk about Bush screwing up Iraq.

  3. At least he is able to acknowledge he made a mistake and then apologize for it. Tough to think of anyone in the GOP able to do that prior to the sentencing phase of their trials.

  4. Folks, Mr. Elitist Kerry made no mistake. His comments now are in-line with what he said back in 1972. And Kerry’s comments are newsworthy because I bet it’s close to how most Democrats feel about the military. They should not be trusted with security, period.

    “I am convinced a volunteer army would be an army of the poor and the black and the brown,” Kerry wrote.

  5. “Folks, Mr. Elitist Kerry made no mistake. ”

    Well, that’s an absolute falsehood. Kerry’s staff released his prepared remarks, and they make it absolutely clear that he mistakenly said something other than what he went in intending to say.

    I mean, does that really make sense to you? Kerry’s attacking Bush, attacking Bush’s failures in Iraq, and all of a sudden, absent any connection to the subject, he makes a complete non-sequiter and disparages the troops for no reason? Before going back to talking about Bush?

    If you think Kerry is so elitist, why didn’t you join the military, Murali? Or you, Jay? If military service isn’t just for the poor minorites, if it’s so great for everybody, why wasn’t it good enough for you?

  6. Yeah, well, Erica, some of us have seen the whole video and followed the spin, of which Kerry’s “prepared remarks” were adjusted and released only AFTER his attempt to double-down in his press conference blew up in his face and caused a Democrat stampede to take him to the woodshed. Even his good friend, radio talkshow host Don Imus, told him on-the-air to just shut up and go home. Or do you mean to suggest that this elitist anti-military liberal snob is so stupid he can’t even deliver a punchline from his own “prepared remarks” and is so dumb and conceited it took him 48 hours to realize he messed up?

    And again with this “military service is just for the poor minorities” stuff. Are you really that ignorant and uninformed, just that racist, or all of the above?

  7. Eracus–
    White enlisted personnel come from family backgrounds which have incomes about $10,000 lower than the average white American family. African American enlistees are 38% of the military, which is about a quarter higher than their share of the population. Officers are only 19%, however, meaning they are underrepresented by about a third. So says the Department of Defense.

    So which am I? Ignorant, uninformed, just that racist or all of the above?

  8. “Yeah, well, Erica, some of us have seen the whole video and followed the spin, of which Kerry’s “prepared remarks” were adjusted and released only AFTER his attempt to double-down in his press conference blew up in his face and caused a Democrat stampede to take him to the woodshed.”

    Why would prepared remarks be released beforehand? Typically they’re not even released at all.

    Do you have any evidence for your accusations? Or is evidence not required when the target of your smear is a “leeeebrul”?

  9. Cite your source, SETH. Give us the URL, if you can. Show us where you got your figures. And make sure they’re up to date and presented by the Department of Defense too, and not just Charlie Rangel’s latest attempt to bring back the draft — because what you have posted above is just flat-out wrong. The enlistment of African-Americans, for instance, has been in decline for years and is currently estimated at less than 25%, while the income distribution of new recruits remains identical to the income distribu­tion of the general population in the same age group. Show us where the DoD contradicts the US Census.

    ERICA, if Kerry had really “misspoke” it would have been a simple matter to clarify his intent by immediately releasing his prepared text, which is common practice anyway, especially during a campaign. He did not do so. Instead, he defiantly rebuked his critics and claimed he did not say what he actually said, which is and has been consistent with what John Kerry has been saying and doing over the course of his entire pathetic anti-military public career. For example,

    From 1972: “”I am convinced a volunteer army would be an army of the poor and the black and the brown. 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.’

    The only thing different today is he’s in front of the 24/7 cable news cameras and the instantaneous communication of the internet and is too isolated, detached, and just plain DENSE to realize the implications….

    OH! And by the way — where is Howard Dean?? Where is Harry Reid?? Where is Nancy Pelosi?? Why are they not out there pounding the table defending this fine military veteran, this great American war hero, this charismatic champion of the Democratic Party and former candidate for President of the United States??

  10. “ERICA, if Kerry had really “misspoke” it would have been a simple matter to clarify his intent by immediately releasing his prepared text, which is common practice anyway, especially during a campaign.”

    Which he did, almost immediately. His prepared text has been a matter of public record for about two days now. Open a newspaper or something. I notice that you didn’t even bother to substantiate your accusation, so I’ll assume you’ve retracted it. And I see you couldn’t even address how ridiculous it is to suggest that Kerry, in the midst of a speech criticizing the President’s failures in Iraq, would suddenly, apropos of nothing, slander troops with no provocation. As convinced as you all seem to be that Kerry’s mind is a one-track Bush-bashin’ machine, you can’t even stay consistent with that smear. Your spittle-flecked invective aside, you’re making an absolutely incompetent case here. It’s not at all surprising that you have no recourse but to call me a racist and call Seth a liar, and then have the hypocritical audacity to hide behind Jay’s skirts and tattle on us for name-calling.

    “From 1972: “”I am convinced a volunteer army would be an army of the poor and the black and the brown. 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.’”

    Which it turns out he was absolutely right about, according to the Department of Defense figures, and the examples of Gitmo and Abu Garaib.

    “OH! And by the way — where is Howard Dean?? Where is Harry Reid?? Where is Nancy Pelosi?? Why are they not out there pounding the table defending this fine military veteran, this great American war hero, this charismatic champion of the Democratic Party and former candidate for President of the United States??”

