The Kerry Backlash Begins

It looks like John Kerry’s outbreak of foot-in-mouth disease has caused him to get treated like a bad rash by Democratic candidates. Senator Kerry was supposed to appear with 1st District candidate Tim Walz today in Mankato, but now Kerry will not show up. The fact that Walz is running in a conservative district with plenty of American Legion members undoubtedly was a major factor in this decision.

Kerry’s comments were bad enough — but his absolutely brainless response to them was like pouring gasoline on a fire. Rather than merely apologizing for being a bonehead, Kerry decided to launch into an incoherent and spittle-flecked attack on Republicans. Karl Rove didn’t make Kerry an idiot, and even if Kerry was misquoted (which I rather doubt), the comment was still stupid.

Kerry’s mouth is the gift that keeps on giving — the second it opens, something idiotic spews forth. Now the Democrats are on the run from their own previous Presidential nominee, and the voting public can have a clear view of what the Democrats really think.

Thank heaven that yutz isn’t President…

UPDATE: Now Harold Ford, Jr. is calling for Kerry to apologize, as is John Tester. So, are these two part of some vast right-wing conspiracy? Are they being dishonest for not saying that Kerry was misquoted? Or is it that there’s yet another double standard at play here?

What Kerry said was unconscionable, and it’s part of a long pattern of behavior. The more Democrats who rally to his defense, the more it cements the idea that the Democrats have issues with our men and women in uniform. It’s not at all surprising that Democrats who actually want to win are running from Kerry as fast as they can…

UPDATE: Presented without comment:

US Troops Pwn John Kerry

36 thoughts on “The Kerry Backlash Begins

  1. “Senator Kerry was supposed to appear with 1st District candidate Tim Walz today in Mankato, but now Kerry will not show up.”

    Which is wise since Kerry would now be a distraction rather than offering an assist.

    “Kerry’s comments were bad enough”

    Kerry’s comments were bad…..in the same way that any botched attempt at humor is bad. Anybody whose interpretation of the video is not painfully tortured (and purely for short-term partisan gain) recognizes that Kerry was not belittling the education level of troops in Iraq. If people like you and McCain continue to wag the dog with this, you run the risk of turning Kerry’s gaffe into your own.

    “but his absolutely brainless response to them was like pouring gasoline on a fire.”

    His response was seriously unhelpful. He attempted to launch his 2008 Presidential campaign (good luck with that by the way!) rather than deflect the situation. If he had, the story would have gone away last night and may not have even made the evening news. He needed more description of context and less rhetorical bomb-throwing in his speech. Sadly, he managed to drag this non-story out for another 24 hours by acting like a madman.

    “and even if Kerry was misquoted (which I rather doubt),”

    You know he was misquoted…and are making an ass of yourself by pretending otherwise.

  2. I actually find it pretty good news that the GOP is pinning their hopes on what some Senator who lives a thousand miles away from most voters that will decide this election said. Call me crazy, but I would guess people in Mankato are more concerned about health care and jobs.

    Seriously. The guy is a veteran. A decorated veteran. Whether he mispoke or made a bad joke, it’s really quite a stretch to say that’s what he really thinks, let alone what all Democrats think.

    Give it a rest.

  3. Seriously. The guy is a veteran. A decorated veteran. Whether he mispoke or made a bad joke, it’s really quite a stretch to say that’s what he really thinks, let alone what all Democrats think.

    Except it’s a pattern of shameful behavior from Sen. Kerry, from the moment when he compared American soldiers to “Genghis Khan” in 1971, to accusing them of “terrorizing” Iraqis last year.

    Senator McCain is also a decorated veteran — someone who spent years in the hands of the enemy, and comments from people like Senator Kerry were used as part of his torture. John Kerry sold off his honor a long time ago, and slandered the uniform he once wore. He continues to be contemptible in his actions.

    You know he was misquoted…and are making an ass of yourself by pretending otherwise.

    I posted the video, which makes it quite clear that he said what he said.

  4. “it’s really quite a stretch to say that’s what he really thinks…”

    Oh? John Kerry’s been saying this kind of stuff since the 1970s, Seth. Shall we pull up his Senate testimony once again? How ’bout the transcript from Meet the Press, where he more recently accused our troops of stealing into Iraqi houses at night and terrorizing innocent women and children?

