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You are here: Home / Politics / Media / The Kerry Silliness Continues

The Kerry Silliness Continues

by John Cole|  November 2, 200611:18 am| 85 Comments

This post is in: Media, Military, Politics

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Kerry has now apologized for something he didn’t really say, and surprise of surprises, it still isn’t good enough for some, as Drudge is splashing this AP story by Tim’s bestest friend, John Solomon, titled “Kerry’s ’72 Army Comments Mirror Latest“:

Kerry apologized Wednesday for the 2006 campaign trail gaffe that some took as suggesting U.S. soldiers fighting in Iraq were undereducated. He contended the remark was aimed at Bush, not the soldiers.

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.’

“Equally as important, a volunteer army with our present constitutional crisis takes accountability away from the president and put the people further from control over military activities,” he wrote.

In 1972, if you were uneducated, or, in Kerry’s words, ‘black or brown,’ there was a good chance you would get stuck in Vietnam. That isn’t the case today with Iraq, and regardless, it isn’t what Kerry said the other day. Trying to claim the two comments are ‘part of a trend’ is more of the same from the credibility lacking John Solomon.

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85Comments

  1. 1.

    zzyzx

    November 2, 2006 at 11:23 am

    I’m still trying to figure out how the right managed to be offended by the concept that people will do things that they prefer not to in order to get a paycheck. My girlfriend wakes up at 4:30 every morning, and I can promise you that she wouldn’t do that for free.

    Even if Kerry said what they claimed, it’s a pretty weak insult there.

  2. 2.

    taodon

    November 2, 2006 at 11:25 am

    Oh brother – we democrats despise Kerry MORE than the GOP does, so I hardly see why they’re trying to make an issue out of a man of straw. (BTW, would the Wizard please give him a brain?)

  3. 3.

    Pb

    November 2, 2006 at 11:34 am

    That settles it–I’m not voting for Kerry for the House in 1972 either!

  4. 4.

    ThymeZone

    November 2, 2006 at 11:35 am

    I’ll say one thing about the blogoramasphere:

    It makes you think, and makes you figure out how to explain things to people who are HELL BENT ON NOT GETTING IT.

    My latest attempt shall be this masterpiece:

    John Kerry has been taking shit, and exposing himself and his party to criticism over his regard for American servicemen, for THIRTY DAMNED YEARS.

    Not only that, he managed to wreck our chances of unseating a crummy president, in 2004, by being in this position yet again and having NO IDEA how to deal with it effectively.

    So we lost, thanks so much, John Kerry.

    Now we are in 2006 and he still can’t figure it out.

    Thirty years, and he can’t figure it out. Thirty years of giving the opposition a weapon to use against him, and he can’t figure out how to deal with it.

    I am not going to waste any more of time trying to explain what it is that he can’t figure out, because anyone who doesn’t get it by now is not going to get it ever.

    I am just going to say, do you really want to hitch your wagon in cutthroat politics to a guy who can’t figure out something this basic after THIRTY GODDAMMNED YEARS?

    Hint: It’s about military service, and pride, and emotions. It’s not about parsing Kerry’s speeches and assaying the relative merits of Kerry and Bush.

    It’s about basic, gut politics. People hate Kerry at a visceral level, and the GOP knows this, and will use it against him, and us, forever, until we figure it out and defuse it.

    And if Kerry is not up to defusing it, which he has demonstrated yet again (as if we needed more proof) that he doesn’t know how to do this gracefully and effectively, then KEEP HIM OFF THE STAGE and shut him the hell up.

  5. 5.

    Steve

    November 2, 2006 at 11:41 am

    I guess this is more of where we pretend Kerry’s scripted remarks never existed, or were perhaps some sort of Ratherlike fabrication. Because once you except that yeah, he simply screwed up his line – what possible difference does it make whether his slip bears some resemblance to something he said 30 years ago? I don’t go around trying to make the case that Bush actually believes that if you fool him twice, he won’t get fooled again.

    But it’s more of the same, where the White House says “ok, maybe it was a flub, but he should still apologize,” and the base insists “no, it wasn’t a flub, John Kerry really does hate the troops! and he shot himself to get a medal!” Ridiculous.

  6. 6.

    Bombadil

    November 2, 2006 at 11:43 am

    Yeah, Kerry should be forced by the Democrats to apologize for something he didn’t say, but what the Republicans said he said. He should be forced off to the sidelines by Democrats because the Republicans said he did something, even if he didn’t do it. He should be vilified by Democrats because the Republicans don’t like him. Only by giving the Republicans what they want will we ever be victorious.

  7. 7.

    jcricket

    November 2, 2006 at 11:43 am

    I think it’s about time the American media partions itself into separate “politically aligned” organizations. Solomon, Novak and Halperin can go over to Fox News, New York Post, the Washington Times & ABC.

    We’ll keep the NY Times, LA Times, Washington Post, CNN & NBC.

  8. 8.

    Andrew

    November 2, 2006 at 11:50 am

    If John Kerry wants to gay marry Sy Hersh so much, they can spent their honeymoon in Gitmo.

  9. 9.

    ThymeZone

    November 2, 2006 at 11:53 am

    Kerry should be forced by the Democrats to apologize for something he didn’t say,

    Kerry should be (ahem) encouraged by Democrats to do one or more of the following or else get the hell away from our cameras and microphones:

    1) Grow up and figure out that the Vietnam thing wasn’t about him and his precious purple hearts, it was about being insensitive and careless with the honor and pride of veterans who didn’t deserve to be tarred with the black brush of the policy behind that war, or

    2) Swallow his enourmous pride and ego and realize that national politics against cutthroats is not about his image as a war hero or noble protestor … and ….

    3) Do what is best for his party and either shut the hell up or figure out how to take this issue away from the GOp which will rightly use it against him, and us, forever until we get it.

