KERRY APOLOGIZES!

[berni_mccoy]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061101/ap_on_go_pr_wh/white_house_kerry

"Of course I'm sorry about a botched joke. You think I love botched jokes?" Kerry said during an appearance Wednesday on Don Imus' nationally syndicated radio program. "I mean, you know, it's pretty stupid."

Kerry, D-Mass., said he meant no offense to troops when he told a college audience Monday that young people might get "stuck in Iraq" if they don't study hard and do their homework.

On Wednesday, he said, "You cannot get into the military today if you do badly in school." But he also said the White House was purposely twisting his words and asserted that it is Bush who owes troops an apology for a misguided war in Iraq.

"I'm sorry that that's happened," he said of his earlier comment. "But I'm not going to stand back from the reality here, which is, they're trying to change the subject. It's their campaign of smear and fear."

Kerry said he mangled the delivery of a line aimed at Bush. According to aides, the language was originally written to say that "if you're intellectually lazy, you end up getting us stuck in a war in Iraq — just ask President Bush."

I have mixed feelings about this... I don't think he should have, but hopefully, it will relieve some political stress on the situation and get it out of the spotlight...

[blm]

1. Sorry he BOTCHED THE JOKE - no one likes to botch a joke - He's NOT SORRY

for what he was saying because he didn't say anything to apologize for.

Being sorry for not telling the joke right and being sorry the way BushInc wants for insulting the troops are two VERY DIFFERENT apologies.

[Zhade]

26. I agree - what the fuck is wrong with people?

This is the first I've read of what he said, but it sounds *gasp* true.

[whistle]

2. Fine, Kerry is man enough to admit his mistake, now let's see if

...George Bush is man enough to admit his blunder about going into Iraq and lying to the American people

[Xenotime]

23. don't forget Katrina, Domestic spying, Social Security, DUBAI ports and more

[ShortnFiery]

3. Hey, I understand, the Republican Noise Machine is deafening ...

Realize that we have a Corporate M$M that runs with whatever the WH tells them to.

I don't blame Kerry because he understandably does not want the FOCUS on him.

IMO, Kerry essentially had "no choice" in this corrupt political climate.

After all, we are NOT on an even playing field, in that, we must fight the Corporate Media echo machine as well as the republican shills. Often they are one and the same, i.e., media-republican shills: Glenn Beck, Whora McDonnell, Hannity, Bill Schneider, Tucker Carlson, Scarborough, O'Reilly, etc. etc. ad nauseum. :puke:

[raccoon]

5. That's a big 10-4. If we were, the corporate presstitutes would

have never let Bush forget "Bring it on."

[ixion]

4. and thus loses the debate

since there was nothing to apologize for, and he should have said so. He should have continued to speak Truth to Power, but instead he chose to apologize for speaking the Truth, which only makes it that much more difficult the next time around.

Score another one for spinelessness.

[badgerpup]

6. Oh, I dunno....

POLITICIAN: George Bush is a brainless, dickless, spineless idiot and has no business running this country!

PUNDIT: (gasp, hysterics, yadda yadda) OMFG! How could you say something like that! You owe the President of the United States an apology!

POLITICIAN: OK. I'm SORRY that George Bush is a brainless, dickless, spineless idiot and has no business running this country!


Aren't we all...

[SammyWinstonJack]

17. ..

:spray:

[demwing]

11. Were you too busy to read the post?

or do you just want to cast a little negativity around the room?

[ixion]

13. no, I'm trying to cast a little reality

when a quasi literate war criminal can call out for a decorated veteran to apologize for simply misspeaking, and the decorated veteran says "I'm sorry", then the war criminal has won the debate.

That's my opinion and I'm sticking to it. :-)

[demwing]

20. Your "Score another one for spinelessness" is reality?

And you're contradicting yourself.

First its: "a little reality." Then its: "That's my opinion" ?

Opinion or reality? Which is it?

[ixion]

24. lol... it's my opinion of reality

I guess. :-)

My point is simply that is you allow the logic like this into the debate, and in fact put yourself on the defensive because of this faulty logic, that you have lost the debate because you've allowed the other side to frame the argument. That is, by Kerry apologizing he gives the impression that he did something wrong, which he did not, in my opinion.

Make sense?

[demwing]

29. Yep. Makes sense.

But give the guy a break. He's not spineless just because he acted in a way contrary to your opinion.

[Zavulon]

7. He didn't botch a joke.

A speaker as skilled as him left out "get us" AND "just ask pResident Bush" in a supposed joke? Yeah, right.

As someone who had to join the military because of twelve years of Reagan and Bush 41, I thought Kerry's words were right as they came out and I don't believe for a moment that he "botched" any "joke." I wish Kerry had stuck with his guns rather than apologize and make a transparent claim that I could never expect the Repugs to believe.

As a vet myself who had few other choices but to enlist, I didn't find his spoken words insulting at all. The fact that he expects me to believe he made such a glaring omission, however, does. He really must think we're dumb, and I fucking hate that.

He should have stuck to his guns (sound familiar?). The economy sucks, the situation in Iraq sucks, and he had it right the first time. Why he caved with this transparently stupid lie is beyond me.

[soothsayer]

8. Well he's told that joke several times on the campaign trail, I hear,

with those very words in it. No?

[Zavulon]

10. Link to a transcript?

If you've got one, I'll eat my words. If this were true, though, I'd be VERY surprised not to have heard about this before, at least yesterday.

That's just too many words omitted for me to buy it, and besides, his "botched" version makes just as much sense. It merely brought down more of a firestorm than he expected.

[OzarkDem]

9. He should say nothing more

he doesn't need to.

Now lets move on.

[TayTay]

12. This is the same thing he said yesterday.

He blew the joke. Ahm, he's sorry he blew the joke.

He did not apologize for anything beyond that, same as yesterday. That's because he didn't do anything he needs to apologize for.

[greeneyedboy]

14. we should all just drop it, and let the hyenas try to flog the dead horse.

[BurtWorm]

15. I demand he apologize for apologizing!

;)

[Zavulon]

16. I seriously think that's a good idea.

He had it right the first time, he should have stood his ground - or "stayed the course," as the Shrub would put it.

[Cha]

18. Kerry "apologizes" for a botched

joke..nothing more. Kerry is handling this just right and finding out who his enemies are as if he didn't know.

[mogster]

19. What a difference between Kerry and Bush

Bush can say anything and get away with it. Anything. This is just outrageous, and show the lack of democracy 'game rules' in the US media.

Come on, Bush said he saw the first plane hit wtc on TV news long before any footage was sent, he lied about the WMDs and has said repeatedly that he does not spend much time on bin Laden. At the same time the risk of terror is ever increasing by the war started on the lies, a war made possible by the wtc crash. Before his last election, bin Laden - who Bush doesn't care about, but repeatedly drags out as a threat on occations - props up as on command and says: Booo!

Come on guys! :hi: You might as well jump down the rabbit hole as far as reality goes, it's an insult to our intelligence.

[lyonn]

22. Bush makes major gaffs every time he opens his mouth

and gets by with it. Books are written with just those stupid comments and yet MSM blows it off. A Dem. mis-speaks and it is news for days and weeks.

[Beelzebud]

21. John Kerry is too inept to be our 2008 candidate...

[DaveJ]

28. Unfortunately, since the President has to be a performer these days

Too bad being a great public servant means very little.

[SlipperySlope]

25. K&R

[DaveJ]

27. Fine - Makes Bush out to be an ass...

Bush can't admit the joke was aimed at him... instead we keep hearing Bush say it was about the troops.