    John Kerry is a coward and a fool. He’s just another gutless liberal snob and always has been. His comments Monday just a week before the mid-term elections only more illustrate that fact. He did not misspeak; it was not a botched joke. He just said what every elitist liberal Democrat stuffed shirt truly believes. Don’t think so?? Then explain the joke. Then explain why this idiot couldn’t tell it, won’t correct it, and why all his elitist liberal Democrat friends have suddenly now just left him twisting in the wind.

  5. Agreed with Seth. Saying Kerry was speaking on behalf of all Dems is like saying Foley was acting on behalf of all R’s.

  6. Unfortunately, what the candidates who repudiated Kerry “want to win” is the election – not the war in Iraq…

  7. I’m actually pretty happy with you guys doing this. It gives every Democrat in a red state the opportunity to a.) talk about how pro-military they are and b.) distance themselves from ‘out-of-touch,’ East Coast politicians. I think every voter in Montana is sufficiently capable of making a distinction between John Kerry and Tester. I wish Walz would have been more vocal about why Kerry isn’t coming.

  8. Kerry’s political career is doomed after his unhinged tirade yesterday, but it was doomed before that. I predicted last night that Harold Ford and other red-state Democrats would quickly throw Kerry under the bus, which as Seth points out, could be a best-case scenario for Dems if it forces Kerry into an apology and thus helps red states breathe easy about moderates being able to control the party’s left flank.

    Again though, even sane right-wing commentators like Jonah Goldberg and Tom Bevan are acknowledging that Kerry’s flub was likely a joke about Bush gone awry. The more that the context of these comments gets out, the more likely that the exploitation of it by desperate GOP operatives will inspire a backlash.

  9. Wow, now that’s a valiant effort at spin! It’s not a problem that the former Presidential candidate for the Democratic Party just went off the deep end — that gives Democrats the opportunity to say how much they repudiate their own party!

    I suppose the Foley scandal was really a benefit to the GOP too because it let them take a hard anti-pedophile stand…

  10. Jay–
    Except the GOP leadership knew he was a pedophile and encouraged Foley to run again.

    Speaking of spin, it says quite a bit that the GOP needs to make such a huge story out of this. “Went off the deep end”???? Dude, he mispoke or made a bad joke.

    I really think the Fox News/righty blogosphere reaction to this is a gift for Dems running in any moderate-to-conservative distrcit across the country. I encourage your continued participation.

  11. “The more that the context of these comments gets out, the more likely that the exploitation of it by desperate GOP operatives will inspire a backlash.”

    We have the context. We’ve had it for some 35 years. Nobody disputes Kerry was aiming at Bush, but given his well-known anti-American disposition, given his long history of shooting our troops in the back, given his mendacity, his dishonor, and his cowardice, his words now stand alone emblematic of the leftist party of defeat he represents. For 5 years, while the nation has been at war, the Democratic Party has done nothing but attack the president and his policies, insult his cabinet and his generals, and used its talking points on the 24/7 news cycle to do nothing but misinform the public and undermine our troops in the field.

    Where is Harry Reid? Where is Nancy Pelosi? Where is John Murtha? Where is Hillary Clinton? Where is Jimmy Carter? Bill Clinton? Al Gore? Why hasn’t one prominent Democrat come forward to hold John Kerry to account? Because they all privately agree with him, that’s why, which is the true position of the Democratic Party, and has been ever since they cut and ran in the 70s and plan to do again if elected in 2006.

    Never again.

  12. To the contrary, nothing in the source you have cited suggests Hillary Clinton has called for John Kerry to apologize. She said his remarks were “inappropriate.” Not the same thing.

  13. Eracus–
    If you’d like, I can find a whole host of stupid things Republicans have said and then you can tell me who in a leadership position has asked them to apologize.
    Let me know.

  14. Do you store these rants up, Eracus, or do you just dump them on Jay’s blog as they come to you?

    It’s a really weird thing – the reason everybody mistakenly assumed Kerry was talking about the troops is because what they assumed Kerry was saying about the troops is something everybody knows is true.

