Bush Demands Kerry Apologize for Comment About Troops

[TexasLawyer]

Bush Demands Kerry Apologize for Comment About Troops (Update4)

By Roger Runningen

Oct. 31 (Bloomberg) -- President George W. Bush accused Massachusetts Senator John Kerry of insulting U.S. troops in Iraq and called on him to apologize. Kerry said Republicans were feigning outrage over a "botched joke" for political gain.

While campaigning in California yesterday for gubernatorial candidate Phil Angelides, Kerry said: "Education, if you make the most of it, you study hard, you do your homework and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well. And if you don't, you get stuck in Iraq."

Kerry's suggestion "that the men and women of our military are somehow uneducated is insulting and it is shameful," Bush said at an appearance in Georgia tonight. ``The members of the United States military are plenty smart. And they are plenty brave. And the senator from Massachusetts owes them an apology.''

Bush is making a final flurry of trips across the country to help Republicans fend off a Democratic takeover of the House and possibly the Senate. In Georgia, he urged voters to support Republicans, saying Democrats would raise taxes.

<snip>

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=ahnIsGST3ydI&refer=home

[rodeodance]

1. well, geesh, make a headline out of it!!

[0rganism]

2. except the comment was NEVER about troops

and the "liberal media" has once again framed the headline to the GOP's advantage

Fancy That

[Zorra]

11. Exactly. Republicans once again display their profound stupididty.

The comment was a well deserved insult to Bu*h.

Republicans don't just don't get it. They never have, and never w2ill.

[0rganism]

14. which is how their leaders convince them to vote for their own demise

Ya know, if they ever DO "get it", there's going to be some guillotine action in DC...

[andlor]

3. *

The *idiot is drunk again. Bravo Senator Kierry!!!!!

[C_U_L8R]

4. this is radioactive bullshit

notice that none of the republican candidates
have not pig-piled on this... yet
it is a wonderful sandtrap that leads back to their failings in Iraq.
genius bwahahahahahhahahahha

[w4rma]

24. Holy moly. You're right. I didn't think of that. It pulls the debate right back to

where we want it: On Iraq and Republican failures in Iraq.

And John Kerry gets to go national about our problems in Iraq with this. He also gets to say all sorts of complementary things about our troops with this. And he gets to show how pissed off he is about how the Republican leadership is wasting their lives to try to keep their Republican majority.

[IndianaGreen]

5. Bush never apologized for lying the country into the war in Iraq

Kerry never smeared the troops, and unlike Bush, Kerry served and is a war hero. Bush was a drunkard and was AWOL.

[confludemocrat]

21. That's the kind of remark Kerry needs to be hitting back with instead of

going after Tony Snow first and foremost. when is he going to learn?

[mcscajun]

6. "...plenty smart...plenty brave."

And our pResident is Plenty Stupid. Are those phrases the BEST he can up with? Nevermind, I know the answer. Under stress he nearly always manages to sound like a twelve-year old.
:banghead:

My apologies to all sentient, well-spoken twelve-year-olds, especially those who are related to DUers. :)

[stepnw1f]

7. lol... fuck AWOL! (nt)

[flordehinojos]

8. our television was on (and i was in another room) when blitzer ran a clip of

bush saying,

"Kerry's suggestion "that the men and women of our military are somehow uneducated is insulting and it is shameful," Bush said at an appearance in Georgia tonight. ``The members of the United States military are plenty smart. And they are plenty brave. And the senator from Massachusetts owes them an apology.'"

and i could not get to the tv in time to turn off the monkey man ... it made me sick in my soul to hear how he was just inflamming the crowd that he was talking to ... and throwing them lies after lies which kept the crowds in an uproard against kerry and the democrats.

pretty much what fidel castro used to do in his early days after running batista out of cuba.

everything is an emotional wratcheting up which prevents people from thinking. hitler did the same thing.

and to top it all george herbert walker bush, "approves with every fiber of being" the doings of his son.

[sarge43]

9. Right after you apologize about the 'comma' remark, schmuck. n/t

[NastyRiffraff]

10. John Kerry, don't you DARE apologize!

The time for apologetic Dems is long past.

[Patchuli]

12. Why doesn't * support the troops

when they get home in need of support? Enough of these 'swiftboating' asshat techniques. It's pretty obvious that they're stretching here.

Besides, it's true. If you don't get good grades, you don't get the offers from the good colleges or possible scholarships. The military does offer a way to save $ (supposedly) for college. That doesn't impugne the intelligence of our military in any way. Smart people don't get good grades sometimes too for not doing the bookwork.

I agree. Let * apologize to the troops and to us and to the world for Iraq first.

[KittyWampus]

13. Bush- too STUPID to know he's being called stupid.

[Ouabache]

15. All Kerry needs to do is keep explainig the joke on El Stupido*

to El Stupido*.

It's about Your Stupidity, Stupid !

