Kerry Video and Transcript - “I Apologize to No One for My Criticism of the President”

[kerrygoddess]

Kerry: “I Apologize to No One for My Criticism of the President”
October 31st, 2006 @ 1:18 pm

Video Here - http://blog.thedemocraticdaily.com/?p=4601

The transcript of the press conference in Seattle, WA is as following:

Kerry: “If anyone owes our troops in the fields an apology, it is the President”

SENATOR KERRY: Let me make it crystal clear, as crystal clear as I know how: I apologize to no one for my criticism of the president and of his broken policy.

If anyone owes our troops in the fields an apology, it is the President and his failed team and a Republican majority in the Congress that has been willing to stamp — rubber-stamp policies that have done injury to our troops and to their families.

My statement yesterday — and the White House knows this full well — was a botched joke about the president and the president’s people, not about the troops.

The White House’s attempt to distort my true statement is a remarkable testament to their abject failure in making America safe.

It’s a stunning statement about their willingness to reduce anything in America to raw politics. It’s their willingness to distort, their willingness to mislead Americans, their willingness to exploit the troops, as they have so many times at backdrops, at so many speeches at which they have not told the American people the truth.

I’m not going to stand for it.

What our troops deserve is a winning strategy. And what they deserve is leadership that is up to the sacrifice that they’re making.

Sadly, this is the best that this administration can do in a month when we have lost 100 young men and women who have given their lives for a failed policy.

Over half the names on the Vietnam wall were put there after our leaders knew that our policy was wrong. And it was wrong that leaders were quiet then, and I’m not going to be quiet now.

This is a textbook Republican campaign strategy: Try to change the topic; try to make someone else the issue; try to make something else said the issue, not the policy, not their responsibility.

MORE TRANSCRIPT - http://blog.thedemocraticdaily.com/?p=4601

[Phredicles]

1. “If anyone owes our troops in the field an apology, it is the President”

At LAST someone says it! :thumbsup:

(Not that there's really any "If" about it, but still it needed to be said)

[QShok]

5. He should have apologized....

...for a poorly worded joke. Nothing else. Not apologizing for anything at all will only fuel the fire.

Shok

[rfranklin]

9. Sorry, you are dead wrong....he said it was a botched joke...

and Kerry is a decorated veteran who volunteered for Viet Nam, served, and came back to oppose the bad policies then. He has every right to point out that Bush is a pathetic, draft-dodging dolt who has killed thousands of Americans with lies about Iraq when he is actually serving the multinational oil companies by securing the oil fields for them to exploit at cut rate prices.

[SouthernBelle82]

19. Exactly

Kerry is 100% right and in his conference someone asked him if he needed to go to joke school and he said "sure." This is the best and I'm so glad he is showing how this is a textbook republican tactic. I love this "sick and tired" John Kerry. :bounce:

[Howardx]

11. thanks for playing today

n/t

[kestrel91316]

13. Welcome to DU. Enjoy your stay.

[kerrygoddess]

2. I was there yesterday - right wing radio host quoted my blog

One right wing radio host quoted my blog this morning. More here -

John Kerry Responds to Republican Distortions, Pathetic Tony Snow Diversions and Distractions from Wing Nut-jobs
October 31st, 2006 @ 11:51 am

The right wing nut-jobs are full of Hot Air today as they attempt their latest attack on John Kerry.

Talk about taking things out of context — Michelle Malkin claims that it was “Unmistakable what he meant,” referring to John Kerry’s statement to students a Pasadena City College yesterday during a rally for Phil Angelides. You, “Don’t need a PhD in linguistics to understand it clearly,” Malkin said. Well, I was there Michelle, and clearly you and the rest of the wing-nuts have just twisted this with your own brand of perversion.

Not only did the wing-nuts take what Kerry said out of context, but Malkin reported today that “Seth Liebsohn of Bill Bennett’s radio show took a swipe today on this blogger when he said on air: “Even Democrats think Kerry meant what we say he meant and salute this crude.” Malkin noted the Liebson pointed “to this liberal blogger entry” (from my post here last night on the rally):

“Talk about speaking the stark truth to students who want more out of life. The education system in California is a mess, especially in L.A. County. Each day I pick my daughter up at school I see the recruiters leaving, smiling because they have snagged another kid who’s trapped by the system and see’s no future other than enlisting. It shouldn’t be like this. A 50% drop out rate is unacceptable. What is the bottom line for these kids, a job at McDonald’s or Iraq. Kudo’s to Kerry for delivering a wake up call to the young voters at the rally.”

MORE & LINKS - http://blog.thedemocraticdaily.com/?p=4600

[flpoljunkie]

3. Perhaps Kerry's gaffe will remind us all that we are in a botched war in Iraq because of Bush.

That would be a good thing, indeed!