    I mean, I don’t know anybody who (for instance) passed up a position at law school because they thought they would get a better deal from the military. Clearly Jay Reding didn’t. Plenty of patriots join up out of a sense of national pride and duty, and those people are heroes, but let’s not kid ourselves, ok? Plenty more people join the military because it’s the best deal they feel like they can get.

    If this wasn’t true, military recruiters wouldn’t be falling all over themselves to tout increased enlistment bonuses and potentially shorter tours of duty to counter shrinking military enlistment. Nobody said that the troops were dumb. Absolutely nobody. But nobody passes up enrollment at Harvard to become a private, either, and it’s not “off the deep end” to say something everybody knows is true.

    As it turned out, Kerry wasn’t talking about the troops and he’s already apologized for the remarks. That won’t stop the Republican Fake Outrage Machine; nothing will at this point, particularly with the media playing along and ignoring Kerry’s apologies. Of course, nobody seems to think twice when the President calls a Democratic victory a win for the terrorists. (Maybe the press will simply manufacture an apology on the President’s behalf, like they did for Rush Limbaugh re: the Fox controversy.)

  15. “Nobody disputes Kerry was aiming at Bush”

    How about McCain? And Jay Reding, who restates in this very thread that he believes the remark was directed at the troops.

  16. Um, Eracus, who “cut and ran” in the mid 70s?

    Oh, yeah, Gerald Ford. A Republican. From a war STARTED by Democrats.

    Of course, this time I’m guessing it will be a Republican president that finally decides to extricate us from the mess in Iraq… after another five thousand Americans get killed and another half trillion dollars gets wasted in that sandpit…

  17. SETH, when Trent Lott “misspoke” at a private birthday party for Strom Thurmond, the GOP rank and file held him to account, stripped him of his leadership post, and sent him far and wide to apologize until the NAACP and the Congressional Black Caucus begged him to stop. By comparison, with John Kerry the Democratic Party hasn’t got the sense God gave a horse to take out their own trash. While you may be 24-years-old and still living at home with your parents, some of us have been around long enough to know John Kerry has been spewing this stupid leftist anti-military un-American claptrap for some 30 years.

    ERICA, being an obviously ignorant elitist liberal snob yourself, it is not the least bit surprising that you would not know anybody at all who was the slightest bit interested in joining the military. Contrary to what you believe “everybody knows” is the fact that in every single category of education and employment, the all-volunteer U.S. military has a higher percentage of high school and college graduates from the middle-class and upper middle-class of America than what occurs in the civilian workforce, especially during wartime. Enlistment by “the poor” has been in decline for some 30 years, and again contrary to what you believe “everybody knows,” there exists in the all-volunteer U.S. military a broader spectrum of racial diversity and income distribution than what occurs anywhere in the civilian population. In short, Erica, what you believe “everybody knows” is absolute bullshit.

    NICQ MACDONALD, thank you for yet another glaring example of our failed public school system and the vast wasteland of whatever yet remains of higher education these days, assuming you’ve attempted any. Gerald Ford did not cut and run in Vietnam, the Democratic majorities in both houses of Congress cut off funding, abandoned our South Vietnamese allies on the field of battle, and stepped aside as the Communists slaughtered millions of innocent people and chased millions more into the South China Sea. You know, Nicky — just like the Democratic Party intends to do again this time to the innocent people of Iraq, which is why John Kerry has such utter contempt for their U.S. protectors. He didn’t “botch a joke,” he let the cat out of the bag for everyone in America to see.

    And America will answer him and the anti-military Democratic Party at the polls next week.

  18. “ERICA, being an obviously ignorant elitist liberal snob yourself, it is not the least bit surprising that you would not know anybody at all who was the slightest bit interested in joining the military.”

    And being an obviously intellectually bankrupt conservative yourself, it’s not surprising that you would completely misrepresent what I said.

    Of course I know people who were interested in the military, and many of them joined. But none of them passed up law school or Harvard or even little liberal arts colleges in southern Minnesota to do so. Jay Reding didn’t. You probably didn’t.

    But, hey. Keep telling me how great an option the military is, even though it wasn’t apparently good enough for any of the rest of you yellow elephants who never served. All you’re doing is highlighting how the military support among the 82nd Chairborne is nothing more than hollow rhetoric.

