Stewart/Colbert on Kerry's 'struck in iraq' comment
Has anyone not heard of what he had said by now? I found out while watching The Daily Show and The Colbert Report killing time yesterday. I liked the first headline that GoogleNews turned up, very appropriate...
Kerry assumes old role: Political punching bag
International Herald Tribune, France - 1 hour ago
... Senator John Kerry had been carefully and quietly building himself back up after his failed 2004 presidential run, campaigning for Democratic candidates in ...
http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/11/02/news/kerry.php
*check out the article link, it has a picture*
Kerry assumes old role: Political punching bag
By Kate Zernike / The New York Times
Published: November 2, 2006
WASHINGTON: He's back. Senator John Kerry had been carefully and quietly building himself back up after his failed 2004 presidential run, campaigning for Democratic candidates in places where he could forget about his sometimes strained relationships with his peers back in Washington.
But with a single word - or a single word left out of what was supposed to be a laugh line directed at President George W. Bush - Kerry has become a punching bag again, for Republicans and for his own party.
Kerry's prepared remarks to a gathering of students in California on Monday called for him to say, "Do you know where you end up if you don't study, if you aren't smart, if you're intellectually lazy? You end up getting us stuck in a war in Iraq. Just ask President Bush." In his delivery, he dropped the word "us."
"Please stop it," Kerry's friend, Don Imus, the radio talk show host, urged him on his morning broadcast. "Stop talking. Go home." But even as Kerry seemed to follow that advice, retreating to Washington, he was not going away.
Today in Americas
Kerry assumes old role: Political punching bag
Iraq war is top issue for U.S. voters in upcoming election
Panama backed at UN as two rivals withdraw
For Republicans and the White House, Kerry's "botched joke" Monday was manna from Massachusetts. The White House, which had been struggling for ways to make Bush less of a liability in the election, seized on Kerry's comments, with the president, vice president and spokesman blanketing radio and television to blast him for "impugning the troops."
For Democrats, Kerry became a headache, as Republican candidates in tight races across the country demanded that Democrats return money they had taken from him or call on him to apologize.
National leaders calculated that the comments probably would not affect the elections. But Kerry's sudden center-stage appearance in the last days of the campaign revived grumblings about his putting his own political future ahead of the party's.
Kerry's advisers were trying to figure out the damage as he eyes a 2008 run. The long-term problem was not so much that he appeared to be insulting the troops - although that did not help, when his message rests so much on his military service and concern for veterans. It was more that his remarks left a segment of his own party, and perhaps the electorate, wondering if he has the agility and political skill to compete at the highest level.
His advisers lamented the senator's inability to get out of his own way, as much as they assailed Bush and others for trying to raise doubts about Kerry's patriotism when they never went to war.
"It's the skill of the flak machine to make him the target of ridicule when on everything else he's been doing, he has been really tough, he's been really clear, he's been really on," said one of Kerry's advisers, who did not want his name used because of the sensitivity of the matter. "You can imagine how frustrating this thing is to all of us. And him in particular."
Kerry's camp took heart as some bloggers applauded his feisty rebuttal to the president and to Senator John McCain, the Arizona Republican, on Tuesday night - in comparison to his sluggish response to the attacks by the Swift Boat veterans that helped torpedo his 2004 campaign.
But Democrats came out strongly against him. Representative Harold Ford Jr., who is running for an open Senate seat in Tennessee, said Kerry was "wrong to say what he did," and Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York called Kerry's remarks inappropriate.
After canceling his appearances, Kerry called several fellow Democrats to tell them he would apologize, and by the end of the day he issued this statement:
"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 troops. 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."
He blamed Republicans for preferring to "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."
Page 2 of 2)
Representative Edward Markey of Massachusetts, one of the Democrats Kerry reached out to, said: "The country wants to hear what the president intends to do to correct this disastrous Iraq policy. If the president chooses instead to talk about misinterpreted jokes, shame on him."