    Insanity is doing the same stupid thing over and over and hoping to get a different result. After thirty years, is it too much to ask this dumb asshole to step back and look at this differently? It’s not about him and George Bush. Actually, those two deserve each other, they both have a bad habit of thinking that wars and politics are about them instead of being about the people.

    John Kerry is a fucking albatross around the neck of this party. Get the hook and get him off the stage, please.

  10. 10.

    matt

    November 2, 2006 at 11:59 am

    emotions

    gut politics

    That’s all politics has ever been, it’s all politics will ever be. The GOP figured this out decades ago, Democrats are just beginning (kind of, hopefully – Kerry notwithstanding) to figure this out.

  11. 11.

    ThymeZone

    November 2, 2006 at 12:09 pm

    The GOP figured this out decades ago, Democrats are just beginning (kind of, hopefully – Kerry notwithstanding) to figure this out.

    Precisely! { wipes tears and snot from face }

    When you are in a political battle with people who will stop at nothing to cut your throat (see McCain’s Brown Baby), parsing speeches and making lawyerly arguments about who’s “right” is not just a waste of time, it plays right into their fucking hands.

    That’s why Swiftboat was a brilliant ploy! They knew we’d try to logic and lawyer and harrumph our way out of it and that all we’d do is dig the hole deeper. Some flip flop jokes here, some “I was for it before I was against it” jokes there, and boom — you have a reliable little wedge issue and your opponents are too full of their “rightness” to see how they are being played for fools.

    That’s why their emotional and wedge issues work. Not because they are right on the facts, for crissakes.

  12. 12.

    Rusty Shackleford

    November 2, 2006 at 12:12 pm

    The “dumbing down” of America is now complete. Morons of the world unite!

  13. 13.

    ThymeZone

    November 2, 2006 at 12:21 pm

    The “dumbing down” of America is now complete

    I used to think this but I don’t any more. I think that emotional politics is here to stay, and that if we want to govern, we are tasked with learning to do it without becoming corrupt in the process.

    I don’t believe that this is not doable. The Rove approach is to tell any lie that works. I think the long range winning approach is to learn to tell any truth in a way that competes on an even playing field with the lie.

    We’ll never learn this from the Kerrys of the world, they are too busy acting out their own schtick.

    And we don’t have to stoop to the McCain approach, either. Which is to grovel before the keepers of the emotional hot buttons.

  14. 14.

    W.B. Reeves

    November 2, 2006 at 12:43 pm

    The whole Kerry pseudo controversy reeks of wish fufillment. The GOP deadenders desperately wish that it was 2004 instead of 2006. Not being able to run on their record, they’ve decided to run against John Kerry. Evidently, they think that if they talk about nothing but John Kerry between now and next Tuesday they will cause the electorate to become unstuck in time. It will be as though the last two years never happened.

    The contempt these people have for the US voter is astounding.

  15. 15.

    The Other Steve

    November 2, 2006 at 12:50 pm

    It makes you think, and makes you figure out how to explain things to people who are HELL BENT ON NOT GETTING IT.

    shorter whiner: Whaaa!!!! Nobody is as smart as me. you all don’t get it, so you must be idiots!

    Shut the fuck up already, you sound pathetic.

  16. 16.

    Darrell

    November 2, 2006 at 12:52 pm

    Because once you except that yeah, he simply screwed up his line

    But he didn’t simply screw up his line.. he didn’t reference the President, and it wouldn’t be the first time he’s smeared troops in active combat. Here is Kerry’s “honest mistake”:

    “You know, education, if you make the most of it, if you study hard and do your homework, and you make an effort to be smart, uh, you can do well. If you don’t, you get stuck in Iraq.”

    Get stuck in Iraq with the rest of the uneducated morons there.

  17. 17.

    The Other Steve

    November 2, 2006 at 12:54 pm

    That’s why their emotional and wedge issues work. Not because they are right on the facts, for crissakes.

    Granted, it helps because we also have some people who cringe in fear whenever a swiftboater starts talking, and they yell at everybody to shut up.

    Not to many of them around any more. They still occasionally publish articles in The New Republic, but most of them are busy running the Joe Lieberman campaign, or commenting under the psuedonym Thymezone.

  18. 18.

    The Other Steve

    November 2, 2006 at 12:55 pm

    But he didn’t simply screw up his line.. he didn’t reference the President, and it wouldn’t be the first time he’s smeared troops in active combat. Here is Kerry’s “honest mistake”:

    Why are you so insistant on smearing the soldiers?

  19. 19.

    p.lukasiak

    November 2, 2006 at 12:57 pm

    Its unsurprising that the GOP would take an out of context quote, and try to make an issue of it. Removing context from people’s remarks is standard political conduct for both parties (see political ads).

    The primary issue here isn’t what Kerry said, and the GOP’s attempted exploitation of it by taking it out of context. The issue is how and why this became the dominant news story for over 48 hours.

    This was a deliberate effort by the mainstream media to hype their election coverage by making a story that had no legitimate basis into a “major controversy”. Predictions were for a Democratic blowout in the election — that meant that nobody was going to be glued to their seats watching election coverage — and that’s bad for the news “business”. Anyone who watched any of the coverage could not help but notice how the networks emphaaized the “question” of the impact of “Kerry’s remarks on the mid-term elections.”

    What you wound up with was coverage that shilled for the right wing noise machine in pursuit of ratings — every Kerry story mentioned the SINGLE Democratic Senate candidate who had called for a Kerry apology — but it was seldom mentioned that BOTH Tom Delay and Dick Armey had acknowledged that the controversy was a pile of horseshit. And it was nearly impossible to find a full version of Kerry’s remarks that SHOWED that they were taken out of context — instead the networks repeated and repeated the same out of context clip in order to hype the controversy.