  19. Eracus–
    Ever heard of a guy named George Allen? I don’t think Bill Frist or George Bush ever called on him to apologize.
    Seen the racist RNC ads in Tennessee? There’s no way they mispoke there–that was a pre-recorded ad.
    Or what about the Republican in California who sent out a mailer claiming immigrants–legal or illegal–would be arrested for voting?

    Oh wait, you’ve probably been working too hard to stop the heavy, vast, pervasive and corrupt hand of the Beltrami County Recorder to pay attention.

    Why don’t you go find something else to do now that it’s getting cold and the lemonade stand had to close down. Maybe you could rake some leaves?

  20. Oh, I see, Erica. You only meant that smart white people who have a choice between being admitted to a law school, Harvard University, or a even a little liberal arts college in southern Minnesota –as opposed to becoming a dumb private in the US military– usually don’t enlist. Except that just last year, Erica, Minnesota led the nation in military recruitment. Is that because we have such a high level of poverty in Minnesota that people have so few options other than to join the military? Or is it because we Minnesotans are all mostly members of “poor minorities”?

    You clearly have no idea what you are talking about, my dear, but don’t let me stop you from parading your ignorance. The more people recognize the intellectual dishonesty and moral absurdity of the leftist liberal elite, the better our chances of avoiding unmitigated disaster if they should ever gain power again.

  21. Gee whiz, SETH, George Allen apologized immediately and directly for what he said and accepted responsibility for his remarks. Nobody had to tell him to do it. He also didn’t insult the families and members of the United States Armed Forces. Neither did he require a 24/7 cable news blitzkreig over 2 days or the repeated public rebukes of his peers and party leadership running him to ground to finally sneak up a faux “apology” to anyone who might have been offended and took the trouble to visit his website. George Allen, whatever his flaws, is a man. John Kerry is a pussy. You know it, I know it, the whole world knows it.

    As for the rest of your remarks, you are apparently still licking your wounds. Quit your crying. Grow up and get a life. Politics ain’t beanbag and to now return to personal insult over your previous failed arguments and now some distant campaign drama is the one sure sign of an exhausted mind. Get some rest. Then try to aim higher.

  22. “You only meant that smart white people who have a choice between being admitted to a law school, Harvard University, or a even a little liberal arts college in southern Minnesota –as opposed to becoming a dumb private in the US military– usually don’t enlist. Except that just last year, Erica, Minnesota led the nation in military recruitment.”

    Fascinating, but what does that have to do with the price of tea in China? It’s really hilarious, Eracus, how you continually demonstrate that you have nothing to add to the conversation but invective, irrelevancies, and sexist condescension. Of course, since your invective is always directed at leeebruls you’ll always be welcome at Jayreding.com.

    Answer what I asked you. Show me your acceptance letter from Harvard Law and your notice of enlistment at the rank of private. Show me that you didn’t do exactly what almost everybody else does – reject military service because they had better options.

  23. Eracus–
    Ummmm I would hate for facts to get in the way of your world view. Actually, what Allen did was say he didn’t know ‘Macaca’ was a racist slur, then grumble around for a few days, and then when it became apparent people weren’t buying his crap he ‘apologized.’ Try googling Allen and Macaca and you can see exactly what type of cable blitzkreig it required. During the whole ordeal, not one single Republican weighed in. So, to recap: Allen made the remarks August 11th, and apologized August 14th after lying about what he meant. Kerry actually apologized in a more timely manner than Allen, and at least the Democratic Party had people willing to demand an apology.

    The same can be said of Trent Lott, except for the fact that Lott had made almost the same remarks throughout campaigns in the late 1980s and early 1990s–it took the camera being on Lott for the Republicans to take action.

    It takes a lot of balls to call a guy who took bullets for his country a ‘pussy,’ while calling a guy who sported the Confederate flag and cowboy boots from his home in the suburbs of California a ‘man.’ But you Republicans are just the type of people who would do it.

    And you make personal remarks about me and then whine about them when I make them to you. In fact, you said: “you may be 24-years-old and still living at home with your parents.” I’d call that a personal remark. So either clean it up or quit whining when I treat you the same way you treat me. Unless the Beltrami County Recorder is forcing you to do this. Big conspiracy and all.