The White House, meanwhile, accepted Kerry's statement as a legitimate apology, The Associated Press reported. But the deputy press secretary, Dana Perino, said it was too soon to say whether the president and his people would now stop noting the controversy. "We'll see," Perino said. "Once he has apologized, I don't know that there is anything more to say."
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I actually don't remember much of The Daily Show, I missed it the first time around and I actually caught it hours after The Colbert Report when I was getting sleepy...but it was definitely The Colbert Report's coverage that struck out at me. They played Kerry's clip, had someone go mock outraged over it, played Bush's disapproval of it...and then they played all the times Bush and Co said even more inappropriate things. Including the time Bush joked about the WMDs not being found...while troops are dying en masse in Iraq because he sent them there without a GOOD plan, Mad Magazine can joke about it, he can't, because he put them there.
While I get Kerry's point, I still don't think he speaks well, as always, he's a bit stiff, I have no clue how he can stay so stiff when he's married to Teresa Heinz Kerry. As much as some media blast THK for having a mouth on her, that god forbid, she uses it to speak her mind, I bet had THK been the man running for president she would have gone over very well because she's smooth, must be a linguist thing.
Oh yes, can't forget to include this, Edwards defends Kerry, kinda:
Edwards Says Kerry Controversy Is Political
POSTED: 8:35 pm EST November 1, 2006
CARRBORO, N.C. -- Former United States Senator John Edwards paid a visit to the polls today, casting his ballot early in Carrboro.
Edwards said he'll wait until after this election to decide whether he'll run for president in 2008.
He also expressed sympathy toward his former running mate, John Kerry, who was criticized by the president for suggesting unsuccessful students end up stuck in Iraq.
"This is all politics," Edwards said. "What's happening is the president and the Republicans and they know they're in trouble in this election and they're trying to find anything they can to distract the voter's attention. It's not going to be successful."
Kerry insists he messed up Monday's swipe at the president. He meant to say bad students end up with "us," stuck in Iraq.
Today he issued an apology to any American who was offended.
UPDATED: 1:06 pm EST November 2, 2006
Kerry assumes old role: Political punching bag
International Herald Tribune, France - 1 hour ago
... Senator John Kerry had been carefully and quietly building himself back up after his failed 2004 presidential run, campaigning for Democratic candidates in ...
http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/11/02/news/kerry.php
*check out the article link, it has a picture*
Kerry assumes old role: Political punching bag
By Kate Zernike / The New York Times
Published: November 2, 2006
WASHINGTON: He's back. Senator John Kerry had been carefully and quietly building himself back up after his failed 2004 presidential run, campaigning for Democratic candidates in places where he could forget about his sometimes strained relationships with his peers back in Washington.
But with a single word - or a single word left out of what was supposed to be a laugh line directed at President George W. Bush - Kerry has become a punching bag again, for Republicans and for his own party.
Kerry's prepared remarks to a gathering of students in California on Monday called for him to say, "Do you know where you end up if you don't study, if you aren't smart, if you're intellectually lazy? You end up getting us stuck in a war in Iraq. Just ask President Bush." In his delivery, he dropped the word "us."
"Please stop it," Kerry's friend, Don Imus, the radio talk show host, urged him on his morning broadcast. "Stop talking. Go home." But even as Kerry seemed to follow that advice, retreating to Washington, he was not going away.
Today in Americas
Kerry assumes old role: Political punching bag
Iraq war is top issue for U.S. voters in upcoming election
Panama backed at UN as two rivals withdraw
For Republicans and the White House, Kerry's "botched joke" Monday was manna from Massachusetts. The White House, which had been struggling for ways to make Bush less of a liability in the election, seized on Kerry's comments, with the president, vice president and spokesman blanketing radio and television to blast him for "impugning the troops."
For Democrats, Kerry became a headache, as Republican candidates in tight races across the country demanded that Democrats return money they had taken from him or call on him to apologize.
