Kerry apologizes to the troops
posted at 4:18 pm on November 1, 2006 by Allahpundit
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Just across on CNN. I can’t find it online so I’ll cut the video of Wolf Blitzer reading it. According to Drudge, Kerry was supposed to do an interview with him today but pulled out. Maybe this was his way of making it up to him.
While you wait, read Dean Barnett on why what Kerry said matters.
Update: No need for video. The statement’s just been posted.
As a combat veteran, I want to make it clear to anyone in uniform and to their loved ones: my poorly stated joke at a rally was not about, and never intended to refer to any troop.
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.
It is clear the Republican Party would rather talk about anything but their failed security policy. I don’t want my verbal slip to be a diversion from the real issues. I will continue to fight for a change of course to provide real security for our country, and a winning strategy for our troops.
I’ve got a clip of Bush on Rush Limbaugh still in the tank and Ian’s got something coming from Murtha, but after that I think we’re (mostly) done with this.
Update: Ponnuru and JPod agree — it’s ovuh.
Update (Ian): White House statement on Kerry’s non-apology apology:
Sen Kerry’s apology to the troops for his insulting comments came late, but it was the right thing to do. Our military is the best and the brightest, the most courageous and professional or an military in the world and the President is honored to be their Commander-in-Chief
Update: More praise from Rich Lowry and Jonah Goldberg.
Update: Barnett e-mails, “He was against apologizing before he was for it.” True enough. Waffles can’t even eat crap without having to change his mind.
Dean also asks a good question. What happened to “hit ‘em back harder, harder”?
Update (Bryan): For the record, I don’t view this as an apology, and not because I want the story to live on another day or two. It’s not an apology because it’s actually an attack masquerading as an apology. See my comments below for further explanations.
Others not accepting include Mark Levin, Mark Steyn and, apparently, Mitt Romney.
Update: Apology not accepted says Lt. Smash.
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I wonder if there is a way we can forcibly eject Massachusetts from the US and turn it over to the Canadians.
Maybe just boil Kerry and Kennedy in their own oil.
E L Frederick on November 1, 2006 at 8:38 PM
thirteen28: I think the difference is minimal but it still exists. We all seem to agree that the Democrats have some serious credibility issues and that it is absolutely critical that those issues be pointed out very clearly. I think our disagreement is more in regards to how that happens.
jasnell on November 1, 2006 at 8:52 PM
Not. Over. Yet.
Not until he issues a valid apology, meaning an apology for his words, not for how they were perceived. The hordes here have done a great job of settling that issue logically, now let’s see if he gets it. I will repeat my email to Senator Kerry demanding a proper apology every day until he does.
How many times did Allen apologize before the traction fell off of the macaca story? How many times did Mel Gibson apologize? And even when the ADL accepted his apology and met with him, the media had their claws out for two more weeks. How many apologies did the left demand from Arnold for his behavior of twenty or thirty years ago? I could go on and on. But if it’s Kerry insulting the military, 24 hours max and it’s time to MOVEON.
Not. Over. Yet.
Freelancer on November 1, 2006 at 9:00 PM
True. Point taken.
Puritan1648 on November 1, 2006 at 9:21 PM
Newt just explained on FNC why this Kerry “apology” kept ringing a bell; it was the exact same “apology” that Dick “Turban” Durbin gave for the reaction to his remarks comparing our military prisons to those of Stalin, Hitler and Pol Phot!
I knew it sounded familiar!
And we’re right–Kerry and Durbin aren’t apologizing, just pointing out again that not only are the soldiers stupid, but we out here in Flyover Country/Red States/JesusLand are dumber than stumps, too!
“Thanks for giving me another sh*t sandwich, Democrats! Yummy! Better than Moon Pies and Dr. Pepper!”
Jen the Neocon on November 1, 2006 at 9:23 PM
…good point, and there’ve certainly been some stunning successes…but, we need to wake up each day prepared to sling aligators back into the swamp, not spend our “gettin’ ready” time (that first 30 minutes before actually getting to work I, if nobody else, takes for himself) bragging about those successes.
Winning is a *DAILY* affair…trends mean nothing, and evil never sleeps. Constant vigilance, attention to detail and staying one step ahead of destruction are prices one pays for being able to hit a lick for the right.
The monopoly is toppling, but its roots are deep.
I’d rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy….
/greeting card maxims
/greeting card maxims
/GREETING CARD BLOODY MAXIMS
…where’s the “ESC” key on this keyboard….
Puritan1648 on November 1, 2006 at 9:27 PM
…what do you have against Canadians? They’ve given us so much…Moosehead beer…bacon…Red Green…er…bacon….
…anyway, they tried seceeding during the War of 1812, and nobody was buying….
Puritan1648 on November 1, 2006 at 9:30 PM
If you don;t adjust to trends, to change, you wind up fighting the last war. That’s my point in a nutshell. We need to stop worrying about what the MSM will say, becuase what they say matters less and less each day.
TheBigOldDog on November 1, 2006 at 9:38 PM
It’s over…?
Nooo … it’ll stick like macaca
naliaka on November 1, 2006 at 10:09 PM
I find this so humorously ironic….
Kerry was saying that if you’re smart (like him ;-) you can do something significant with your life (like him ;-), but if you are stupid you’ll have no choice but to join the military and get “stuck” wherever the Commander-in-Chief sends you.
Here’s what’s so funny about all this…while attempting to convince kids to be smart, Kerry has shown everyone how stupid HE is!
