Was Kerry making fun of the president, or warning students against the pitfalls awaiting the undereducated in general?
It doesn't matter. Kerry was right either way.
Kerry wasn't saying -- regardless of the Republican spin -- that our troops are stupid.
Either way? Doesn't that imply that our troops are drawn from the undereducated?
This is so typical of the liberal media that it's almost a self-parody. The media love to bray (remember, donkeys bray, not elephants) about how few congressmen have children in the military. How many newspaper editorial writers have their offspring serving their country? I guarantee, not many from the liberal side of the aisle.
More important, what does the Kerry camp's posting of this idiotic editorial say about his "apology"? It says that he really didn't mean it, but he was getting flak from Hillary and others, so he disavowed the comment while still insisting he was right.
On a very much related matter, a blogger at the Right Place points out that the terrorists in the Middle East are rooting for one of the political parties to win next Tuesday.
National Democrats have abandoned their anti-war Senate candidate in Connecticut, say liberal bloggers who earlier this year were heavily courted by top Democrats in their quest to take over Congress.
Democratic nominee Ned Lamont -- darling of the left-wing blogosphere -- now trails Sen. Joe Lieberman by 10 points or more, and the highly energized bloggers who helped win him the nomination in August blame the national party.
But I'm in the mood to laugh myself. The Democrats seem to be on the verge of a historic victory, and the liberal bloggers are crying in their beer because the national party didn't help them defeat a Democrat. The better news is that this disgust with the party is being transmitted to the base by the likes of Matt Stoller, MyDD's incredible 12-year-old blogger:
"Well there are a number of reasons, but among the most prominent is the total abandonment of Lamont by the party establishment," he wrote in a blog posting at Direct Democracy (www.mydd.com). "Let's be very clear -- this is not Lamont that they are abandoning, it's the party primary voters that they are abandoning."
Liberal vitriol in recent weeks has been directed at some of the Democratic Party's most beloved figures, such as former President Bill Clinton, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, Sen. Charles E. Schumer of New York and even rising star Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois.
Off-year elections are all about energizing the base. Thanks to Le Fraude's stupid comments about getting stuck in Iraq, the Republican base is energized and angry at the Democrats. And so are the liberal bloggers.
Sheesh, how stupid can you get? Even Hillary Clinton recognized that what John Kerry said was wrong, but not the Nashville Dog-Trainer:
The Massachusetts Democrat apologized for his statement yesterday, but he needn't have, because he said nothing to offend soldiers or veterans. In the speech to a group of California college students on Monday, 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."
The sad fact is, young men and women without a college degree usually earn less, as much as $23,000 a year less, according to a recent U.S. Census report. And many of those have-nots, lured into the military by enlistment bonuses, find themselves in Iraq. Then, in many cases, their tours of duty have been extended, because the U.S. military is currently overextended with troops needed on numerous fronts.
Anybody want to bet they just lost a couple thousand subscribers? Check out the comments on that editorial; whole lotta folks saying include me out:
What in the world is wrong with you people? Have you totally lost your collective minds? I think it's time to cancel my subscription.
I find your papers defense of the comments made by Kerry disgraceful to our men & women in uniform.I will never purchase your so called newspaper again & will be sure to encourage everyone I know to do the same.
BS + MBA + 25 Years in the U.S. Navy = One Tennessean subscription cancelled.
Moron Kerry from our buddy, Third Wave Dave. Love the photoshop!
I've been a fan of Ron's since he destroyed a 9-11 Denier named Les Jamieson on his (libertarian) program, Hardfire, in July. Today he's got a terrific piece on a forgotten bit of Clinton corruption:
“Hillary Rodham Clinton began her protracted presidential campaign four years ago by claiming a Senate seat from a state she didn’t live in. Her pro-Palestinian sentiments caused problems with New York’s large Jewish population, and in particular, allowed her opponent, Rick Lazio, to trounce her in Hasidic communities. Except for one.
“New Square Community, in Rockland County, contained four prominent men who got very rich by applying for and receiving Federal scholarships for 1500 students. The students didn’t exist and the four men picked “Go Directly to Jail” cards. The Smartest Woman Who Ever Lived visited New Square in August of 2000. In November, she won that district by the tidy margin of 1400 to 12 (a cool 99.15%). In December, a delegation from New Square journeyed to Washington, D.C. and visited with America’s first Jewish President, who bit his lower lip and felt their pain. In January 2001, the four naughty Hasids were pardoned.
“All of this has a familiar ring. True, it’s the most spectacularly unambiguous example of vote-buying to come along the pike in a hound’s age, but the Clintons do lots of crooked things. There is much huffing and puffing; they dare anyone to do something about it; nobody does nuthin’.”
