# Kerry's Botched Joke **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [October 31, 2006, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kerrys-botched-joke/378631 "2006-10-31T19:47:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2006, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kerrys-botched-joke/378631/62 "2006-10-31T21:40:52Z")
[QUOTE=Revenant Threshold] Er, I think that was **John’s** point. Black people can call each other nigger while a white guy would probably get called on it. And soldiers (like you) can call other soldiers stupid without being called on it. For another example, if I were to say British people are all thick, it could easily be taken as a joke. But if I were to say all _American_ people were thick, it would be a lot easier for someone to call me a bigot. [/QUOTE] Funny, you don’t sound British. Spell “labor”. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2006, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kerrys-botched-joke/378631/63 "2006-10-31T21:41:34Z")
No, I’m not being manipulated. I’m fed up with a politician who has a history of making boneheaded remarks that alienate large segments of the voting public. And gosh, isn’t his timing wonderful? ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2006, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kerrys-botched-joke/378631/64 "2006-10-31T21:41:55Z")
[QUOTE=Jackmannii] Actually, the Kerry college photo makes him look like he was separated from the James Bond [“Jaws”](http://www.junior.te.pt/Final/Bairro/ImgA/sabiasque/james_bond/james_bond_jaws.jpg) character at birth. [/QUOTE] Isn’t that also “Lurch”? ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2006, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kerrys-botched-joke/378631/65 "2006-10-31T21:42:45Z")
[QUOTE=mack] It doesn’t matter what he meant. This is a wet dream for the Republicans, and for good reason. They couldn’t have written this script better themselves. Fucking Kerry. [/QUOTE] Unless Kerry was running for office this year, what’s the big deal? At worst, the former Presidential Candidate looks like an insensitive ass. It’s not as if his joke was endorsed by anyone, or that he was caught stuffing hundred-dollar-bills into the orificies of underaged naked teens… ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2006, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kerrys-botched-joke/378631/66 "2006-10-31T21:45:46Z")
Kerry suffers from hoof’n’mouth. To anyone who cares to understand his algerbraic use of the language, he’s spot on. His apparently flip-flopping vote comments about Iraq during his presidential bid makes perfect sense to anyone who is a Washington insider and/or knows parliamentary procedure. But the electorate has neither the inclination nor the intellect to understand Kerry’s message when all they want are meat and potato answers. The real concern is how much damage has this caused and whether the neocon spinmiesters can flog this gaffe with sufficient force and direction to scare the fence-sitters into believing the boogeyman is not them. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2006, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kerrys-botched-joke/378631/67 "2006-10-31T21:45:52Z")
Let’s not get carried away about this. It was a minor _faux pas_, and I can’t see it making a difference in this election. Kerry isn’t running anyway. Best case, it blows up later and kills his chance to run for prez again. Good. The Democrats need to pick someone who can win anyway! ---
**Author:** ![Revenant\_Threshold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@Revenant\_Threshold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revenant_Threshold)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2006, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kerrys-botched-joke/378631/68 "2006-10-31T21:46:03Z")
[QUOTE=John Mace] Funny, you don’t sound British. Spell “labor”. 🙂 [/QUOTE] Sure. D-A-V-I-D C-A-M-E-R-O-N.\* Easy. 😉 \*90% of the board will not get this joke. The other 10% won’t find it funny. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2006, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kerrys-botched-joke/378631/69 "2006-10-31T21:46:22Z")
[QUOTE=spoke-] No, I’m not being manipulated. I’m fed up with a politician who has a history of making boneheaded remarks that alienate large segments of the voting public. And gosh, isn’t his timing wonderful? [/QUOTE] So clear this up for me: are you angry because you believe Kerry insulted the troops, or because he said something the Republicans could misquote against him? ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2006, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kerrys-botched-joke/378631/70 "2006-10-31T21:49:00Z")
I think he was more likely talking about Bush than about soldiers but even if he was talking about soldiers, a statement that people who do poorly in school are likely to end up in the military is not the same thing as as saying that everyone in military is stupid. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2006, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kerrys-botched-joke/378631/71 "2006-10-31T21:50:55Z")
[QUOTE=John Mace] Let’s not get carried away about this. It was a minor _faux pas_, and I can’t see it making a difference in this election. Kerry isn’t running anyway. Best case, it blows up later and kills his chance to run for prez again. Good. The Democrats need to pick someone who can win anyway! [/QUOTE] This I agree with. I can’t see many people who are going to change how they vote in their local elections over this. Kerry is not on any of the ballots. This is just grasping at straws on the part of the right. ---
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2006, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kerrys-botched-joke/378631/72 "2006-10-31T21:51:57Z")
[QUOTE=Revenant Threshold] Being given airtime is very different if it’s a wide shot of a protest and a one-on-one interview. I don’t think you could honestly say that the majority of people actually interviewed on the TV news media say “the troops currently in Iraq should quit rather than take part in this war”. [/QUOTE] “The majority”? Well, to be pefectly accurate, I have not reviewed all of the taped material on all of the anit-war protests available. However, I don’t think it is too wrong for me to say that there is a segment of the US population that see’s the anti-Iraq-war movement as having strong support in the colleges. Rightly or wrongly, the impression is there. The Democratic National Party (and Senator Kerry) may also carry the same false impressions. I realise that all this is guesswork, as I seemed to have misplaced my mind reading cap. But if it does, that could explain why Sen. Kerry felt that he could make the joke he did, in front of the audience he was in front of. Let me ask this: Do you think Sen. Kerry would have made the similar joke (that is, about Iraq being goofed up) speaking at a VA hospital, or in front of a VFW group? I do not. I see him promising the Veterans more, or at least, secure, benefits. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2006, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kerrys-botched-joke/378631/73 "2006-10-31T21:53:58Z")
