The hysteria is a product of the game of gotcha that politics has become. Do you really think Trent Lott yearns for the days of slavery? It is the atmosphere we have wrought. The temperature gets turned up when one side INSISTS that something be taken one way and only one way, and that anyone who disagrees is a liar, dishonest, blah blah blah. Some of it has been in this thread.
And I don’t think you would proscribe to the line of thinking that the only way for an object of a sentence to be understood is for one specific word to be used. I mean, sheesh, even Kerry admits he misspoke. That means that the words that were there were insufficient to convey his intended meaning. The possibility that those words might construe another meaning is not all that surprising, is it?
I don’t expect Iraqis to support our troops like WE ought to support our troops. I expect Iraqis to support Iraqi troops.
I think Iraqis (at least those labelled insurgents) are doing what they feel necessary to protect “thier” country from the invading infadel. In reality what they are, are murdering cowards using fear, violence, and guerilla tactics to injure, maim and kill everybody they can, to strike enough fear into the hearts of the people who actually WANT what the US and the “coalition” can eventually provide. I think the average Iraqi is no different from the average American, in that he wants a safe, quiet, prosperous place to live, work and raise kids, and despite what’s happening now, Saddam wasn’t giving that to them either, and IMHO, I would rather fight to the death than live under a tyrant.
All that said. We shouldn’t be there. We never should have gone there. It was a gigantic bloody mistake, based on what I think was a witches brew of arrogance, ignorance and really bad intel. Now that we’re there though, we’ve got to clean house. It sucks, yes, but they’re doing what’s necessary. More often than not military missions are unpopular, because, just like police, soldiers have to do bad things to people to restore order to a situation that is bad and getting worse.
I think what everyone’s all out of joint about, at least what tweaked me about the comments anyhow, is how combative he got after it was pointed out.
He could have defused the entire flap by saying as soon as it was pointed out…
“Wow, geez guys, that sounded bad. I meant to say that you get YOUR COUNTRY stuck in Iraq, because I think Bush’s policy blows, I really didn’t mean to insult my brothers and sisters in uniform, sorry about that, really”
Instead, he got assholish, elitist and kinda republican and said, in effect
“you know what I meant, don’t be stupid” when it was clear that not everybody knew what he meant.
If I meant to say that your wife is beautiful and wind up convoluting it and saying you’re wife is less than beautiful, don’t you think I should apologize for mishandling the words?
The words that came out of his mouth offended some people. That is a fact to all able to step back one inch and see this for what it is. He is responsible for that, no one else. And if a reasonable explanation is offered, that should pretty much be the end of it. But for him to insist that his words didn’t offend someone is ridiculous. As I, and others have said a few times in this thread, if he didn’t ratchet up the emotions with his absolute refusal to apologize and instead, had just apologized, he would have let the majority of steam out of the situation. Than we have the reasonableness of the explanation, for each to weigh on their own. I have no use for Kerry. I think him a pompous ass, and equivocator, and someone (like most of Washington) who will say almost anyhting to ingratiate himself with those he sees as votes. This is the perfect punishment for him: political death bu his own mouth and pomposity.
I don’t buy that for a second. A lot of people PRETENDED to misunderstand it and PRETENDED to be offended, but deep down inside, they all know damn well Kerry wasn’t talking about the military.
I’m really curious because you aren’t the first person in this thread to mention Kerry or democrats being unfriendly to the military.
Do you consider the republican party or Bush to be friendly to the military?
Do you have any evidence in the way of cites to support that Bush or the republicans have done a lot for military members or veterans?
I’m curious where this whole ‘dems are unfriendly to the military’ comes from because it’s decidedly untrue.
Many people did not hear the clip in context. As a stand-alone quote, it is easily misconstrued. I don’t, however, think that anyone posting in this thread, or any politician out there can claim that excuse. To anyone who takes the time to understand it, or has someone explain it to him, it should be obvious what Kerry was trying to say.
Remember that prior to whatever the name of the “secure Baghdad” operation was launched in late Aug/early Sept, US troops were mostly hunkered down in their bases, doing little else than training Iraqis and securing job sites.
Well, since you’re so insistent upon this, I’m sure you have some proof. You know, proof that the words coming out of all their mouths are lies. I mean, I doubt you would claim to have a greater handle on their thoughts than those expresed in the words they choose. So I’ll look forward to those cites. Some proof. Alternatively, a copy of your Mind Reading Certificate from the X-Man Academy will suffice.
I thunk on it, but it would not come. Much appreciated.
Dio, take note, the top of the Certificate must read: Xavier Institute of Higher Learning. Anything else would most likely be fake. And it better have the Official Seal, too.
My cite is that the notion of Kerry (himself a decorated combat veteran…unlike Bush or Cheney) intentionally insulting the troops is so absurd and unbelievable that no one with any intellectual honesty could possibly really believe it.