    It should also be noted that Bush’s controversial statements (intentional, not out of context) that a democratic win would be a victory for terrorism have been pretty much ignored (except by Olberman) — and the networks has also ignored remarks made yesterday by House Majority Leader John Boehner in which he blamed the military for the mess in Iraq. (Democrats have expressed justifiable outrage at Boehner’s comments — but its simply not being covered.)

    One is also tempted to disparage the Democratic response to the Kerry controversy — but by and large, nost Democrats did respond correctly (i.e. noting that Kerry had acknowledged that he’d botched a joke and was sorry for doing so, and then emphasizing the GOP’s failure to support the troops.) But despite the fact that most Democrats “read from the right script”, the networks were uninterested in reporting on Democratic support for Kerry.

  20. 20.

    ThymeZone

    November 2, 2006 at 1:10 pm

    the networks were uninterested in reporting on Democratic support for Kerry.

    Jesus H. Christ in a popsicle, man.

    If you think that our party fortunes rest on “network” decisions like that, then we’re toast.

    The GOP is the undisputed World Champ at managing the news cycles and the signal to noise ratio.

    We can’t sit around and whine about it, we have to do it better than they do. That’s why Kerry is such a fucking ass — he plays right into their hands. He is their dream come true.

    we have to do it better than they do

    Yes, he said quoting himself, that’s why his apology was so necessary and why every day that he waited, they won. As long as they keep the fray in the lead slot, they win the news cycle.

    What the HELL do you guys think this is about?

  21. 21.

    Darrell

    November 2, 2006 at 1:29 pm

    p.lukasiak Says:

    Its unsurprising that the GOP would take an out of context quote, and try to make an issue of it

    That is rich on so many levels coming from the very guy responsible for ‘Rathergate’

  22. 22.

    Jason

    November 2, 2006 at 1:34 pm

    Thanks!

  23. 23.

    p.lukasiak

    November 2, 2006 at 1:34 pm

    We can’t sit around and whine about it, we have to do it better than they do.

    here’s a clue — we are doing a better job…. it doesn’t matter. News coverage is now driven by ratings, and “controversy” drives ratings, and during the election cycle, coverage of “close” elections gets better ratings than coverage of pre-determined races.

    Yes, there is bias in news coverage, and that bias is increasingly pro-Republican. But (with the exception of Fox) the decision on what to cover, and how to cover it, has far less to do with any ideological bias and far more to do with what keeps eyeballs glued to the screen.

    A day doesn’t go by where the right wing noise machine isn’t promoting the latest “outrage” — the news networks pick and choose whether/when to promote that “outrage” as a “legitimate” story….

  24. 24.

    p.lukasiak

    November 2, 2006 at 1:36 pm

    That is rich on so many levels coming from the very guy responsible for ‘Rathergate’

    Darrell, I had as much to do with “Rathergate” as you do with intelligent political discourse — in other words, for all intents and purposes, nothing.

  25. 25.

    Bender

    November 2, 2006 at 1:38 pm

    Kerry has now apologized for something he didn’t really say

    No, he apologized (through a statement, not in person — the cowardly douchebag) for the public — including a goodly number of Democrats and Democrat candidates — and the media “misinterpreting” the exact words that he said (“I sincerely regret that my words were misinterpreted…”). If he had balls, he’d have said, “I apologize for saying that uneducated kids get stuck in Iraq. That’s not what I meant. I meant, “George Bush is a dumb stupidhead, and I, in contrast, am the finest intellect this nation has ever had the good fortune to have seen.” I just couldn’t read the joke off a card that was right in front of me.

  26. 26.

    Bender

    November 2, 2006 at 1:39 pm

    Yes, there is bias in news coverage, and that bias is increasingly pro-Republican.

    Yeah, now it’s only 85%-15% Democrat, as opposed to 90%-10% Democrat. Just ask Mark Halperin.

  27. 27.

    craigie

    November 2, 2006 at 1:50 pm

    Meanwhile, why isn’t that other politician be asked to apologize for saying this:

    “I’m pleased with the progress we’re making.”

    I mean, it’s not like he’s in charge or anything…

  28. 28.

    W.B. Reeves

    November 2, 2006 at 1:53 pm

    As per my earlier observation about wish fufillment fantasies, exhibits A and B: Darrell and Bender.

  29. 29.

    Walker

    November 2, 2006 at 1:55 pm

    Yeah, now it’s only 85%-15% Democrat, as opposed to 90%-10% Democrat. Just ask Mark Halperin.

    Cite where these numbers come from (the study, not some talking head’s quote) and what methodology was used to assign the “Democrat” tag. Otherwise, arguing about this is a waste of time.

  30. 30.

    Andrei

    November 2, 2006 at 2:01 pm

    How is ppGaz like your politician?

    I [ThymeZone, aka ppGaz] am not going to waste any more of time trying to explain what it is that he [Kerry] can’t figure out, because anyone who doesn’t get it by now is not going to get it ever.

    Broken promises, baby!

  31. 31.

    sglover

    November 2, 2006 at 2:05 pm

    John Kerry has been taking shit, and exposing himself and his party to criticism over his regard for American servicemen, for THIRTY DAMNED YEARS.

    Not only that, he managed to wreck our chances of unseating a crummy president, in 2004, by being in this position yet again and having NO IDEA how to deal with it effectively.

    I think this is unfair. Kerry wasn’t my first choice in ’04 by a long shot, but I think that under the circumstances he fought a pretty good campaign. I really think that Kerry’s liabilities as a candidate are at least as much a reflection on Democratic Party shortcomings as his own.

    Why was Kerry the Dem candidate in the first place? Easy — because for decades the party’s relegated foreign and security policy to a second- or third-tier concern. (The GOP has acquired the reputation for being “serious” about foreign policy pretty much entirely by default.) In 2004 this just wasn’t going to fly.

