I think these offhand remarks by Kerry were the best thing he could say during this whole campaign. Unless he does something extremely bad in the next eight months he definitely has my vote.
When I heard the remarks, to me they seemed aimed at the Bush administration not Republicans in general, but I could be wrong. I am not a blind partisan voter, but what he said was the best thing I’ve heard in a long time.
It feels so good finally to be past the fear of being labeled unpatriotic for not liking/agreeing with this administration.
Good for Kerry, I am impressed with how he handled it. I am by no means a political analyst, hell I’m not even from the right country but if Kerry is to win, I think he has to prove he can stand up to the current administration.
Why should he apologize? Is the man not allowed to express an opinion? I find demands for apologies to be inane most of the time. What’s the value of any apology that’s not freely offered?
As usual, Jon Stewart summed up my feelings pretty accurately on last night’s Daily Show… they showed a clip of Bush’s famous oops-my-mic-was-on moment…
I think the chances he wasn’t aware he was on microphone were next to nil. And I think this is a smart little bit of gamesmanship.
See, he goes and shakes hands with some factory folks — union people who should be right in the Democratic party’s breadbasket. He makes an “offhand” remark about the opposition. It gets picked up and passed about.
Results:
Kerry communicates to the White House that he has no intention of being a patsy candidate.
He gives a quick handjob to the lefty firebrands who are waffling on him now that Dean is out.
He maintains deniability for the sensitive middle by offering the statement in a “non-public” eavesdropping sort of manner. We all know people behave differently in private than in public, and certainly when they’re on a national stage.
Seriously. We know Kerry has a salty tongue (thanks to that paragon of investigative virtue Matt Drudge :rolleyes: ). If he were really speaking to a group of blue-collar folks, why wouldn’t he have used stronger language? I’m not suggesting he’d call them a gang of puppy-raping motherfuckers, but “sons of bitches” or “bastards” wouldn’t have been out of line. No, the fact that the line was quotable on the news tells me he knows exactly what he’s doing.
I think this little confrontation is a big moment.
Kerry has shown he isn’t going to play ball according to the Republican rules. Up until now, the Republicans have wrapped themselves in the American flag and damned be they who dare not cowtow.
Kerry pretty much said fuckyouverymuch and simply vocalized the feelings of a lot of people.
Kerry apologize?! Give me a break.
I was a big Dean supporter, but for me this is an indication that Kerry has the balls, and he has picked up on the fact that the Democrats are no longer going to play the “nice” game. It is far too late to be civil when you are dealing with the biggest bunch of lying bullies we have seen in a long time.
it’s impressed me so far, though I’ll wait to see if he stands by it. The whole “muttering bad things, then playing offended and demanding an apology when the other party responds” schtick isn’t one I care for. I see enough of it here.