He can’t even be smart enough to end his apology after the second paragraph. He has to add a third paragraph that blames someone else for his own stupidity. No one else (except maybe the Kosacks on his staff that he would stop listening to if he were smart (but he isn’t, so he won’t)), no Republican made him say what he said. He was stupid to say it, stupid to lie about his intent, stupid to “apologize” while blaming others, stupid to claim on Imus that it was his decision to return to Washington, rather than the truth that none of the candidates wanted him anywhere near them, which is funny in it’s own right…I thought that Bush was the incumbent that candidates supposedly didn’t want to associate with, yet Bush is out there helping Republicans while Kerry has been told to “Sit down and shut up!”) I know Democrats who are livid with Kerry for what he said, and they don’t for a minute believe or appreciate Kerry’s deflection of the blame for his own comments that came out of his own mouth.
Listen to the Kerry segment on Imus…do you hear Kerry slip up and start to say “failure in Viet…uh…Iraq”? Hilarious. Kerry thinks he is so smart, but he is an IDIOT! He is a loser and I am so happy that he is not our President!
ITookTheRedPill on November 1, 2006 at 10:14 PM
Kerry isn’t as smart as he thinks he is - a perspective from a British newspaper (shared by a commenter on another HA thread)
Entelechy on November 1, 2006 at 10:42 PM
This “apology” is vintage Cynthia McKinney–”I’m sorry that security guard’s head got in the way of my swinging cell phone,” or whatever the bogus non-apology she made was. I urge everyone who hasn’t already to check out the link from Entelechy above. You gonna luv it. He’s got Kerry NAILED. Btw, I saw the “macaca” clip again yesterday on my local Charlottesville CBS affiliate–but this morning, nary a sign of Kerry. Bias anyone?
smellthecoffee on November 1, 2006 at 11:50 PM
Yeah, well, the point is blurred, ain’t it?
Kerry is a Democrat.
He’s the media’s lil Dem whore.
This is like liberal suicide. And I wonder why they didn’t leave a note.
Ugly on November 2, 2006 at 12:21 AM
Colmes is losing his mind, on air.
/what can I say… I get Rush, Hannity, Savage, Ingraham, Colmes and Bell.
//talk radio junkie
Ugly on November 2, 2006 at 12:29 AM
Ugly, dontcha get Mark Levin?!
Cuz he’s the best!
Listen to it on the web Mon-Fri starting at 5:00 PM (EST) at WABC.com
Jen the Neocon on November 2, 2006 at 12:47 AM
Some apology. Kerry Should Resign
LewWaters on November 2, 2006 at 1:19 AM
Jen, we don’t get Levin here, but I hear him on Hannity’s show from time to time. Thanks for the linkage.
Ugly on November 2, 2006 at 1:44 AM
I read the line he was “supposed” to say. I only have one message for Senator Kerry. Either revisit your education or get your eyes checked for reading glasses because you left out some very important words.
Personally, I believe he meant every word he said BEFORE the excuses started happening.
missjeanette on November 2, 2006 at 2:39 AM
This exemplifies something I admire about Mark Steyn, his tendency to redirect our thinking to a larger or higher issue.
Kralizec on November 2, 2006 at 3:58 AM
John Kerry cannot make a sincere apology anymore than Democrats can offer a positive vision of/for America. The man is a sham, and should resign. He would resign if he had any self respect, or respect for the office he holds.
An Attack is never an apology.
DannoJyd on November 2, 2006 at 8:00 AM
Yes indeed! There is no way that Lurch would ever demean our troops. No way at all. /sarc.
DannoJyd on November 2, 2006 at 8:24 AM
I just received John Kerry’s speech notes. He meant to say “if you don’t get an education, you will end up stuck as a
Pelosi Kennedy Reid GoreDemocrat”.No apology needed now.
This just in: Teresa says “apologize or I will withold your allowance”.
right2bright on November 2, 2006 at 9:55 AM
Makaka John wants us to believe that his words were misinterpreted.
Well, if that is the case, then he and the rest of the lib/dems should look at his defeat at the last presidential election as a misinterpretation at the ballot box.
The False Dervish on November 2, 2006 at 10:11 AM
They did… thats why they went to court over it a few times….
Romeo13 on November 2, 2006 at 11:16 AM
It is a cheap trick and a little off base. Forgiving someone is not the same as accepting their apology as a valid apology.
We’re told to forgive regardless of an apology, so as you can see the apology has nothing to do with forgiveness. We forgive people in spite of their wretched selves, not because they’ve asked for it. And if you’ll note, Kerry hasn’t asked for forgiveness anyway. He doesn’t believe he needs it.
Again, as Christians we’re still supposed to forgive him, seeing as hatred harms us more than it harms the object of our hatred, but that doesn’t mean we’re supposed to ignore our own instincts which tell us that Kerry is not telling the truth.
Esthier on November 2, 2006 at 12:48 PM
I wish I studied harder in college, so today I’d understand Kerry’s jokes. It’s all my fault, and that of other stupid people, that we don’t recognize brilliance, wit and humor when we hear it.
I wish John Kerry would blow himself out his own ass, so I won’t further be reminded how inferior to him I really am.
Mustafa Hemmroid on November 2, 2006 at 1:35 PM
I hope thirteen28 is right about Bob Casey…..
dbdiva on November 2, 2006 at 1:50 PM
John Kerry and the VVAW: Hanoi’s American Puppets?
You decide. He speaks for himself.
Emmett J. on November 2, 2006 at 2:23 PM
Gawd, Effin is like a fart in a submarine…..the smell just NEVER seems to go away…Like someone remarked in one of the threads yesterday, Al-Kerry is simply the Sombrero of asshats.
thebookkeeper on November 2, 2006 at 2:39 PM
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.
Dread Pirate Roberts VI on November 2, 2006 at 2:50 PM
Day two, no response from Sen. Kerry to my emails.
Freelancer on November 2, 2006 at 3:48 PM
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