    But how to gin up “seriousness” in months? For Dems the answer was, Get a guy who wore the uniform. Unfortunately, given their thin foreign policy talent pool, and in an age when “foreign policy” and “grand strategy” have become largely militarized, it wasn’t a completely stupid choice. And let’s be honest, here — Kerry’s not an idiot, he’s not incompetent, he’s not a scumbag. He wasn’t in any sense the worst presidential candidate the two parties have ever produced. The Republican Party blessed us with that history-making selection in 2000.

    It’s true that Kerry didn’t handle the Swift boat disinfo campaign as he should have. In fact, he should have used the blowtorch scorn on those maggots that he showed us just yesterday. But I think that what really killed Kerry was the same kind of Democratic foreign policy dithering that got him the nomination in the first place. The shameful Iraq war authorization gave the Republicans their best weapon for the ’04 campaign, the damning line, He voted for it before he voted against it. It had the great advantage of any good political slogan — it was essentially correct. But that wasn’t just Kerry’s fault. He was one of many Dems (remember that Profile in Spinelessness Daschle?) who simply put their fingers in the wind rather than bother with a tedious and potentially costly fight. And a large factor in that rollover was that there were no Democratic foreign policy authorities who could give the White House disinfo the scathing treatment it deserved.

  32. 32.

    ThymeZone

    November 2, 2006 at 2:09 pm

    A day doesn’t go by where the right wing

    There are 40-50 prime (weekday) news cycles between Labor Day and Election Day.

    Every one of them is up for grabs, and the GOP machine exists to seize them and employ them and keep their talking points in front of the eyes and ears of voters.

    As of Monday this week, there were exactly 5 left. As of Tuesday when John Kerry was throwing his first tantrums, there were 4 left. On Wednesday when the impossible fuck was still throwing his tantrum, there were 3 left.

    The reason why those three won’t now go into the shitter for our side is because they finally prevailed on the stupid ass to apologize and sit down and shut up.

    That’s the daily battle. When you give your opposition a free pass on those news cycles, as Kerry did this week, and would be now if Dems hadn’t reined him in, then you are giving away the best and by far the cheapest access to those eyes and ears.

    Maybe you don’t understand that, but I assure you, some people do, and those are the people who told John Kerry to get his apology on before he cost us another cycle.

    If John Kerry got any of this, he could have won in 2004. He wouldn’t have sat on his ass in September and October and let the news cycles go to the opposition every frigging day.

    And he wouldn’t have tried to argue about his purple hearts with those assholes either. Because the animosity toward him isn’t about his purple hearts, it’s about his shitty behavior during protests, and his steadfast refusal to this day to understand that. As recently as 24 hours ago he was saying basically “Anyone who thinks that I, a veteran, would belittle the troops …. why, that’s crazy.”

    Whether he gets it or not, that’s the way it is, and he can call it crazy, or he can speak directly to that animosity and possibly even turn it to his advantage. But he’ll never do that, he’s too full of his own bullshit.

    Look at the face of Tony Snow yesterday at the press thing, talking about Kerry. Have you ever seen Snow looking that happy? Seriously, he looked like he had just won a new car in the church raffle.

  33. 33.

    Nat

    November 2, 2006 at 2:11 pm

    Feel free to slap some sense into me, but how exactly are Kerry’s ’72 comments even offensive? His point was that the elites (like Bush) had managed to avoid the war even with a draft, and a volunteer army would be used to take advantage of the lower class. Sounds like he’s mostly concerned that our soliders be treated fairly.

    Personally, I think a military draft is simply wrong in almost any situation, but I agree with Kerry that the current system creates other problems. I have nothing but respect for people who volunteer for the military, but I can’t help thinking that many of them might have chosen differently had their economic options been any better. This isn’t questioning their patriotism or committment; it’s simple human nature. And I’m absolutely fine with people signing up because it’s a good deal economically; I’m not okay with sending them to get shot at by insurgents.

  34. 34.

    ThymeZone

    November 2, 2006 at 2:13 pm

    In fact, he should have used the blowtorch scorn on those maggots

    Nope, that would have played right into their hands.

    There is only one way for Kerry to defuse the vulnerability he created for himself, and that is to own up to it unconditionally.

    “It was wrong of me to suggest that American troops were war criminals the way I did in the Seventies. I insulted the pride and honor of every Vietnam vet with my clumsy language and theatrics, and I am sincerely sorry for it.”

    He’ll never say it, and for that reason, he will never rid himself of the problem. Which frankly, I don’t give a shit about. What I give a shit about is whether he makes his problem my problem. When he does that, then it’s my business.

  35. 35.

    ThymeZone

    November 2, 2006 at 2:21 pm

    His point was

    Well there you go. He, too, thinks it’s about “what his point was.” Kerry could spend his whole life explaining what his point was. “I was for before I voted against it.”

    Why do you think that little refrain works so well against him? Because he is the kind of person who thinks that that kind of argument trumps the gut reaction. He has disdain for the gut reaction.

    Well, good for him. In politics, dismissing gut reactions is not a very smart thing to do.

  36. 36.

    sglover

    November 2, 2006 at 2:27 pm

    I used to think this but I don’t any more. I think that emotional politics is here to stay, and that if we want to govern, we are tasked with learning to do it without becoming corrupt in the process.

    I don’t believe that this is not doable. The Rove approach is to tell any lie that works. I think the long range winning approach is to learn to tell any truth in a way that competes on an even playing field with the lie.

    Winning politics have always been “emotional” politics. The Dems’ biggest liability* is no secret — it’s the noncommital, “moderate”, let’s-try-to-make-everyone-happy approach that Beltway pundits find agreeable. Too many national Democratic apparatchiks seem to think of politics as a kind of grad school seminar, and this inspires nobody.