[SouthernBelle82]

20. And speaking of bad jokes

I hope someone reminds the joke of Bush and the WMD's. Remember that one?

[TomClash]

4. I love it

"A Katrina Foreign Policy"

"Republican hacks"

A White House full of people "who never wore the uniform."

[Demit]

6. CNN's banner said Kerry referred to it as a bad joke. Not true.

They corrected it later, to "botched" joke, but I guess it's so ingrained for them to lie and distort, it just came naturally. Pricks. Kerry was terrific.

[Dr Fate]

7. He needs to go on all the other channels to be interviewed now.

One single appearance is not enough.

[lostnotforgotten]

8. Bloody Excellent As The Brit's Would Say

eom

[rniel]

10. Yes but will this be reported

In any mainstream news? or just on DU?

[kerrygoddess]

24. It's freakin everywhere. n/t

[ProSense]

12. NYT has transcript:

Senator Kerry's Response

[kerrygoddess]

18. Good for the NYT!!

Turn the friggin boat towards the shore -

I'm getting wingnut fan mail thanks to Malkin! LOL! They ain't so nice!

[Totally Committed]

14. BuzzFlash Headline:

"If anyone thinks a veteran would criticize the more than 140,000 heroes serving in Iraq and not the president who got us stuck there, they're crazy," Kerry said. "I'm not going to be lectured by a stuffed suit White House mouthpiece standing behind a podium, or doughy Rush Limbaugh, who no doubt today will take a break from belittling Michael J. Fox's Parkinson's disease to start lying about me just as they have lied about Iraq." Kerry called the president's men hacks who are "willing to lie." Kerry's Mangled Words Caused a Bit of a Distraction, But We Like the Fire in the Belly.

http://www.buzzflash.com

TC

[The Backlash Cometh]

15. I'm getting weepy.

It seems like just last election he was such a push over, and now he's all grown up and fighting back. I'm, just, so, proud. sniff.

[kerrygoddess]

17. He's mad as hell!

It's awesome!

[kerrygoddess]

16. Max Cleland on JK's press conference

Max Cleland on John Kerry’s Response to GOP Attacks
October 31st, 2006 @ 3:13 pm

Max Cleland fired off a response to John Kerry’s press conference today, in support of Kerry, as Bill Frist was saying Kerry owed the troops an apology. Frist is wrong - oh so wrong. Max knows what it’s like to be hit by the Republican smear machine. Kudos to Max for stating the obvious:

“I think people will remember John Kerry’s press conference today as the moment we Democrats stopped once and forever accepting the disgraceful smears of Republicans. John Kerry showed our Party how to fight back with the truth.

MORE - http://blog.thedemocraticdaily.com/?p=4603

[bigbrother05]

21. kick

[kerrygoddess]

22. General Claudia Kennedy Defends Veteran John Kerry Against GOP Attacks

General Claudia Kennedy Defends Veteran John Kerry Against GOP Attacks
October 31st, 2006 @ 8:51 pm

(snip)
Retired U.S. Army Lieutenant General Claudia J. Kennedy, the first woman to achieve the rank of three-star general in the United States Army, defended Senator John Kerry today in the wake of right-wing attacks. Her statement is below:

“Senator John Kerry has served our country with great distinction, both in the military and in the United States Senate. The men and women of our armed forces know they have a friend and tireless advocate in John Kerry. When it comes to Iraq, he’s right to stand up against baseless attacks, and right to keep fighting for a better course for our troops and our country.”

http://blog.thedemocraticdaily.com/?p=4605

[kerrygoddess]

23. Kerry Responds to Desperate Bush Smears - Media and Blogosphere in a Frenzy

Kerry Responds to Desperate Bush Smears - Media and Blogosphere in a Frenzy
October 31st, 2006 @ 7:21 pm

The media and the blogosphere are in the midst of a frenzy like we haven’t seen since ‘04 over the trading of barbs by Kerry and Bush today. The firestorm extraordinaire is as David Stout from N.Y. Times describes, “another example of the heated rhetoric surrounding the war issue as the Congressional elections approach.” There was no holding Kerry back this morning when the hits started coming from the right wing nut-jobs, the war of words was launched between the left and right all over the media, the blogosphere and the air waves.

Stout notes in the NY Times “Part of Mr. Kerry’s outrage may arise from memories of 2004, when a group called Swift Boat Veterans for Truth raised allegations, never substantiated,” and he added, “This time, Mr. Kerry did not wait.” Damn straight he didn’t wait. Kerry released a statement soon after the first hits started and then moved on to an all out, no holds barred press conference, that was stunning to watch (video and transcript here). Poetic justice at it’s best — Kerry ripped into the right wing parrots and pundits and tore them all a new one.

In his direct response to Bush’s desperate smears, Kerry said:

MORE & LINKS - http://blog.thedemocraticdaily.com/?p=4604