So did Kerry set the bastards up with his little "joke" today, or WHAT?

[Bill Bored]

Anyone get the impression that Kerry set the Bushies up by getting them to misinterpret his "You'll end up in Iraq." education joke?

I mean he certainly didn't refer to Bush in the actual joke, and he could have. He can claim he botched the joke, but meanwhile, the Pukes are attacking him for dissing the troops, so he can fight back, no hold barred.

If he had done this unilaterally, he'd be seen as the bad guy, but now it's just self defense and the rest of the Dems can pile on in support.

So was it a setup to get our negative message out, or did he just forget to mention the "president?"

[maddiejoan]

1. I think it was a setup

and a masterful one at that.

[knowbody0]

2. check mate

brilliant!

[dajoki]

3. Bad attempt at a joke...

He should have just kept that "joke" in the bag. This will just distract from the real issues.

[OzarkDem]

5. Yep

now let's move on and get some Dems elected next week.

[DoYouEverWonder]

7. The real issue isn't Iraq?

It's forcing Bush to go on the defensive and talk about Iraq, which is the last thing they wanted the last week of the election.

Anything Kerry said or mis-said, pales in comparison to Bush calling the troops commas.

[dajoki]

34. Absolutely!!

[karynnj]

24. It directly connects to Iraq

Democrats running can respond by turning the question to Iraq - and defending Kerry or NOT depending on their situation and even their view.

[IWantAChange]

4. I think he just forgot to mention 'Dubyha" - as a decorated vet he is

far too respectful of the men and women in uniform to disparage them.

[Bill Bored]

8. Absolutely! But by not mentioning W, he also got them to attack!

And now he can respond without one hand tied behind his back as in 2004. It helps not to be running for anything. Look at what a great campaigner Gore was in '04!

[KAZ]

6. Ah, yes, he certainly did refer to Bush in the joke.

Read the transcript.

[Bill Bored]

12. Got a link? nt

[smitty]

9. If it was a joke, it misfired. Now Kerry has crated an unnecessary

distraction a week before the election.

[BeFree]

13. Totally wrong Smitty

Kerry didn't create anything but an opening.

The media is the distractive mechanism here. The best thing you can do is to make sure the real truth is known: Kerry called bush a dumbass!

[smitty]

14. Nope. He called people in the military dumb asses when he

meant to call Bush one. I think he stumbled big time.

[BeFree]

15. See

You don't know what you are talking about.

Kerry was telling the students that if they are poor students, like bush, they will wind up, like bush, stuck in Iraq.

Don't let the spin of the media spin you too.

[Bill Bored]

17. Exactly! But I don't think he mentioned Bush by name. nt

[smitty]

19. Perhaps that's what he MEANT to say, what he actually said was

entirely different. It's not media spin, I watched and listened to the video several times and I know what I heard. It was a gaffe, pure and simple. People make mistakes, it happens all the time.

[BeFree]

22. And you are making a mistake

I saw it and he clearly was talking about bush. Then he backs it up with later statements that CLEARLY says he was talking about bush.

Now who ya gonna believe, the Publican spin, or Kerry? You are on the spot here, smitty.

[smitty]

28. Obviously we're not going to agree on this one.

What he meant to say and what he actually said were two different things. You saw it and Kerry was talking about Bush, I saw it and Kerry was talking about people in the military, even if inadvertently.
It's not spin, everything said in this world isn't media spin; it's sometimes a matter of personal interpretation.

So now we have an unneeded diversion.

[Oleladylib]

31. Exactly correct..bad timing for this distraction..and people

are dumbly influenced by this.

[karynnj]

26. there is no way to get that interpretation

Even if you think it's about the troops - it is saying some people without education are forced to go to Iraq due to no other options. That does not say ALL soldiers go in because they have no choices. The odd thing is it may, for some, be true - but it was NOT what Kerry was saying.