    That said, passionate politics doesn’t have to mean signing up for the Rove Big Lie approach. In fact, I think we may soon see just how counterproductive Atwater/Rove sleaze can be. Andy Sullivan points out that even with all the resources of the Republican Party, incumbency, and the federal government, “permanent majority” Rove managed to expand the popular vote tally from slightly less than half, to fractionally more than 51%. This is not exactly what I’d call impressive. What’s more, it’s very possible that the ultimate result of Rove’s efforts may the utter discrediting of right-wing “political philosophy” for a generation.

    * Actually, it’s their second biggest. The biggest liability is that on all the really big issues, the Democratic consensus won decades ago, and isn’t even open to serious challenge. Ask the Idiot Prince how well his scheme to “reform” Social Security worked. Ask him if more Americans really want to trust their health care to the invisible hand of the market.

  37. 37.

    Steve

    November 2, 2006 at 2:32 pm

    “It was wrong of me to suggest that American troops were war criminals the way I did in the Seventies. I insulted the pride and honor of every Vietnam vet with my clumsy language and theatrics, and I am sincerely sorry for it.”

    After all these posts, you’ve finally told us what your issue is with Kerry! Thank you.

    I’ve also felt that he should have said something like that – or rather, that it would have meant a lot to a lot of people if he said something like that. But I don’t remember Vietnam, and it’s a little too facile for me to go around putting words in people’s mouths, since I do it for a living and all.

  38. 38.

    ThymeZone

    November 2, 2006 at 2:37 pm

    politics doesn’t have to mean signing up for the Rove Big Lie approach.

    No, it doesn’t, and that’s why I suggested exactly the opposite approach.

    But more to the point in this case, negative lie politics works, and has always worked. I think dealing with it starts with understanding it, not railing against it.

    I like the example happening here in our senate race. Empty-suit Republican Jon Kyl versus Dem challenger, land developer Jim Pederson.

    Kyl has used every dirty trick in the book, accusing Pederson of criminal deception in a bankruptcy situation, and so forth.

    Pederson doesn’t ignore it, or try to fight fire with fire. He smiles at the camera and says “Jon Kyl just tries to smear me because he doesn’t want to talk about this ….” and then presents another issue.

    In the long run, even if Kyl wins, which he may, since he is a fairly well-established Repub in a traditionally reddish state, I think Pederson’s approach is the answer.

    Just keep one’s eye on the ball, let the other guy do his schtick, if necessary, address the schtick and move on.

    Peterson’s ad.

  39. 39.

    ThymeZone

    November 2, 2006 at 2:39 pm

    After all these posts, you’ve finally told us what your issue is with Kerry!

    Fuck you. After all these posts you finally paid attention.

    Actually, demi wrote the definitive apology Tuesday night, and as I pointed out then, that was the best thing for asshole Kerry to do.

    Of course, you were too busy doing your usual schtick to be really paying attention to what was going on.

  40. 40.

    ThymeZone

    November 2, 2006 at 2:46 pm

    demi wrote the definitive apology Tuesday night,

    Oh, and for all I know, demi was kidding when he wrote it, but even if he was, it was perfect.

    The sincere humble apology is an extremely powerful tool in politics. It forces your opponent to retool his assault on you. It seizes the news cycle. It puts you on the high ground where argumentation may not do so.

    Kerry was wrong thirty years ago, that’s the fact. Not about the war, but about his words and actions and their unanticipated effects. Instead of looking at the latter and dealing with it, he chose to focus and still chooses to focus on the former, as if his INTENT is what counted.

    Why this man chose politics as a profession, I have no idea, he seems to have no particular gift for it.

  41. 41.

    Tom in Texas

    November 2, 2006 at 2:47 pm

    John Kerry said something stupid this week. He also said something stupid 35 years ago. But to blame all of this on Kerry — it’s nothing more than the noise machine in high gear. If it wasn’t Kerry, they’d all be outraged at something Murtha or Pelosi implied. They needed an issue, so they made one up. That is not Kerry’s fault. He could never end this brouhaha — it is completely out of his hands. They are deliberately taking a quote and contorting it to smear the man. An apology made no difference as far as they are concerned. Nothing makes any difference for them. They have to flog this shiny distraction for all it is worth.

  42. 42.

    Steve

    November 2, 2006 at 2:57 pm

    Fuck you. After all these posts you finally paid attention.

    Blah blah blah. As usual, it’s everyone else’s fault for obfuscating your crystal-clear meaning, blah blah blah.

    You said about a million times that Kerry screwed up in how he responded to the Swift Boat accusations. The conventional wisdom is that Kerry ignored them for so long, he should have hit back harder, and so forth. The idea that he needed to go back to the underlying issue of what bothered people about him is a provocative one. I don’t feel you clearly expressed this before now.

    I think you underestimate how hard it would be for a guy to admit that there was something inappropriate in the way he made his bones all those years ago. Yeah, you’re probably right that he should have done it. Yeah, we should expect acts of character from a guy who wants to be President (and how rarely are our standards reached!). But you make it sound so easy, like gee, if he wasn’t such a selfish asshole he would have said these things and it all would have been fine.

    It’s like you think most people would have no problem making this kind of heartwrenching apology, an emotional admission about an emotional time, but John Kerry has some kind of special weakness that kept him from doing it. I think the truth is the reverse, and very rarely do you see figures in public life repudiate their past in any kind of substantial way (as opposed to “they were youthful indiscretions, now please elect me”). Either way, whether it’s your fault or my fault, I’m glad I finally see your point.

  43. 43.

    Andrei

    November 2, 2006 at 3:14 pm

    Why this man chose politics as a profession, I have no idea, he seems to have no particular gift for it.

    There are two pieces to being a politician: 1) Being able to create laws and policy that geniuly help the country and 2) being able to campaign.

    You are judging him on only one side of the puzzle, which is pretty unfair imho, but at least you should admit it’s at least incomplete as a judgement.

  44. 44.

    Vladi G

    November 2, 2006 at 3:23 pm

    I’m still waiting for Darrell the serial liar to comment on Bush’s claim that his administration never stops thinking of ways to harm the American people. Pretty pathetic for an American president to admit that he’s trying to find ways to harm Americans.

    Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we.

  45. 45.

    Pietro

    November 2, 2006 at 3:42 pm

    In 1972, if you were uneducated, or, in Kerry’s words, ‘black or brown,’ there was a good chance you would get stuck in Vietnam. That isn’t the case today with Iraq, and regardless, it isn’t what Kerry said the other day.

    Uh, John Kerry wasn’t talking about the draft… The comments were as despicable then as they are now because the people he was talking about were brave enough to volunteer when others ran away.

  46. 46.

    sglover

    November 2, 2006 at 3:44 pm

    Kerry was wrong thirty years ago, that’s the fact. Not about the war, but about his words and actions and their unanticipated effects. Instead of looking at the latter and dealing with it, he chose to focus and still chooses to focus on the former, as if his INTENT is what counted.

    Seems to me that his line, “How do you ask the last man to die…” still stands as one of the most eloquent statements about Vietnam then or since. Look, Kerry doesn’t exactly ooze charisma from his pores, but I think you’re letting whatever grudge you’ve got against him run miles ahead of your judgement. What’s more, having participated (in a minor way) in some political campaigns myself, and seen firsthand how grueling they can be, I’m always slightly amazed that at the end of a campaign candidates can manage grammatical sentences, let alone avoid mis-speaking.

    In the end, this Kerry gaffe won’t give the Republicans one single vote that they didn’t already have. No sentient being really believe that Kerry disdains the military. Meanwhile, the Cheney administrations actual treatment of the armed forces speaks volumes.

  47. 47.

    Bender

    November 2, 2006 at 3:58 pm

    They needed an issue, so they made one up.

    Nope, this was a self-inflicted wound. The GOP were just bystanders. Most in that gasping, groaning (Democratic) crowd and the reporters covering the event there in California knew what Kerry had done the second the words left his mouth (which, if it were a “joke,” should’ve given Empty Suit a clue that something had gone awry, and he could’ve clarified if he had gone off his card).

  48. 48.

    Steve

    November 2, 2006 at 4:07 pm

    The GOP were just bystanders.

    Uh, be real about this. It’s not like the media tracked down Bush, McCain, Snow and all the rest wherever they might happen to be and demanded that they comment on the topic.

  49. 49.

    Jess

    November 2, 2006 at 4:08 pm

    Kerry was wrong thirty years ago, that’s the fact. Not about the war, but about his words and actions and their unanticipated effects. Instead of looking at the latter and dealing with it, he chose to focus and still chooses to focus on the former, as if his INTENT is what counted.

    I agree with you here, but I agree with Tom’s point as well (the two are not mutually exclusive):

    John Kerry said something stupid this week. He also said something stupid 35 years ago. But to blame all of this on Kerry—it’s nothing more than the noise machine in high gear. If it wasn’t Kerry, they’d all be outraged at something Murtha or Pelosi implied. They needed an issue, so they made one up. That is not Kerry’s fault.

    There’s a bigger problem here than Kerry’s mishap (or habit of mishaps), which is the domination of the news cycle by right-wing bullshit. For example, how much attention has the MSM paid to Boehner’s remarks? http://www.armytimes.com/story.php?f=1-292925-2328683.php

    In the wake of Sen. John Kerry’s belated apology for offending troops deployed in Iraq, House Majority Leader Rep. John Boehner of Ohio is being asked by Democrats to apologize for seemingly blaming senior military officers for any problems with the Bush administration’s Iraq strategy.

    Boehner, however, does not appear to be budging.

    “Good try,” he said when asked about demands for an apology.

    In a Wednesday appearance on CNN, Boehner was asked for his view on Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and the U.S. policy in Iraq.

    “There are a lot of people who want to blame what’s happening in Iraq on Donald Rumsfeld, but when you look at the transformation that our military has been through, it’s nothing short of remarkable,” Boehner said. “The fact is, the generals on the ground are in charge.”

    I don’t like Kerry–although I think Andrei is right to point out that Kerry has been a decent legislator–but we are never going to find a Dem candidate that is completely invulnerable to the smear tactics of the right. Just like the battered wife is never going to be perfect enough to stop her husband from abusing her; like the abusive husband, the right must continually distract from their own pathetic record and shabby morals, and must therefore continually seek out every last trace of human flaws in their opposition. To blame Kerry for this is tempting, because it makes the problem appear more manageable, but ultimately short-sighted.

  50. 50.

    sglover

    November 2, 2006 at 4:08 pm

    Nope, this was a self-inflicted wound. The GOP were just bystanders. Most in that gasping, groaning (Democratic) crowd and the reporters covering the event there in California knew what Kerry had done the second the words left his mouth (which, if it were a “joke,” should’ve given Empty Suit a clue that something had gone awry, and he could’ve clarified if he had gone off his card).

    Oh fuck off. I mean really. Bush the Lesser puts his foot in his mouth every time he opens it. When the worthless scumbag talks about “supporting the troops”, what he really means is, “so I can stand behind them”. Tell me how much the worthless lying maggot “supports the troops” the next time he can’t even manage to include operating expenses for the Iraq expedition in the annual budget. What the fuck does he do, strike his forehead in the middle of the night and say, “Zowie! We forgot to ask for money for Iraq!! Quick, Don, fill out one of those ’emergency supplemental’ forms!”

    The intellectual and moral bankruptcy of shills like you is simply pathetic.

  51. 51.

    The Other Steve

    November 2, 2006 at 4:09 pm

    Kyl has used every dirty trick in the book, accusing Pederson of criminal deception in a bankruptcy situation, and so forth.

    Pederson doesn’t ignore it, or try to fight fire with fire. He smiles at the camera and says “Jon Kyl just tries to smear me because he doesn’t want to talk about this ….” and then presents another issue.