[Riddler]

16. You want an apology? Here's your apology....

fuck you, your whole family, and the horses you rode in on, you hypocritical lying dipshit piece of garbage.

[antonialee839]

17. Kerry should demand that President Stupid apologize for

sending the troops to Iraq in the first place.

[ckramer]

18. What Kerry said is true. I don't see Bush's daughters joining force in Iraq, do I?

Why? because they are well educated, and well connected, hence there are whole lot of choices and opportunities waiting for them than signing up for Iraq. On the other hand, most uneducated or badly educated poor Americans' only chance to find a job is joining the army.

That's the 'beauty' of a voluntary army - on the surface, it looks like no one is forcing the poor into the army because it's voluntary; yet in reality, most likely, that's the only choice for the poor.

[sugapablo]

19. Hey Georgie Pal!

http://www.wickedsunshine.com/WagePeace/Election2004/Images/JohnKerry+Finger.jpg

[unkachuck]

20. first thing tomorrow morning....

....Kerry should get behind his flag-draped podium again and call bush a 'goddamn liar' and state, 'the man's too stupid to know when he's been insulted' and make this a personnal thing between him and bush....and then shut-up....

[ProgressiveEconomist]

22. AWOL Swiftboats War Hero AGAIN--it worked the last time.

[young_at_heart]

23. McCain also called for an apology

Since this is all they have, they are ALL going to make a big deal about it.

[w4rma]

25. McCain, I think, is the only Republican Senator who is also a veteran.

He is the only one they could ask to do that.

[azurnoir]

26. White House wants Kerry to apologize

To whom? The troops or those he was actually talking about? Looks like Ford and Bush have more in common then one of them should be comfortable with.

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=514&u=/ap/20061101/ap_on_go_pr_wh/white_house_kerry_22

[cshldoc]

27. In other news...

Inconsequential, highly educated peon cshldoc DEMANDS the Whitehouse apologize.

[newyawker99]

49. Hi cshldoc!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[bluestateguy]

28. He'd only be capitulating to them. And they would just keep on bashing him.

And they would say it's not enough, and they would say he's not being contrite enough, he should go further, blah, blah....

Remember Dick Durbin's "controversial" remarks? He yielded to the Noise Machine and apologized, and they just kept on beating up on him.

If Kerry backs down now, then he's every bit the pussy that they say he is.

[Rebel_with_a_cause]

29. When is Bush going to apologize to the troops' families?

When is he going to apologize to Cindy Sheehan? When is he going to apologize to the 9-11 families for refusing to investigate 9-11?

[BonnieJW]

30. Why doesn't Kerry just say

"I'm sorry bush is too stupid to know I was calling him stupid and not the troops."

[KurtNYC]

41. Yes - something like that.

Some people can't take a joke and some can't tell one. But the media is willfully mis-quoting Kerry and they know it. They drilled him with the Swift Boat lies and his mistake was not fighting back hard enough. I think Kerry may be making the same mistake twice -- he has cancelled appearances today.

Shutting up is the last thing Kerry should do at this point. He isn't running for anything this year so let them fire all verbal shots they want at Kerry. But he needs to stick to tight soundbites in his replies. Clinton said about the RW-dominated media:"everytime they attack you it gives you a chance to get your message out." Here are some suggestions for Kerry right now:

"These people know I was talking about Bush."
"These people couldn't deal with Mark Foley when he was sitting right next to them -- Should we expect them to EVER find bin Laden?"
"I think Bush should apologize for his WMD jokes."
"I think Rumsfeld should apologize for saying he didn't want this army! (eg "You go to war with the army you have, NOT the one you want to have.")
"Most people think Cheney should apologize for shooting his friend in the face but the GOP does everything backwards."

[NJmaverick]

31. After George and company apologize for killing nearly 3000

of them, then Kerry should consider an apology.

[davekriss]

32. We the People want Bush to apologize

Don't let them reframe the debate!!!

[SiouxJ]

40. Exactly.

He never had a plan for Iraq, has no plan now and got us into it based on lies. I think Shrub needs to apologize to the troops AND all Americans.

[funkzilla]

33. It's Bush and Cheney who need to apologize

Cheney was saying that the rise in violence in Iraq is because of the American mid-term elections. That's clearly an attempt to get Republican voters out - the unwritten text is that if the Republicans do badly that gives a victory to the 'terrorists'. The violence in Iraq has just been following a trajectory and his attempt to politicize it for his own ends is shameful and may well bring more deaths to Americans and Iraqis.

[CJCRANE]

34. I don't understand why

no-one asked for an apology when * called the Iraq War "a comma". Or claimed the war is a "crusade" or bragged "bring it on" or made fun of looking for WMD under his desk.

That seems a lot worse to me.

