***Kerry Smear DEBUNKED*** - Democratic Underground

ck4829

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Wed Nov-01-06 10:45 AM
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***Kerry Smear DEBUNKED***

Edited on Wed Nov-01-06 11:13 AM by ck4829

Leading off the October 31 edition of CNN's Lou Dobbs Tonight, host Lou Dobbs misrepresented Sen. John F. Kerry's (D-MA) remarks during an October 30 speech at a campaign rally in Pasadena, California. Adopting the White House's characterization of Kerry's statement, Dobbs alleged that Kerry said "students should think about getting stuck in Iraq if they don't work hard at school." An Internet poll on the page for Lou Dobbs Tonight on the CNN website similarly adopted the White House's interpretation of Kerry's remarks, asking: "Do you believe John Kerry owes our troops in Iraq an apology?"

In fact, as Media Matters for America has noted, Kerry said, "Education, you know, 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." According to Kerry, he was referring to President Bush's poor preparation for the war, not the lack of education of members of the U.S. military. Kerry said he botched a joke, and according to CNN's own reporting, was supposed to have said: "I can't overstress the importance of a great education. Do you know where you end up if you don't study, if you aren't smart, if you're intellectually lazy? You end up getting us stuck in a war in Iraq."

Moreover, a Media Matters review* of CNN's live news coverage throughout the day on October 31 showed that, in reports airing on CNN Newsroom, Your World Today, and The Situation Room about Kerry's remarks and criticism of them, at no point did any CNN anchor or guest note that an October 31 Associated Press report supports Kerry's explanation for his remarks. In contrast, MSNBC host Chris Matthews read from the AP article during the October 31 edition of Hardball, noting that Kerry "opened his speech ... with several one-liners, joking at one point that Bush had lived in Texas but now 'lives in a state of denial.' Then he said: 'You know, 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.'" Matthews further described the White House's characterization of Kerry's remarks as a "violent interpretation," then later, during an interview with former House Republican Leader Dick Armey (TX), said:

MATTHEWS: (I)f you listen to the transition of words there, it clearly looks like he was talking about President Bush being in a state of denial, not realizing when he took us into Iraq what he was going to face because he didn't study hard in school. President Bush says today, no, he wasn't saying that. Isolating the few words in the middle of that statement, he said, he was trashing the military for being uneducated and the kinds of people who flunk out of school and end up in the military and then get stuck in Iraq.

Matthews then asked Armey which was the "correct interpretation," and Armey concluded: "Look, I think John Kerry's right. He's making a defense of himself. He's saying, 'Look, I was not maligning the troops. I was maligning the president of the United States.' "

http://mediamatters.org/items/200611010004

Hey, where is the context? All the media is saying is that "KERRY IS MALIGNING THE TROOPS! KERRY IS MALIGNING THE TROOPS!" There is no context for his remarks, that seems a bit odd IMHO.