John Kerrys comments on Education

Obviously the won't be friends, or share the same views. After all, they were running against eachother in presidential elections. One is a Democrat and the other is a Republican, remember? I doubt they're gonna get together at the end of the day to have a beer and watch the game. Give me a break.

Originally Posted by BlueFox

I dont think he is Joking. Him and Bush arent exactly friends.

Exactly. Which only further suggests he was making fun of Bush, not the troops.

It's not like Bush has never mispoke.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzBvyxFQIdo

Funny, how he tried to take back what he said and tried to explain that it was aimed towards Bush.

Yeah, a little too late, pal.

Originally Posted by Shiek 84

Exactly. Which only further suggests he was making fun of Bush, not the troops.

It's not like Bush has never mispoke.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzBvyxFQIdo

Thank you for that.

Just type in Bush on youtube and tell me you still support him Bluefox. When you see how stupid this man really is, honestly tell me that you're behind his policies.

Originally Posted by Andross

Funny, how he tried to take back what he said and tried to explain that it was aimed towards Bush.

Yeah, a little too late, pal.

Have you read anyone's posts? The evidence highly suggests that his comments were intended to be aimed at Bush from the beginning. If you consider that partisan hackery, fine, but you're only fooling yourself if you truly believe Kerry meant to make fun of the military.

The Republicans tried to blow it out of proportion to sway the election in their favor. Fortunately, it didn't turn out that way.

Originally Posted by Shiek 84

Have you read anyone's posts? The evidence highly suggests that his comments were intended to be aimed at Bush from the beginning. If you consider that partisan hackery, fine, but you're only fooling yourself if you truly believe Kerry meant to make fun of the military.

The Republicans tried to blow it out of proportion to sway the election in their favor. Fortunately, it didn't turn out that way.

That doesn't mean that he didn't make a huge mistake by saying that, though. He said it, and he has to deal with it. Whatever he meant, my respect for him has dropped a bit. Great choice of words, he had. To think, after the elections were over, I thought that he was a pretty decent man...

And why bring soldiers in to the equation if he's joking about Bush? Either way, it can be viewed as insulting to a person's intelligence.

Here's a better idea of what I'm talking about:

Sen. Kerry, as you well know, spoke at a college in Southern California. With bitter humor he told the students that he had been in Texas the day before, that President Bush used to live in that state, but that now he lives in the state of denial.
He said the trip had reminded him about the value of education — that “if you make the most of it, you study hard, you do your homework, and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well. If you don’t, you get stuck in Iraq. Just ask president Bush."

That can easily be interpreted as:

Sen. Kerry, as you well know, spoke at a college in Southern California. With bitter humor he told the students that he had been in Texas the day before, that President Bush used to live in that state, but that now he lives in the state of denial.
He said the trip had reminded him about the value of education — that “If you are uneducated, Mr. Bush will send you to Iraq. What a terrible President, sending off the uneducated...”

And, the second version does work. People always complain that the Republicans have lied and altered facts. Haven't democrats done the same?

Originally Posted by Mad Hatter

Here is the context, according to this article:

Holy misunderstanding, Batman! I just got "KA-POWED"!

I thought you meant "look at the situation" (that being that he was at a university), not "read the entire speech". I guess I should've.

Eh, it still looks bad. I think he was trying to make a joke about Bush, but it came out looking halfway like a stab at the armed forces. I still don't understand why he made the joke about overall education rather than just leaving it at "do your homework", though.

Do your homework + Bush + Stuck in Iraq = "Bush didn't do his homework" .... anti-Bush/Iraq War stab
Overall education + Bush + Stuck in Iraq = "Bush had a bad education".... ???

Originally Posted by Mad Hatter

What difference does it make? I couldn't care less if he honestly served proudly or not, and I think it's sad that people need to be in the army to be president.

It's partially because the President is the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces (seriously, if he wanted to, he could suit up and get out there on the front lines), and many people feel that he should have experience with the military before he holds that position.

This whole situation, in a nutshell, was a complete mistake on both parties. Kerry should of been more careful when he spoke if he was interested in gaining favor of more people, and it shows he just didn't take the time to do so, on such a touchy matter. He apologized, but unfortuneately, people [the soilders in Iraq] probably still are very irritated regardless.

