Kerry Apologizes

[Fitswimmer]

"I think it's important to note that nobody hates the troops more than decorated war hero John Kerry. We're all very, very lucky that we have draft-dodgers like George Bush and Dick Cheney to point that out to us."

and Bill Clinton? Was he not a target of the "draft dodger" comment when he ran? I seem to recall much outrage over that. He also sent troops to a country that did not attack us-Bosnia. (my cousin went, he was in the Navy at the time) I totally supported that decision and it made no difference to me whether President Clinton had served or not.

There are going to be fewer and fewer politicians that have actually served as we get further away from Vietnam. That alone does not create a qualification for office.

I think the same bad decisions would have been made about Iraq whether the President and Vice President served or not. Service alone would not have changed their mindset.

 

[poohandwendy]

I'm saying that alot of people end up saying they are sorry for things because they are sorry they hurt people and not because they are sorry for the content of what they said. Why else would I keep my mouth shut when I'm around people who are military? I certainly am against the war, but I would be sorry beyond words if I said so and they were offended.

When I was in HS alot of kids ended up in Vietnam because of bad grades - that had more to do with the draft but it could have the same result today. Of course there are many young men and women that would disagree with me about the war and have enlisted because it's what they want to do, but surely you aren't suggesting that no one is in the military because they had run out of options - because I happen to know a few.

I am not making any judgement of why or how anyone who voluntarily enlisted came to that decision. I think there are many, many reasons people enlist.

More than anything, I just think it is interesting that you are calling Kerry a liar.

 

[Principessa Alba]

I am not making any judgement of why or how anyone who voluntarily enlisted came to that decision. I think there are many, many reasons people enlist.

More than anything, I just think it is interesting that you are calling Kerry a liar.

Want to start listing times that Bush said something stupid that I'm sure he meant but came out and had to "apologize"? Hey, he wins the prize for that kind of thing.

If you are the kind of person that has never apologized for anything that you said in this way, because you have said something hurtful and an apology is just the only decent thing to do -- congratulations, you are practically perfect in every way!

 

[poohandwendy]

Want to start listing times that Bush said something stupid that I'm sure he meant but came out and had to "apologize"? Hey, he wins the prize for that kind of thing.

If you are the kind of person that has never apologized for anything that you said in this way, because you have said something hurtful and an apology is just the only decent thing to do -- congratulations, you are practically perfect in every way!

No, I am the kind of person who doesn't lie and say I meant something totally different when making an apology.

If I am going to apologize, it is going to be for being hurtful, I am not going to patronize the person even further by twisting it into something it wasn't by telling them my words were meant to be something totally different.

FTR, I think Kerry said his joke wrong. I don't believe he truly meant what he said. I give him that benefit of the doubt. I don't like the way he added attacks to his apology.

You seem to be ok with his saying that, meaning it and then lying about it to smooth things over. Your perogative. I just find it interesting that you are defending what he said he didn't mean.

 

[Principessa Alba]

No, I am the kid of person who doesn't lie and say I meant something totally different when making an apology.

If I am going to apologize, it is going to be for being hurtful, I am not going to patronize the person even further by twisting it into something it wasn't by making them think that my words were meat to be something totally different.

FTR, I think Kerry said his joke wrong. I don't believe he truly meant what he said. I give him that benefit of the doubt. I don't like the way he added attacks to his apology.

You seem to be ok with his saying that, meaning it and then lying about it to smooth things over. Your perogative. I just find it interesting that you are defending what he said he didn't mean.

You seem to be a very serious person that doesn't leave much room for human error, so I guess I'll take your word for it that you "would never do anything like this."

I am a goof up that with foot-in-mouth disease and understand how this could have happened -and am not bothered by this unfortunate situation he's gotten himself into. You want to lose sleep over it - .

I'm curious about why this is hitting such a nerve, but none of my business. I apologize on behalf of all of us anti-war folks that is for sure going to offend people sooner or later.

 

[poohandwendy]

You seem to be a very serious person that doesn't leave much room for human error, so I guess I'll take your word for it that you "would never do anything like this."

I am a goof up that with foot-in-mouth disease and understand how this could have happened -and am not bothered by this unfortunate situation he's gotten himself into. You want to lose sleep over it - .

I'm curious about why this is hitting such a nerve, but none of my business. I apologize on behalf of all of us anti-war folks that is for sure going to offend people sooner or later.

LOL, actually I am not all that serious of a person...just debating points here. I am not in any way offended, nor has it struck any nerve with me. Just discussing it, is all.

And I really don't lose sleep over any of this, I just think it was a goof. I really don't really think he meant what he said...I find it more believeable that he actually DID mean to insult the president. I just doubt that he would blatantly publicly insult the troops like that. (especially at election time as he does represent his party) Now, if he said this in private, I would think his apology was just to smooth it over and he probably meant it.

Funny that I am defending his apology, I don't even like the guy. I guess I was just sort of surprised to see someone on that side of the fence defending what he denies meaning.

My apologies if my posting style comes off as uber-serious I think my style is just sort of to the point. Nothing personal against you.

 

[TheDoctor]

Thomas Friedman of the New York Times has a good editorial out on the Kerry so called insult. http://thepremise.com/archives/11/03/2006/556

George Bush, Dick Cheney and Don Rumsfeld think you’re stupid. Yes, they do.

They think they can take a mangled quip about President Bush and Iraq by John Kerry — a man who is not even running for office but who, unlike Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney, never ran away from combat service — and get you to vote against all Democrats in this election.

Every time you hear Mr. Bush or Mr. Cheney lash out against Mr. Kerry, I hope you will say to yourself, “They must think I’m stupid.” Because they surely do.

They think that they can get you to overlook all of the Bush team’s real and deadly insults to the U.S. military over the past six years by hyping and exaggerating Mr. Kerry’s mangled gibe at the president.

What could possibly be more injurious and insulting to the U.S. military than to send it into combat in Iraq without enough men — to launch an invasion of a foreign country not by the Powell Doctrine of overwhelming force, but by the Rumsfeld Doctrine of just enough troops to lose? What could be a bigger insult than that?

The Kerry quote was a mistake taken out of context. Everyone who watched the rest of the speech has agreed. However, bush and Rove are counting on people buying their lies and it appears that they were correct as to a decent number.