[Coaster City]

35. I want an apology from Cheney

I saw Cheney being interviewed almost 2 years ago and he said that the insurgency was in the last stages. Well, when I heard that I went out and ordered a cake to celebrate. Needless to say..... I have not been able to enjoy my cake. I want an apology and I think he owes me %13.99 for the cake.

[robcon]

36. Howard Kutz's article is enlightening.

I think Kerry tried to put out the fire with gasoline, and it blew up in his face. This was a minuscule slip, and would have been defused if Kerry just repeated the joke with the dig against *.

There He Goes Again

By Howard Kurtz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, November 1, 2006; 9:04 AM

"Will John Kerry do for the 2006 campaign what he did for the 2004 edition?

Why couldn't the Massachusetts senator have climbed out of the hole he fell into by just apologizing for saying something stupid, rather than getting out a shovel and digging?

There isn't anybody, including in the Bush administration, who believes that Kerry meant to insult the soldiers in Iraq with his clumsy joke that has given the Republicans a big fat target after months on the defensive. But the words he uttered, in his clumsy fashion, were insulting, and he should have moved quickly to limit the damage.

Instead, with the look of a man who will never get over having been unfairly Swift-boated, he refused to apologize and ripped the White House and the GOP, thereby escalating the story and ensuring that he would lead all the network newscasts last night. Bush v. Kerry, the Sequel, is an irresistible headline for news organizations.

This is a joke? "Education, if you make the most of it, you study hard, you do your homework and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well. If you don't, you get stuck in Iraq."

That's worse than voting for the $87 billion before you voted against it."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/linkset/2005/04/11/LI2005041100587.html

[Abacus]

37. Logical error irritation

This has been bugging me since the beginning; even if we assume the worst and were to evaluate this phrase as is:

"If you make the most of it and you study hard and you do your homework and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well. If you don't you get stuck in Iraq,"

or A implies B
A = no effort to be smart
B = stuck in Iraq

This is not logically equivalent to B implies A. *sigh*

[SiouxJ]

38. Why doesn't Kerry just call a big press conference and

tell everyone it was taken out of context and that's why he's not apologizing? Then ask Shrub to apologize for not having a plan for the war to begin with. Put this baby to bed and bring up what we should really be talking about.

[indypaul]

39. When all the kool aid drinkers apologize for this

idiotic regime we are forced to contend. The blowhards Limbaugh, Hannety, O'Reily, etc should not
be allowed to frame this debate. McCain included. If that ass kisser cannot understand his position
for more than two minutes. Then he can take his apologetic ass back to Arizona and stay. This administration needs to apologize for the mess they have created both foreign and domestic. They do
not need to wait for the "Commission on Correcting a Mistake Without Admitting To a Mistake" reports.
I'm sure that Baker and Hamilton cannot be a party to this mess, thus, no report until after the
election. If there is an apology needed it is for the mess in Iraq, Abramoff, Foley, Delay, Cunningham, Hastert, Ney, et. al. That is where the debate belongs not criticizing remarks of
someone who is NOT a candidate. We cannot let this election evolve on pure spin that has no
relation whatsoever to the issues at hand.

[Hugin]

42. I guess Kerry should go ahead and say he's sorry the WH is full of idiots...

Hey, he tried. :shrug:

[Tyler Durden]

43. Tyler wants Bush to go FUCK HIMSELF.

[ljm2002]

44. Apologies are definitely in order

Cheney should apologize for saying that half of his fellow citizens (Democrats) are terrorist supporters.

Rumsfeld should apologize for saying that drafted soldiers did not add value during Vietnam.

Bush should apologize for never attending a single military funeral.

Well you get the idea -- it goes on and on. Just demand apologies for all of the hateful things these people have said and done, and spell out each one.

Best defense == good offense.

[Demeter]

45. After You, George. Mr. President, Leader of the Unfree World, etc.

You apologise to the troops and the American people, then resign, serve your time in prison, and then you can order other people to apologise. Set a moral example!

[Virginia Dare]

46. Sure thing...

Right after the White House apologizes to Al Gore for stealing the fucking 2000 election.

Right after the White House apologizes to the American people for lying about their motives for invading Iraq.

Right after the White House apologizes to the people of New Orleans for sitting with their thumbs up their asses while their city was destroyed.

Right after the White House apoligizes to the Democratic Party for falsely and maliciously calling them unpatriotic and terrorist appeasers for political gain.

FUCKING HYPOCRITES!!!

[stepnw1f]

47. And the DLC Democrats Agree

Can't get behind the more "liberal" politicians in the party... they may gain too much control of the Democratic Party.

[saigon68]

50. They can go fuck off too.

[stepnw1f]

51. I'm With Ya...

Just remember all this after we win. I intend on getting rid of these turn-coats.

[flyarm]

48. hey pissy pants..HE DID YOU LITTLE MENTAL MIDGET! N/T

[Megahurtz]

52. He NEVER insulted the Troops!

Hellllo!