    You tell me. You’re the one who asserted that the leeeeeeebruls were standing lock-step behind Kerry, after all. Now you’re telling us they’re leaving him twisting in the wind. Which is it, exactly? You don’t seem too sure either way. I guess making sure your character smears maintain any kind of consistency is just too much for you to keep track of.

  11. “And by the way — where is Howard Dean?? Where is Harry Reid?? Where is Nancy Pelosi?? Why are they not out there pounding the table defending this fine military veteran, this great American war hero, this charismatic champion of the Democratic Party and former candidate for President of the United States??”

    They’re too busy finalizing the efforts to beat Republican majorities mercilessly into submission next Tuesday.

  12. Eracus–
    It never stops with you. You whine that I don’t have a URL and then don’t provide a URL. Probably because everything you have came from the far-right Heritage Foundation. Well, where to start. African Americans are being killed in Iraq at twice their percentage of the population. Here’s a story showing African Americans disproportionately military personnel (again, almost double relative to their percentage of the population.) Some highlights from that article: The Dept. of Defense says wealth kids are not well-represented. 38% of enlistees are minorities compared with 29% of the population. In the Army, minorities are 45% of enlistments, with black women being nearly half of enlistments. It’s also almost universally accepted that the reason the military has had trouble meeting recruitment goals recently is because African Americans aren’t signing up any more.

    Let me know how much more of a spanking you want.

  13. Nice try, ERICA, but no cigar. Kerry’s Plan B was to release his revised “prepared text” for publication only after his defiant oratory rebuking his critics didn’t fly. Plus, your characterization of his remarks being taken out of context “apropos of nothing” is categorically untrue. Methinks thou doth protest too much.

    “They’re too busy finalizing the efforts to beat Republican majorities mercilessly into submission next Tuesday.”

    Yeah, MARK? Where exactly? Some undisclosed location? No comment on John Kerry’s insult to the Armed Forces of the United States during wartime and his subsequent meltdown? Or did they just hand off the baton to Seymour Hersh?: “There has never been an American army as violent and murderous as the one in Iraq.”

    John F. Kerry has just indelibly aligned the Democratic Party with the enemies of the United States. Good luck at the polls.

  14. Eracus, we’re still waiting for you to add something to the discussion aside from invective, unsubstantiated slurs, and now misquoted Shakespeare. Maybe you could either contribute substantially or let the adults talk for a while?

  15. Well, golly gee, ERICA, if I’m not contributing substantially to the debate, then why are you responding so much in earnest? Meanwhile, “even the beasts of the jungle doth show some sign of pity. I show none, and therefore am no beast.”

    If you can’t take the heat, little girl, get out of the kitchen.

  16. “If you can’t take the heat, little girl, get out of the kitchen.”

    You’ve managed to make yourself into an even bigger fooler by injecting blatant sexism into the discussion. C’mon now, Eracus. Picking on “girls”? Show a little class for once in your life.

  17. Really, MARK. Please review your copy of The New Feminized-Male Handbook. If you’ve lost yours, I think you can buy a signed copy at John Kerry’s website. Afterall, he wrote the book.

    It is inappropriate and utterly, blatantly sexist of you to be here rushing to the defense of Erica, an obviously brilliant, independent, and completely liberated female (even if she can’t spell) under the presumptuous notion she is incapable of defending herself.

    Shame on you!!

  18. “It is inappropriate and utterly, blatantly sexist of you to be here rushing to the defense of Erica”

    Nice attempt at a jujitsu, buddy, but you’re no Karl Rove. But I give you fair warning. Now that you have insulted myself and Erica with the Democrats four days away from seizing the reins of even more political power, watch your back! We’ll sic Collin Peterson, Jim Oberstar and Frank Moe on your asses to make sure your road doesn’t get paved and your ice house gets burned to the ground without a trace.

    Better start looking over your shoulder. We’re coming for ya!

  19. Ah, yes. From insult to threat, the last resource of an exhausted mind.

    Better get more help, Mark. Larry, Curly, and Moe ain’t gonna cut it.

  20. SETH, your assertion that “African Americans are being killed in Iraq at twice the percentage of the population” is based on what “experts said” in an April 2003 Scripps-Howard News Service survey of 105 American casualties and the popular opinion of some sociology professor at the University of Maryland. The article goes on to quote that other brilliant military expert, Julian Bond, Chairman of the NAACP, who was surprised to learn that these casualties were taken in non-combat positions during the assault on Baghdad.

    Your first “source” is built on your second, an article in the Washington Post published in February 2003, which quotes from but does not identify a two-year-old “Department of Defense study” and yet another University of Maryland sociology professor, and is, of course, the supporting propaganda piece for Charlie Rangel’s and John Conyers’ proposed legislation to reinstitute the draft.

    And finally, your third “source,” which is a study done by yet 2 more University of Maryland sociology professors reporting declining enlistments from the Hispanic and African-American communities, with yet nary a mention of why this might be happening in an expanding economy with the lowest unemployment rates in American history.

    Your assignment, SETH, was to “Show us where you got your figures. And make sure they’re up to date and presented by the Department of Defense too, and not just Charlie Rangel’s latest attempt to bring back the draft.” And here you have failed in every respect.

    All you have provided us with are 3 different versions from the same source, one supported with a pedestrian “news service study,” another supported by some suggested, outdated, and unidentified “Department of Defense study,” but all 3 citing the conclusions and opinions of some unknown sociology professors at the University of Maryland, which is not exactly a credible source, but historically a reliable shill for liberal causes.

    You cannot possibly be serious. Are you really this naive? I suppose so…

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