Sgt. Lindsey and his convoy were attacked when Taliban fighters set up a false checkpoint in Afghanistan on Sept. 9, 2006. The enemies hit the convoy with either a roadside bomb or a rocket-propelled grenade, and then opened up small-arms fire on the vehicles. Lindsey, a gunner who had recently switched from a desk job at a secure base in Kandahar to a job training Afghan soldiers, died in the attack. He had volunteered for deployment to Afghanistan after having already served in Iraq and during Hurricane Katrina to protect an officer he had driven for since June 2004. Lindsey was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star, the Purple Heart and the Meritorious Service Medals on Sept. 22, 2006.
More information on our heroes in the War on Terror can be found here.
"I sincerely regret that my words were misinterpreted to wrongly imply anything negative about those in uniform, and I personally apologize to any service member, family member or American who was offended."
What's the bit about us misinterpreting what he said, which is:
"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."
Is there a way to interpret that as not negative to those in uniform?
But he has a good excuse. You see, he had a terrific joke in mind:
Still, Kerry claimed that it was a "botched joke." In what the Kerry camp released yesterday as the prepared text of his remarks, Kerry supposedly meant to say:
"It's great to be here with college students. 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. Just ask President Bush."
Oh, yeah, that makes terrific sense, considering that Kerry himself didn't study notably hard during his college years. In Tour of Duty, he admits that he "majored in flying" (small planes) his senior year.
The finger-pointing has already begun. Matt Stoller, the incredible 12-year-old blogger at MyDD:
“What I have seen in this race is a complete abrogation of responsibility on the part of everybody except the netroots and Ned Lamont,” Mr. Stoller said in a telephone interview. “Trusting these people is a huge tactical error. Never trust anything that these insider Democrats tell you,” he said, adding, for good measure, “Bill Clinton is a liar.”
Well, there's one thing we agree on, Matt.
Some Democratic strategists argued that Mr. Lamont served as a field test of the theory that grassroots energy and blogger support were sufficient to win an election.
“They give you wind, but they don’t give you all the sail,” said Donna Brazile, who managed Al Gore’s 2000 Presidential campaign. “But it is the responsibility of any good candidate to put together a campaign team that is not just smart, but also understands how the political environment will shift, and that you have to shift with it.”
Those of you who remember the Kerry Haters days may recall Mrs McManus; she was a feisty lady who appeared in the movie Stolen Honor. Indeed, she and the other wife in the film (can't recall her name right now, but her husband was "Smitty") absolutely stole the show, which was why she was featured in one of the Swift Boat Veterans ads:
You can listen live to CPR tomorrow from 3:00-5:00 PM Eastern time. You can also participate in the show by logging into the CPR chatroom here.
For specially-equipped laptops for handicapped soldiers. I hesitate to ask again so soon after your generous support for SC Eagle, but this really is a worthy cause.
John Hawkins polled a group of center-right bloggers (including yours truly) on their predictions for the 2006 election. Most felt that the Republicans would maintain control of both houses of congress, although a significantly larger percentage felt that they'd keep the Senate than the House.
My prediction was that Republicans would lose the House and win the Senate. I hope to be proven wrong on the former.
Looks like some Democrats haven't taken leave of their senses.
A Democratic Congressional candidate from Iowa is canceling a campaign event later this week with Senator John Kerry.
Brucy Braley says Kerry's recent comments about the Iraq war were inappropriate.
Braley is running against Republican Mike Whalen in Iowa's First District congressional race. It's a contest considered to be one of the most competitive House races in the country.
This is one of the key congressional races; if Nancy Pelousy is going to become Speaker of the House, she will need Patty Madrid to beat Heather Wilson. After seeing this video, there should be no doubt in your mind that Heather deserves another term.
Our buddy Teflon at Molten Thought did some reflecting and some analysis and has decided that he will in fact be voting Republican this year.
I have changed my mind because my position was predicated on the notion that the Republican House and Senate have tacked leftward since 1994. That is not true, for reasons I will make clear in this post.
This is a terrific analysis and an excellent post. Highly recommended!
That appears to be the goal of Rizzleweb, an online directory of politicians. You can write reviews of candidates and rate others reviews and the candidates themselves. So far it seems to be a relatively non-partisan affair without rancor or bias; we will see how long that lasts.
Mr. Palmer began his e-mail message: “I was wondering where we should send the bill for the live shot Friday at the theater for the Al Gore commercial we aired.”
Mr. Palmer said he wanted no more stories broadcast on global warming because: “a) we do local news, b) the issue evolved from hard science into hard politics and c) despite what you may have heard from the mainstream media, this science is far from conclusive.” Mr. Palmer said in his e-mail message to his operations manager and two women who served as a news anchor and a reporter that he placed “global warming stories in the same category as ‘the killer African bee scare’ from the 1970s or, more recently, the Y2K scare when everyone’s computer was going to self-destruct.”
