and then enlisted in the Air Force

Now imagine how you’d feel if you’d actually been in the military …!

Sorry. Couldn’t help it. Frickin’ Air Force. :)

Resign? John Kerry? No – no – no. I want him in the Senate permanently, and hopefully running for President every four years.

He is the perfect model of neo-liberalism, and every time he speaks – every American gets to see what the Left is REALLY all about.

Please stay John. Please.

Professor Blather on November 1, 2006 at 10:33 AM

Spurius Ligustinums said:

LOL, Professor – my wife, who is in the Army National Guard, just got back from a year on active duty training – spent the first half at Sheppard AFB, and the second half at Ft. Gordon. She was amazed at how much more physically rigorous the Army was compared to the Air Force, as well as the difference between the barracks conditions and the strictness of the discipline.

“Civilians in uniform,” I’d simply explain to her about our brothers and sisters in blue …

Spurius:

True story: when I was stationed in Scotland, the Marines all thought we’d died and gone to Heaven. The barracks had CARPET! Air conditioning! A freakin’ in room refrigerator. Just 2 guys to a room; some junior NCOs even had their own room!

Sure, it was kinda run down and, you know, military – gray and ugly … but all the single guys really thought they were livin’ large. A big step up from most Marine barracks.

But the Air Force guys? You ready for this? The small Air Force detachment (maybe a dozen zoomies) was getting a SUBSTANDARD HOUSING allowance … for living in the very same barracks. Cuz it just wasn’t good enough for them.

Seriously.

I repeat: frickin’ Air Force.

Professor Blather on November 1, 2006 at 3:56 PM

Look, Derbyshire’s right. Kerry clearly meant to goof on Bush, and f’ed it up. We all assume that he’s betraying his sinceere beliefs that the troops are dupes, which is reasonable since a lot of liberals do think that. But it’s not honest to pretend like we don’t know he meant to make a joke on Bush, not the troops.

Kerry’s a scumbag, and he may hate the troops, but he was clearly making a bad joke at Bush’s expense.

Doesn’t mean we can’t nail him for it, but let’s be honest with ourselves.

Enrique on November 1, 2006 at 1:53 PM

Hey Enrique:

Of course it was a joke. That’s pretty obvious. A lame joke, sure, but this is John Kerry we’re talking about. But I knew what he meant as soon as he said it.

Of course, I ALSO knew he’d screwed it up, and I knew how it sounded.

So the question is: why didn’t he?

Why didn’t he IMMEDIATELY correct the wording – and apologize?

Because the simple truth is that if you take it out of context, and read just the words he said – he definitely implied that the troops are all optionless losers. That IS what he said, no matter what he meant.

And unlike your basic Bush verbal gaffe that makes no sense at all – this made just enough sense to hurt a lot of people. So it’s not what he meant to say, or even what he said that bothers me … but his response to it!

Plus, there’s the fact that he’s sincerely and intentionally attacked the troops plenty of times in the last 35 years. I think if another liberal had done this, people might give him the benefit of the doubt; after his JennJiss Kahn bull!#$% … well, it’s hard to assume Kerry means well when it comes to the troops.

But you know what bothers me most of all? It’s the reaction from OTHER liberals. There are millions of Democrats out there right now applauding Kerry.

And they’re not applauding the joke he MEANT to say – they’re applauding the “our troops are uneducated morons” crap that actually came out of his mouth.

Personally, I agree with you. It was a stupid slip from a stupid man.

(Although I’d suggest it may hint at how he REALLY feels. Did you ever see footage of Shepard Smith on Fox News a year or so back, when he was talking about J. Lo? Go check You Tube – it’s there somewhere. If you missed it, he was trying to read off the teleprompter somethink like … J. Lo was kicked to the curb, given a curb job … something like that. Whatever that was supposed to mean. What he said, as clear as day, is, well … since there may be children present, I’ll just say it rhymes with “snow job.” Now that WAS a mistake obviously – and Smith immediately apologized to viewers and got very red in the face, while laughter rang in the background – but here’s my point: I’d suggest that Shepard Smith might find J. Lo just a wee bit attractive … and that um “snow job” comment originated from a real emotion. Same thing with Kerry. If this was just a slip … I think it was a meaningful slip, if you follow me.)

But the stuff from other liberals is even worse. They are openly crowing that soldiers ARE dumb, and that Kerry’s remark – slip or not – was right.

That’s why, no matter what Kerry meant, this is actually an important story. People deserve to know how Democrats actually feel about the troops.

Even if Kerry doesn’t mean what he said – millions of Democrats DO mean it, and they mean it gleefully.

Professor Blather on November 1, 2006 at 4:07 PM

C’mon, does anyone hear really think that he meant to say that the troops are idiots? Even if that’s what he believes, does anyone think that’s what he meant to say? I mean, really?

Good luck, Enrique. I think you’re arguing with the same folks who pretended not to know what “fiction” meant the other day.

And like I said, it’s all missing the main point: that whether Kerry meant it or not, a great many Democrats DO feel that way about our troops.

That’s the story here.

Professor Blather on November 1, 2006 at 4:10 PM