    Funny, I figured you would want Pederson to apologize for his criminal deception in a bankruptcy situation, even though that’s not what he did.

    Because otherwise Kyl’s smears may influence voters!

  52. 52.

    The Other Steve

    November 2, 2006 at 4:24 pm

    Yeah, now it’s only 85%-15% Democrat, as opposed to 90%-10% Democrat. Just ask Mark Halperin.

    LOL! Halperin! LOL!

  53. 53.

    ThymeZone

    November 2, 2006 at 5:11 pm

    Funny, I figured you would

    Yeah, whatever. If you did more simple listening and less figuring, you’d be a lot better off.

  54. 54.

    ThymeZone

    November 2, 2006 at 5:13 pm

    Seems to me that his line, “How do you ask the last man to die…” still stands as one of the most eloquent statements about Vietnam then or since

    Absolutely agree. Unfortunately his skills as a politician do not match his aptitude for poetic speech.

    He’s a tragic figure in that sense, AFAIC. If he weren’t so dense about the realities here, he could be president now and we wouldn’t be in this world of shit.

  55. 55.

    ThymeZone

    November 2, 2006 at 5:15 pm

    I think you underestimate how hard it would be for a guy to admit

    A “guy”? You mean, a nominee for president from one of the two major parties?

    Oh, that kind of a “guy.”

    Go away Steve, your harangues are a waste of fucking time. You’re a troll.

  56. 56.

    ThymeZone

    November 2, 2006 at 5:17 pm

    But to blame all of this on Kerry

    Thassright, Tom. To blame a flap started by Kerry and his big mouth, and then continued Tuesday by Kerry and his big mouth, and then continued Wednesday by Kerry and his big mouth … on Kerry … would be wrong.

    Brilliant.

  57. 57.

    ThymeZone

    November 2, 2006 at 5:21 pm

    When the worthless scumbag talks about “supporting the troops”, what he really means is, “so I can stand behind them”. Tell me how much the worthless lying maggot “supports the troops” the next time he can’t even manage

    Preaching to the choir, almost nobody here would disagree. So what would it take to give the lying maggot complete sway over several priceless news cycles just before an election?

    Answer: John Kerry.

    It’s about control of the bandwidth, not the merits of the people involved. First you have to get control of the bandwidth … the news cycles …. then you get your message out. That’s why Dems screamed for Kerry to apologize and stop the bleeding. That’s why Kerry is an ass, because he had to be screamed at.

  58. 58.

    Jess

    November 2, 2006 at 5:34 pm

    First you have to get control of the bandwidth

    Brilliant plan! Now, how does one go about doing that with a scandal-driven media? Might help if we focus on what Boehner said, for example, rather than on what Kerry failed to say.

    Not that I disagree with your assessment of Kerry’s political acumen.

  59. 59.

    Tom in Texas

    November 2, 2006 at 5:35 pm

    TZ:
    I agree that Kerry should have, for the good of Dem’s chances next week, apologized immediately for any offense that he gave when he misspoke. He did choose to make this about him instead of choosing to disappear. Now, I want to make him disappear anyway — by not talking about the guy. Whether it is due mostly to the right wing echo chamber (as I believe) or due to Kerry himself, This Kerry flap is a distraction, and I, for one, refuse to be distracted any longer.

    That is all I have to say about such an inane topic.

  60. 60.

    ThymeZone

    November 2, 2006 at 5:36 pm

    This Kerry flap is a distraction

    Well, that was kind of the whole point.

    Which is why Kerry acted to end the distraction he was causing yesterday at about 4:30 ET right before (a) the evening news shows and (b) some Dems broke his frigging thumbs.

  61. 61.

    Andrei

    November 2, 2006 at 5:39 pm

    You’re a troll.

    That’s so amazingly funny I can barely contain it.

    When I finally get around to installing GreaseMonkey to ignore comments on web pages, ppGaz is definitely getting added right there alongside Darrell. In fact, I wasn’t ging to bother to go to all that effort just to deal with Darrell… but killing off two birds with one stone, I guess that’s an ROI that I can’t ignore.

  62. 62.

    sglover

    November 2, 2006 at 5:43 pm

    It’s about control of the bandwidth, not the merits of the people involved. First you have to get control of the bandwidth … the news cycles …. then you get your message out. That’s why Dems screamed for Kerry to apologize and stop the bleeding. That’s why Kerry is an ass, because he had to be screamed at.

    Ummmmm….. Weren’t you the guy who said that the Dems ought to lay off the Foley pederasty thing, and rely on the media to carry the message?

    Anyway, that’s an old battle. Look, this whole episode, which is not even a tempest in a teapot, won’t get the Republicans a single vote that they didn’t already have locked up. These “news cycles” that you’re so worried about still carry news of the Iraq disaster, of the blimp Limbaugh mocking a popular disabled guy, of desperate Republicans all over the country trying to throw increasingly bizarre smears in all directions.

    For the dozenth time, Republicans have glommed on to the Kerry gaffe because their position is wholly fucked. They’re going to lose the House. That’s a certainty. The only contests that are still up in the air are 3-4 Senate campaigns that are going to go down to the wire. I’m next to the one in Virginia. From what I can see, the fight is pretty much Allen vs. Webb.

    If there’s any other subtext going on, it isn’t about Kerry, it’s about Bush — and that worthless scumbag is the very last guy the GOP wants people to think about. Do you know what’s going on in the Senate race in my own state, Maryland? Michael Steele, the Republican candidate actually tried to pass off T-shirts and bumper stickers saying, Steele — Democrat.

  63. 63.

    ThymeZone

    November 2, 2006 at 5:45 pm

    how does one go about doing that with a scandal-driven media?

    You play the media. Watch the GOP, they have it down to a science. They know how to get the attention of the beast, and then once they have it, to use it to the hilt.

  64. 64.