Dr. James Hansen, the director of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies at Columbia University, said in an interview yesterday that the station’s policy on coverage was irresponsible.
Considering that the mainstream media does seem to be providing free advertising to Gore's Powerpoint presentation, maybe they've got a point.
This was actually a mediocre episode from a racing standpoint, but terrific on the characterization and conflict. Teams must make their way from Kuwait to Mauritius, an island in the Indian Ocean off Africa. As it turns out, the only way there is via London, rather uninituitively. The major drama comes when the Beauty Queens convince a travel agent to help Team Recovery before Team Gump. But it's all for naught as the teams make the same flights.
Once in Mauritius, the teams must find a ship in the harbor and swim out to it. Although Team Cho waits for Team Coal Miner, Team Gump finds the cars and dashes off after the Beauty Queens and Team Abuse. Team Recovery gets lost at this point and falls well behind, so that even though Team Gump and Team Coal Miner are gasping for air, they are returning to shore as the male models head out to the ship.
The next clue takes the teams to a dilapidated Post Office building. Here we see some of the competitive nature of the BQs, as they fret that Rob and Kimberley are following them. They decide to quickly jump off onto an alternate route, while their pursuers get boxed in and can't come after them.
Things get worse for Team Abuse, as Rob can't get the car in gear. They are pushed to the side, to the delight of the other teams. Of course, eventually a replacement vehicle shows up, bu they are behind.
At the post office is a Detour: Sea or Salt. In Sea, the teams motor out to an island and must hike to hidden sails using a treasure map. In Salt, they have to sift through a mound of the saline substance for a salt shaker containing their next clue.
Surprisingly, the Beauty Queens are the only ones who choose Sea. The rest choose to sift through the salt piles, which are immense. I shudder, thinking of the poor Gaghan mom, looking through all those white beans for the one red bean. To make it even more fiendish, they discover that the producers have hidden numerous empty salt shakers and even ones filled with pepper.
Well, the order of finish is pretty much determined by the order in which the teams give up on the Salt task, and here's where the "Sixpack" alliance actually works against the teams as they stay the longest. The Chos and Bama eventually bolt, as does Team Coal Miner, when Mary reminds David that they'll be the idiot couple that stayed forever and couldn't find the shaker.
But apparently finding the sails isn't that easy either, although the BQs find them well before the other teams reach the island, and they are on their way back. At first they fret that they were the only team to choose that option on the Detour, but then they see the other teams making their way to the island. The clue consists of diretions to the next Pit Stop.
Rob and Kim arrive and find the sails next, followed by Team Recovery. The Six-Pack looks doomed. But they work together again once the sails are found. The BQs finish first and win motor scooters (and don't quite manage to hide their disappointment). Phil suggests that the scooters have room for a passenger, so they could go out on dates sometime, and one of the gals asks him for a date. Disappointingly he doesn't give us the arched eyebrow this time. Team Recovery finishes second with Rob & Kim in third despite getting lost again.
The three teams in the Sixpack take off together, with the Chos in front, Team Coal Miner in second and Team Gump in last. The Gumps admit that they would not wait for the Coal Miners just as Mary announces that she's going to wait for the Alabamans. But that noble sentiment may be for nothing. Following a hunch by Mary, Team Coal Miner darts off to the right at an fork, but it turns out to be a mistake. Team Cho drives through the gate of the resort that is the Pit Stop, followed by Team Gump. David and Mary must turn around and are clearly hosed.
But at the mat, TAR actually surprises me. I fully expected Team Coal Miner to be Phil-Liminated, but today was an non-elimination leg. They must finish first next week, or face a 30-minute delay at the mat. It will be interesting to see if there is another Fast Forward next week; we know David & Mary cannot use the next one.
My prediction for the winners: The Chos. I think we're being sold on their nobility. I'd love to see David & Mary get it, but at this point you've got to question their common sense, and as I said last week I have zero confidence in their ability to solve the inevitable puzzle at the end. The Chos could easily have pulled away today and they didn't; they actually stuck back to work together with the alliance. Granted, they knew that in any dash to the mat they'd win, but that's my current prediction.
Wouldn't it be interesting if the Chos get the Fast Forward next week and hold off stepping on the mat to see if David and Mary can make it to them in the lead?
As always, check out the Viking Pundit's recap. In an eeeevil fashion, he's rooting against the common man.
This strikes me as an exceptionally interesting comment:
Bush said something, en passant, that I brooded on all the way home. Asked about poll numbers, he said that 25 percent of the population are always against the war -- any war.
That strikes me as about right. But if 25% of the folks are opposed to any war, then aren't they more or less irrelevant? Say that the latest poll shows 55% against the war and 45% in favor. Doesn't that really mean that we've got a 45% to 30% lead over the people who are at least willing to consider a war?