[QUOTE=Fear Itself] So clear this up for me: are you angry because you believe Kerry insulted the troops, or because he said something the Republicans could misquote against him? [/QUOTE] I don’t believe he is being misquoted or misconstrued. I think he is just stupid enough to try to ingratiate himself to a college audience by telling them how much smarter they are than the military. And I think (for reasons I explained above) that his saying that his comments were directed at Bush is bullshit. And yes, I am angry at him for insulting the military. That is an incredibly boneheaded thing to do. And to compound the gaffe, he makes it a week before a critical election, handing the Republicans a pretty rhinestone with which to distract voters. The guy is a grade A idiot, and I wish he would do his party a favor and shut the hell up. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2006, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kerrys-botched-joke/378631/74 "2006-10-31T21:54:57Z")
[QUOTE=Diogenes the Cynic] I think he was more likely talking about Bush than about soldiers but even if he was talking about soldiers, a statement that people who do poorly in school are likely to end up in the military is not the same thing as as saying that everyone in military is stupid. [/QUOTE] OK, let me explain this to you. Members of Congress, and **especially** presidential candidates, and \*\*especially \*\*former military guys, are supposed to hold up service in the military as a **high honor** , and an **act of courage**. It is supposed to be something to be proud of, and something you’re proud you’re son or daughter chooses. They’re not supposed to characterize it as what happens to you if you flunk out of school. Is it that hard to understand? ---
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2006, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kerrys-botched-joke/378631/75 "2006-10-31T21:57:00Z")
Allow me to further state that I think this story, while entertaining due to it’s timing, is not going to be changing any voter’s minds. ---
**Author:** ![What\_the](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f4b2a3/32.png) [@What\_the](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_the)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2006, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kerrys-botched-joke/378631/76 "2006-10-31T21:57:22Z")
How do you rationalize that Kerry’s level of education and grades are comparable to Bush’… in fact his grades are lower. Basically Kerry would be saying that he would do just as bad a job in Iraq… alternatively he was counting on his fans in the media not to bring that up. ---
**Author:** ![Revenant\_Threshold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@Revenant\_Threshold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revenant_Threshold)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2006, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kerrys-botched-joke/378631/77 "2006-10-31T22:00:48Z")
[QUOTE=mlees] “The majority”? Well, to be pefectly accurate, I have not reviewed all of the taped material on all of the anit-war protests available. However, I don’t think it is too wrong for me to say that there is a segment of the US population that see’s the anti-Iraq-war movement as having strong support in the colleges. Rightly or wrongly, the impression is there. [/quote] And i’ve agreed with that. I’m just saying there’s a big difference between saying the Iraq War is wrong and saying that the troops should all resign rather than take part, and that there’s accordingly a big difference in the amount of people saying the former rather than the latter - and that there may be a large following among US colleges for the former, but you can’t extrapolate to mean the same thing for the latter. > [@](#): > > Let me ask this: Do you think Sen. Kerry would have made the similar joke (that is, about Iraq being goofed up) speaking at a VA hospital, or in front of a VFW group? I do not. I see him promising the Veterans more, or at least, secure, benefits. Again, big difference between saying “the war is bad” and “the troops should quit” - and I think that actually there’s a reasonable amount of support for the former among veterans and people currently serving, whilst the second would probably be met with considerable booing. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2006, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kerrys-botched-joke/378631/78 "2006-10-31T22:04:51Z")
[QUOTE=spoke-] I don’t believe he is being misquoted or misconstrued. I think he is just stupid enough to try to ingratiate himself to a college audience by telling them how much smarter they are than the military. And I think (for reasons I explained above) that his saying that his comments were directed at Bush is bullshit. And yes, I am angry at him for insulting the military. [/QUOTE] Then you \*are \* being manipulated, and you are going to feel really silly when you see his comments in context. I’ve heard it, and was _Bush blah blah, Bush blah blah, stuck in Iraq Bush blah blah_. It makes no sense to interpret it _Bush blah blah, Bush blah blah, The troops are stoopid, Bush blah blah_. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2006, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kerrys-botched-joke/378631/79 "2006-10-31T22:12:44Z")
OK, if I’m being manipulated, then Kerry stupidly handed Republicans an opportunity to manipulate smart folks like me on the eve of an election. Kerry still comes off as a moron either way. ---
**Author:** ![Wee\_Bairn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/90db22/32.png) [@Wee\_Bairn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wee_Bairn)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2006, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kerrys-botched-joke/378631/80 "2006-10-31T22:13:41Z")
Oh the irony…botching a line while trying to poke fun at the ultimate line-botcher. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2006, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kerrys-botched-joke/378631/81 "2006-10-31T22:14:26Z")
[QUOTE=spoke-] OK, if I’m being manipulated, then Kerry stupidly handed Republicans an opportunity to manipulate smart folks like me on the eve of an election. [/QUOTE] I will grant you that one. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kerrys-botched-joke/378631.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kerrys-botched-joke/378631.md?page=5)