    ThymeZone

    November 2, 2006 at 5:46 pm

    won’t get the Republicans a single vote

    I hope you are right. But I agree with the people who got Kerry to apologize yesterday.

  65. 65.

    ThymeZone

    November 2, 2006 at 5:47 pm

    ppGaz is definitely getting added right there alongside Darrell. In fact, I wasn’t ging to bother to go to all that effort just to deal with Darrell… but killing off two birds with one stone, I guess that’s an ROI that I can’t ignore.

    Good idea. If the software costs you any money, let me know, I’ll pay for it.

  66. 66.

    ThymeZone

    November 2, 2006 at 5:49 pm

    If there’s any other subtext going on, it isn’t about Kerry, it’s about Bush

    Which is why Kerry brilliantly tried to arrange for Bush to spend the week (potentially) talking about Kerry, instead of talking about his failed war?

    Now you know why Kerry isn’t president.

  67. 67.

    ThymeZone

    November 2, 2006 at 5:52 pm

    Michael Steele, the Republican candidate actually tried to pass off T-shirts and bumper stickers saying, Steele—Democrat.

    ??

  68. 68.

    jcricket

    November 2, 2006 at 6:00 pm

    Good idea. If the software costs you any money, let me know, I’ll pay for it.

    Are you intentionally trying to get yourself banned again?

  69. 69.

    Steve

    November 2, 2006 at 6:02 pm

    A “guy”? You mean, a nominee for president from one of the two major parties?

    Oh, that kind of a “guy.”

    Go away Steve, your harangues are a waste of fucking time. You’re a troll.

    I’m not going away. Ignore me if you like, but don’t insult me for trying to make a thoughtful post. Seriously, I want to hear from anyone else on the planet who would read my 2:57 post and call it a “harangue.” Anyone.

  70. 70.

    Jess

    November 2, 2006 at 6:03 pm

    Michael Steele, the Republican candidate actually tried to pass off T-shirts and bumper stickers saying, Steele—Democrat.

    You’re kidding! Where can I buy one?

  71. 71.

    ThymeZone

    November 2, 2006 at 6:24 pm

    I’m not going away. Ignore me if you like, but don’t insult me for trying to make a thoughtful post. Seriously, I want to hear from anyone else on the planet who would read my 2:57 post and call it a “harangue.” Anyone.

    The complaint was general, Steve. I’m sure your 2:57 post was fucking Nobel Prize material. Really. I will study it and learn from it.

    Hold on, my phone is ringing and I think it’s a Scandanavian area code ….

  72. 72.

    ThymeZone

    November 2, 2006 at 6:25 pm

    Are you intentionally trying to get yourself banned again?

    Uh, you think I’ll get banned for not knuckling under to Andrei’s brilliant takedown?

    Or, did I miss something?

  73. 73.

    ThymeZone

    November 2, 2006 at 6:26 pm

    I’m not going away. Ignore me if you like, but don’t insult me

    You’re a lousy negotiator, Steve. What do I get in the deal?

  74. 74.

    ThymeZone

    November 2, 2006 at 6:28 pm

    I’m not going away. Ignore me if you like, but don’t insult me

    Bush’s slogan for the next Congress?

  75. 75.

    James

    November 2, 2006 at 8:02 pm

    I agree with Kerry. Volunteer army is committing
    war crimes as simply ‘doing its job.’

    The reason is due to lack of true military discipline
    by Bush on down to the Officer Corp.

  76. 76.

    sglover

    November 2, 2006 at 10:03 pm

    You’re kidding! Where can I buy one?

    This isn’t where I first heard of the Steele bait & switch, but a little googling brought up this.

  77. 77.

    scarshapedstar

    November 2, 2006 at 10:14 pm

    In 1972, if you were uneducated, or, in Kerry’s words, ‘black or brown,’ there was a good chance you would get stuck in Vietnam. That isn’t the case today with Iraq

    Really? I coulda sworn that a disproportionate number of our new recruits are broke-ass black and brown kids from the ghetto, and they’re scoring below 40% on the basic aptitude tests.

  78. 78.

    Bob In Pacifica

    November 2, 2006 at 10:21 pm

    Ah, this is the October/November Surprise. The population is so outraged by these out-of-context comments that they went to the polls and voted opposite to what they said they would, thus explaining the enormous shift for Republican candidates on Diebold voting machines not explained by any poll.

  79. 79.

    merlallen

    November 2, 2006 at 11:13 pm

    Are they mentioning Rep Boner blaming the generals in no uncertain terms? Or is the outraged saved for any Democrat who might say something stupid?

  80. 80.

    scs

    November 3, 2006 at 10:30 pm

    Kerry has now apologized for something he didn’t really say

    Huh? You could maybe, just maybe, say Kerry apologized for something he said and didn’t mean, but not for something he really didn’t say (read the exact quote again). John Cole is really becoming a Donk now, as he and most of the leftie MSM are trying out getting us to misbelieve our own ears when it helps their guy.

  81. 81.

    Bender

    November 3, 2006 at 11:11 pm

    John Cole is really becoming a Donk now

    They have officially accepted his as one of their own. Proof: The Donk drones here who mis-parses his every word when he’s taking any conservative stance totally let this wacky “something he didn’t say” remark slide. Nothing to see here!

Comments are closed.

Trackbacks

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    November 2, 2006 at 12:16 pm

    Sign of the Times

    I thank God that there are people like Frank Schaeffer: I’m a Christian, a writer, a military parent and a registered Republican. On all those counts, I was disgusted by an e-mail I just received that’s being circulated by campaign…

  2. Daily Pundit says:
    November 3, 2006 at 12:00 am

    This Balloon Is Full of Hot Air

    The Kerry Silliness Continues In 1972, if you were uneducated, or, in Kerry’s words, ‘black or brown,’ there was a good chance you would get stuck in Vietnam.Hmph. Usually John isn’t this full of shit : But Mr. Kolb and…

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