National leaders calculated that the comments probably would not affect the elections. But Kerry's sudden center-stage appearance in the last days of the campaign revived grumblings about his putting his own political future ahead of the party's.
Kerry's advisers were trying to figure out the damage as he eyes a 2008 run. The long-term problem was not so much that he appeared to be insulting the troops - although that did not help, when his message rests so much on his military service and concern for veterans. It was more that his remarks left a segment of his own party, and perhaps the electorate, wondering if he has the agility and political skill to compete at the highest level.
His advisers lamented the senator's inability to get out of his own way, as much as they assailed Bush and others for trying to raise doubts about Kerry's patriotism when they never went to war.
"It's the skill of the flak machine to make him the target of ridicule when on everything else he's been doing, he has been really tough, he's been really clear, he's been really on," said one of Kerry's advisers, who did not want his name used because of the sensitivity of the matter. "You can imagine how frustrating this thing is to all of us. And him in particular."
Kerry's camp took heart as some bloggers applauded his feisty rebuttal to the president and to Senator John McCain, the Arizona Republican, on Tuesday night - in comparison to his sluggish response to the attacks by the Swift Boat veterans that helped torpedo his 2004 campaign.
But Democrats came out strongly against him. Representative Harold Ford Jr., who is running for an open Senate seat in Tennessee, said Kerry was "wrong to say what he did," and Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York called Kerry's remarks inappropriate.
After canceling his appearances, Kerry called several fellow Democrats to tell them he would apologize, and by the end of the day he issued this statement:
"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 troops. 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."
He blamed Republicans for preferring to "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."
Page 2 of 2)
Representative Edward Markey of Massachusetts, one of the Democrats Kerry reached out to, said: "The country wants to hear what the president intends to do to correct this disastrous Iraq policy. If the president chooses instead to talk about misinterpreted jokes, shame on him."
The White House, meanwhile, accepted Kerry's statement as a legitimate apology, The Associated Press reported. But the deputy press secretary, Dana Perino, said it was too soon to say whether the president and his people would now stop noting the controversy. "We'll see," Perino said. "Once he has apologized, I don't know that there is anything more to say."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I actually don't remember much of The Daily Show, I missed it the first time around and I actually caught it hours after The Colbert Report when I was getting sleepy...but it was definitely The Colbert Report's coverage that struck out at me. They played Kerry's clip, had someone go mock outraged over it, played Bush's disapproval of it...and then they played all the times Bush and Co said even more inappropriate things. Including the time Bush joked about the WMDs not being found...while troops are dying en masse in Iraq because he sent them there without a GOOD plan, Mad Magazine can joke about it, he can't, because he put them there.
While I get Kerry's point, I still don't think he speaks well, as always, he's a bit stiff, I have no clue how he can stay so stiff when he's married to Teresa Heinz Kerry. As much as some media blast THK for having a mouth on her, that god forbid, she uses it to speak her mind, I bet had THK been the man running for president she would have gone over very well because she's smooth, must be a linguist thing.
Oh yes, can't forget to include this, Edwards defends Kerry, kinda:
Edwards Says Kerry Controversy Is Political
POSTED: 8:35 pm EST November 1, 2006
CARRBORO, N.C. -- Former United States Senator John Edwards paid a visit to the polls today, casting his ballot early in Carrboro.
Edwards said he'll wait until after this election to decide whether he'll run for president in 2008.
He also expressed sympathy toward his former running mate, John Kerry, who was criticized by the president for suggesting unsuccessful students end up stuck in Iraq.
"This is all politics," Edwards said. "What's happening is the president and the Republicans and they know they're in trouble in this election and they're trying to find anything they can to distract the voter's attention. It's not going to be successful."
Kerry insists he messed up Monday's swipe at the president. He meant to say bad students end up with "us," stuck in Iraq.
Today he issued an apology to any American who was offended.
UPDATED: 1:06 pm EST November 2, 2006