  24. Oh, dear, dear. Now just look what I’ve done. I’ve made you both pull out your official white liberal Victimhood Papers and Certification. You’re tender feelings have been hurt and you’ve been made to think harsh thoughts — all because your absurd, misinformed, sychophantic paeans to John F. Kerry have been rightly pilloried in the comment section of the “conservativism with attitude” internet blog you’ve been regularly attacking for quite some time now. Let’s just wait a minute for everyone to get their yellow ribbons out, light their candles, and hum the Kumbayah song for you. Honestly, what do you expect?

    ERICA, while you’ve made alot of insulting, racist, and presumptous statements about the U.S. military, I can’t see where you’ve ever asked me anything. Besides, I could respond anyway I wanted to and you wouldn’t be able to verify it one way or the other anyway, so what would be the point?

    And as for you, SETH, John Kerry never took a bullet in his life, and there is alot more honor in a Confederate flag bumber sticker than John Kerry has ever earned in his whole entire, sorry, contrived, arrested adolescent life. This is a guy who has never held a real job, afterall. His entire career is nothing if not manufactured out of easy money, preferential treatment, sophomoric rationalizations, petty excuses, avoidance of responsibility, and a fascination with Hollywood celebrity. He married the only wealth he ever acquired, he abandoned his first wife when she got sick, and made bastards of his own children by annulling his marriage just so he could marry the wealthy heiress of another American fortune. That’s not honorable, pal, that’s pure scumbag. John Kerry is an effete, liberal pansy, if that’s a term you would prefer, but we here in the real world know a stuffed suit with soft hands when we see one, and we know exactly what to call it even if you don’t.

    It’s why he’s never released his complete military records, Seth. Or his 1040s. He knows what’s really in ’em, and he doesn’t want anybody else to know. Especially liberal Democrats.

  25. Eracus–
    Sorry I misspoke. I meant shrapnel, not a bullet. It really takes a lot of guts to call someone with three Purple Hearts a pansy. More honor in a Confederate Flag bumper sticker than three Purple Hearts? Now your true colors are coming out. Keep it coming. Anti-American crap like that will get you far among the far right wing, but it certainly doesn’t help us get anywhere.

    “never held a real job, afterall. His entire career is nothing if not manufactured out of easy money, preferential treatment, sophomoric rationalizations, petty excuses, avoidance of responsibility.” We talking about George Bush or George Allen here?

    Never released military records? Ok, now I know we must be talking about Bush.

  26. The reason John Kerry will not release his unredacted military records, SETH, is because they include the medical references describing where and how he was “wounded” and who wrote the after-action reports recommending the curiiously 3 consecutive citations necessary for him to avoid any further exposure to combat and return to stateside duty, where, incidentally, he applied for and received an early release of duty to participate in a political campaign which eventually emerged as the “Winter Soldier” campaign, in which he figuratively shot our troops in the back from the chambers of the U.S. Senate. He had one of the shortest military careers on record, to say nothing of his service in Vietnam, and his 3 “wounds” never required so much as a single suture, let alone any hospitalization or rehab. He received some betadyne and some band-aids on all 3 occasions and probably submitted falsified assessments to obtain his 3 Purple Hearts. That’s why he will not release an unredacted copy of his service record.

    The sad truth is, John Kerry, “Vietnam War Hero,” is a fabrication. It’s a myth, or what the intelligence services refer to as a “legend.” In reality, John Kerry is a complete and utter fraud. If you doubt it, please list his many other achievements and accomplishments in his long and undistinguished public career for us, if you can. Maybe you can get Erica to help you out, but don’t panic if you guys can’t do it. No one else has been able to do it either. Not even John Kerry.

    p.s.

    You seem utterly confused and out of command of your faculties. “Anti-American crap” won’t get you “far among the far right-wing,” Seth, it might get you beat up or worse, but it’s pretty much a non-starter on the far right. I guess you just misspoke again, huh?

  27. Eracus–
    Kerry was in Vietnam. Where was our Commander in Chief?

    Listening you right-wingers attack any veteran that just so happens to have a ‘D’ in front of his name on a ballot, I meant exactly what I said about the far right.

  28. It’s not just any veteran, SETH, it’s only the ones who betray their country and their comrades-in-arms for their own personal, political, or financial gain. And if it’s any comfort to you, I don’t think a whole lot of John McCain either for much the same reason. It’s funny you think I’m the “far right,” which really only shows how “far left” you are, if the standard is ignorance and the passionate commitment to remain misinformed. I don’t think you’re really that completely unhinged, frankly. Just naive.