[VeggieTart]

27. No, he just said they didn't have the education necessary...

...to avoid being suckered by the military. The military goes for the lower-income kids who are desperate to escape their hometowns. For whatever reason, they can't get college scholarships, so they join the military, snowed by the promise of getting an education (of course, the money for the education is taken from your pay; the military doesn't pay for you). These poor soliders ARE stuck in Iraq, and Bush and Rummy are probably salivating at the next crop of undereducated kids. Hey, maybe THAT'S why Bush has been cutting funding for our education system.

[understandinglife]

10. You betcha ... like shooting fish in a barrel and he kindly provided the barrel and ...

... the guns and the ammo ....

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=2531081&mesg_id=2531081

... and we've got some folk jump'n right into the barrel with georgie and dickie and the other repuke fools who should have kept their mouths shut on this one ....


BE THE BU$H OPPOSITION - 24/7

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

11. It Was Just Quite Simply Nothing More Than A Soundbyte That The GOP

instantly recognized could be twisted and molded into exactly the negative connotation message they wanted to use. I'm not sure they counted on Kerry's strong return fire, however.

But it was most definitely nothing more than that. If we look too deeply into its origin we'll be certain to look like fools.

[malaise]

16. Now for an ad

Why hasn't Bush apologized for: List with video of lies re Iraq, Katrina, destroying the constitution, wiretaping, torture, etc., etc. On the offensive Dems. Whip them.

[Cha]

21. Zactly! A brilliant opening to

bring up all the things that bush not only needs to apologize for but should be impeached. Yeah, I said it..the Impeach word.

[malaise]

23. No impeach in this ad

just all the video clips and the demand for an apology. On the offensive Dems.

[babylonsister]

18. It was nothing more than that, but the wh wanted it to be, not realizing

Kerry would bring it right back to Iraq.
And the GOP look like fools; Tweety claimed he got tons of press releases prior to Snowjob throwing jabs at Kerry, a full 20 hours after Kerry actually said anything they could misinterpret.

[wuushew]

20. if not a joke the premise was flawed

The other comparable quagmire of our time was in large part begun by obviously intelligent men JFK and LBJ. Their lieutenants the ivy educated "whiz kids" and McNamara seem to have had ample mental facilities. Bush himself attended the same educational institution as Kerry and miracoulsy managed to graduate, so that Kerry lacking other concrete measures really is in no position to gage Bush on any sort of objective scale of intelligence.

We know Bush to be a coke head moron, but how do we convince the non-partisan voter? Many Bush failures have been due simply to cronyism and enacting policies consistent with warped conservative thought. If a voter actually cared about his stupidity you would have to show that Bush was diagnosed with mental retardation as a child or was held back three years in a row or some such sort. The only thing Bush has admitted publicly is his hatred of reading.

Was the crux of Kerry's unconditional statement that peace follows intelligence and war is caused by dumbness? War is caused is evil and malice. This further supports the irritating argument that a war such as Iraq could have won despite its dishonorable genesis. I don't want "successful" bad wars. I want no wars period.

[karynnj]

29. He was saying that you need to do your homework

etc. - it's not a matter of being intelligent, but using it.

Though your point is excellent and true - they were even called "the best and brightest"

[BlackVelvet04]

25. You aren't serious, are you?

He blew it. It's certainly not a fatal blow but I seriously doubt that it was intentional.

[Oleladylib]

30. I think he botched it..n/t

[Marr]

32. There's no god damn way this was intentional.

Unless Kerry's trying to hand the elections to the Republicans.

He fucked up. Yes, he came out forcefully afterward- good for him. But it was only an attempt to stop the bleeding, and we'd be better off if he'd never made the remarks to begin with.

By the way, after his utterly lame 2004 election campaign, I have a real hard time picturing John Kerry as a master of the political media game.

[Bill Bored]

33. He said..."if not, you get stuck in Iraq."

He did not mention Bush's name and the word "stuck" could mean either getting stuck there BY your commander in chief, or getting one's self stuck there in a larger sense. I think he meant the latter and I think it was a setup. Dems are finally getting smart! They knew the Pukes would try to spin this the wrong way so they could come out swinging. And the timing a week before the election was perfect. Let's see if anyone backs Kerry up.

Malloy says Kerry got 9 mins. of air time today without interruption!

I'd say it worked like a charm.