October 31, 2006
It takes about two years to get John Kerry fighting mad
A much needed war of words is underway as today Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) lashed back at Our Fine President and the Republicans with a conviction he seemed unable to find while running for the presidency two years back. He might be feeling empowered because he is not currently up for re-election, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that he finally got mad and showed strength in calling out the Republicans for their failed policies and deceptive political tactics.
The GOP had been on the attack against Kerry all day for comments he made that could be taken as an insult to the troops. While addressing a group of students 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.”
As he explains it, he was trying to say that if the students don’t study hard they’ll end up like Our Fine President and make difficult, damaging and costly mistakes like Iraq. However, the Republicans are continuing to insist that he was really saying the only option for people who don’t do well at school is the military.
The people making these criticisms regularly explain what was really meant by the things they said and expect everyone to fall in line, but what is good enough to clear up that Dick Cheney was not talking about water boarding with his “dunk in the water” response is apparently not good enough when it comes someone who may have insulted our troops. (This of course ignores the concept that asking our troops to torture is insulting to them, but that’s another rant.)
These people doing the criticizing are also the same ones who have lowered the testing standards to meet military recruiting needs during the prolonged time of war they created by opening an unnecessary front in the conflict. And apparently in a show of solidarity with them, House Speaker Dennis Hastert opined “Our soldiers risk their lives in the face of grave dangers on the battlefield, and no one who chooses to courageously and selflessly defend our country can be considered ‘uneducated.’ ” Now Dennis, since I know they wont always have the best equipment around, I sure hope our soldiers are well trained in all the skills they’ll need, but choosing to serve in your nation’s military does not instantly make you educated.
Of course, all the reproaches coming from the right address what they wish Kerry said and unsurprisingly they are not yet talking about what he meant or what he’s said since he finally worked up the gumption to get things off his chest.
“This president and his administration didn’t do their homework,” Kerry said. “They didn’t study what would happen in Iraq. They didn’t study and listen to the people who were the experts and would have told them. And they know that’s what I was talking about yesterday.
“I think Americans are sick and tired of this game. These Republicans are afraid to stand up and debate a real veteran on this topic. And they’re afraid to debate — you know, they want to debate strawmen because they’re afraid to debate real men. Well, we’re going to have a real debate in this country about this policy. The bottom line is: These Republicans want to distort this policy. And, this time, it won’t work because we are going to stay in their face with the truth. No Democrat is going to be bullied by these people, by these kinds of attacks that have no place in American politics. It’s time to set our policy correct. They have a stand-still-and-lose policy in Iraq, and they have a cut-and-run policy in Afghanistan. And the fact is, our troops, who have served heroically, who deserve better, deserve leadership that is up to their sacrifice — period.”
So there it is. Kerry insulted Our Fine President’s intelligence, called him and his people out for the mess in Iraq, and made a statement that he is not going to stand for their political games and personal attacks anymore.
Now it’s time for a response. How do the Republicans respond to the concept that they didn’t do their homework on Iraq? Are they afraid to debate? If not, they’ve just been called out so when’s the oratory throwdown gonna go off? Do our troops deserve leadership that cares about more than just the public perception of their intelligence.
Let’s just hope Kerry is good to his word about not backing down and demanding a real debate on this presidency and where it has taken our nation. These issues need to be addressed or our democracy might just be ruined by the politics it inspired.