  29. Oh, for Christ’s sake. Do we have to rehash the Swift Boat lies, now? Not a single one of the Swift Boat charges turned out to be true. Even Jay Reding eventually stopped given them any credence.

    Once again Eracus proves he doesn’t know what he’s talking about – Kerry authorized full disclosure of his military records on June 7th, 2005, a year and a half ago. I guess news travels pretty slowly though the echo chambers of the right.

    Many of the records contain praise for Kerry’s service. For example, the documents quote Kerry’s former commanding officers as saying he is ”one of the finest young officers with whom I have served;” is ”the acknowledged leader of his peer group;” and is ”highly recommended for promotion.”

    But hey, what the hell do commanding officers know, anyway?

    Eracus, it’s no surprise you’ve abandoned any pretense at defending your arguments or addressing rebuttals with these deranged anti-Kerry screeds. You’d think that in two years since the election you people could get over your visceral hatred for the man, but I guess not. Since you like Shakespeare so much, here’s the Bard himself, eerily prophecizing your participation in this thread: “Like a tale told by an idiot; much sound and fury, signifying nothing.”

  30. ERICA, you are quoting The Boston Globe, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the moribund and thoroughly discredited New York Times, in yet another glowing, fabricated puff piece for their darling second hometown favorite liberal elitist, John Kerry, which clearly states in the second graff that this latest so-called disclosure is “mostly a duplication of what Kerry released during his 2004 campaign for president.” In other words, it’s the very same redacted version of his record John Kerry has peddled far and wide to every gullible fool ever since he chucked someone else’s medals over the White House fence.

    There’s a real simple way to resolve this dispute, Erica. Produce the actual, unredacted military record of John F. Kerry. Please provide the URL. Otherwise, I recommend you don’t believe everything you read in a newspaper.

  31. “In other words, it’s the very same redacted version of his record John Kerry has peddled far and wide to every gullible fool ever since he chucked someone else’s medals over the White House fence.”

    No. In other words, it’s proof that Kerry has been honest about his record all along. There’s nothing “redacted.” Whatever is missing is simply the result of 40 years of government beaurocracy. Absolutely none of the Swift Boat charges were ever substantiated, almost all of them were contradicted, and their ringleader John O’Neill was proven to be a liar in almost every case, sometimes contradicting his own stories in the space of days.

    “Otherwise, I recommend you don’t believe everything you read in a newspaper.”

    Ah, right. I suppose I should just believe your ridiculous tinfoil-hat conspiracy theories for which you provide no evidence but slander, instead. I recommend you don’t believe a single thing you hear from conservatives. I know I don’t.

    Nobody’s interested in this but wingnuts like you, Eracus. You’re unhinged. The bottom fell out of the Kerry-comment issue and now you’re desperate for something to impunge a Senator who isn’t even up for re-election, as well as anybody in these threads who doesn’t agree with you.

    And of course Jay will never do anything about it, because “conservatism with attitude” apparently means “conservatives have free reign to slander and insult their opponents, all the while offering no evidentiary support for their positions.”

  32. What, Mr Manly Man doesn’t know how to do research on the internet? Maybe when you’re done telling us America’s troops aren’t any smarter than the employees at Burger King, you could do a Google search and substiantiate your own wingnut slanders.

  33. And of course Jay will never do anything about it, because “conservatism with attitude” apparently means “conservatives have free reign to slander and insult their opponents, all the while offering no evidentiary support for their positions.”

    Given the only thing you’ve done is thrown about third-grade insults, I wouldn’t be crying foul.

  34. “Given the only thing you’ve done is thrown about third-grade insults, I wouldn’t be crying foul.”

    Nobody’s “cried foul” but Eracus. He can dish it out but apparently he can’t take it. He’s your protege, in that regard.

    I don’t give two shits what he says. Calling me names instead of rebutting my arguments only makes him look the more ridiculous. You’re the one, Jay, who claims local monopoly over the right to be insulting, but you don’t seem to be interested in actually enforcing that except when it’s a leeebrul getting mouthy. I’m just pointing out the hypocrisy.

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