However, there's absolutely no reason to get your pants in a bundle about this. While I don't consider myself a republican yet, (mainly because I feel I still don't have enough political knowledge) I didn't take it personally. Then again, people too often look at the political party the person sides on, rather than the issue at hand or the person themself.

All this is, was a spark that lighted a mudslinging fest. This wasn't the first time a president said something that came out completely wrong.

People, use your common sense and ask "Did Kerry really mean to insult the soilders?" He had no reason to - it would gain him nothing.

Okay, what I dont get is how you guys can stand up for this#$@%%^%$^ when what he said was the most ignotant thing I have ever heard a politician say. Any one who sees my point of view would probably agreee with me.

Any one who sees my point of view would probably agreee with me.

The thing is, your point of view is limited to just that. While I completely agree that it was utterly ignorant what he said, it still doesn't give a sturdy ground for someone to critizise him on. If you are going to attack someone, or say why you dislike something they said, it's better to use less silly mistakes as the factor. By using this as your crutch to say Kerry is an ignorant hooligan, doesn't make you look much more intelligent. It's an elementary and ineffective way of attacking someone.

So, if someone is to prove their point in a more effective manner - do so without going for the blatantly obvious stuff. Mudslinging isn't worth tollerance.

DekuQueen hit on the major point; there's nothing for him to benefit from by bashing the troops. Realize that last election, an aspect about him that a lot of people really liked over Bush was that he had served in the military. There is simply no logic is saying that he went into that lecture planning to say something along those lines, especially when he knows how bad the media and the American people are when it comes to jumping on a controversial statement.

This was simply Kerry ripping off Howard Dean by spitting out something that he had no time to think about and said it in the way he felt sounded the best in those split moments. The only differences is that Howard Dean's moment of fame was much funnier, and instead of a badly worded joke, he screamed like a coyote.

Cleary, Kerry's comments have been taken out of context. I completely agree with Mirren. What would he gain from insulting the armed forces?. However Mr Kerry should choose his words more wisely next time as its very easy to offend people these days. Even so, I see no reason to focus on one slip of the tounge, then make a judgment on someone because as previously mentioned there are web pages dedicated to, quite frankly jibberish statments, uttered by the people in charge such as George Bush and Donald Rumsfeld (points at sig).

Originally Posted by Mad Hatter

What difference does it make? I couldn't care less if he honestly served proudly or not, and I think it's sad that people need to be in the army to be president.

I'm afraid I must disagree. I believe that money is the way to secure you place in the running of the country NOWADAYS. Perfect example: Arnold Schwartzaneger(sp).

Yeha, but what is there to beneifit in any of what he meant. He was made to apologize personally on three seprate stations. That means he ment something.

Not at all. What it means is that he was given a 'trial by media' and forced into either apologizing or being ridiculed for the rest of his political career. He was forced to apologize for what people thought he said, not what he actually said.

So you guys are for Kerry? Im against him. John is not the kind of person to apologize if he didnt mean anything. Media trialed or not.

To be honest I'm not for any of the American parties, they're both pretty far right. However, in this case Kerry was forced into confessing for something he didn't do, and that isn't right.

I kinda like Bush. But thats it. What do you mean by he was forced to Apologize? Who forced him? I just brought up the matter because I didnt know what happened really.

He was forced meaning that people started bashing him left and right, criticizing the fact that he didn't apologize after offending millions of people. He had to either apologize or lose his good name forever (though that's kind of already happened now).

Originally Posted by KnightWing

He was forced meaning that people started bashing him left and right, criticizing the fact that he didn't apologize after offending millions of people. He had to either apologize or lose his good name forever (though that's kind of already happened now).

Yes, but see, they were offended over something that he didn't say. Or rather, he did say it, but they're growing angry over it when it's taken out of context and applied to a different person/group then what he applied it to.

It's like you saying that criminals should be put in jail, and then someone demands that you apologize for insulting Jews. If you did it quite clearly wasn't your intent, so why should you apologize for it?

I think my ss teacher said that was called national insult. Dont know why though( sarcastic tone).