The Politico's Simon botched description of Kerry's joke
SUMMARY: Roger Simon, chief political columnist for The Politico, wrote that Sen. John Kerry had "botched a joke about the draft" in October 2006. In asserting that the botched joke was about "the draft," Simon echoed Republican claims that Kerry was disparaging U.S. troops, rather than President Bush, as Kerry has said.
In a January 24 column for The Politico, chief political columnist Roger Simon wrote that Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) had "botched a joke about the draft" when he said: "Education, 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." Simon's assertion that the botched joke was about "the draft" suggests that Kerry was disparaging U.S. troops by saying they lacked education, echoing the claims of White House and GOP officials, who attacked Kerry for allegedly slandering U.S. troops. Simon ignored the evidence and context that support Kerry's claim that the line from his October 30, 2006, speech was a "botched joke" intended to criticize President Bush.
As Media Matters for America noted, the Associated Press reported on November 7, 2006, that Kerry had delivered "several one-liners," including one in which he personally accused Bush of "liv[ing] in a state of denial," immediately prior to his "stuck in Iraq" comment. As Media Matters also noted, Kerry's staff stated that his prepared remarks demonstrate what he meant 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 [emphasis added] stuck in a war in Iraq. Just ask President Bush." Furthermore, several prominent Republicans -- such as former Bush campaign chief strategist Matthew Dowd and former House Majority Leaders Dick Armey (R-TX) and Tom DeLay (R-TX) -- conceded that Kerry did not intend to disparage U.S. soldiers. Armey even acknowledged that Republicans were making political hay by "misconstru[ing]" what Kerry said.
On November 1, 2006, Kerry issued a statement saying that his "poorly stated joke at a rally was not about, and never intended to refer to any troop." He added, "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."
From Simon's January 24 column in The Politico:
While it never reached the proportions that Howard Dean's scream did, Kerry received a thorough lashing in the media when last year he botched a joke about the draft saying, "Education, 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."
Shortly after, Jay Leno said: "John Kerry has apologized for saying those who do not study hard and do their homework will get stuck in Iraq. Now, those that do not campaign well and are boring will end up stuck in the Senate."
Leno's words were more true than he knew. Kerry, who might have had a difficult time running simultaneously for the presidency and the Senate in 2008, will now run just for re-election.
There's another piece of misinformation in Roger Simon's column. He claims that Howard Dean "screamed." Howard Dean never "screamed." That was exaggerated by the microphone and by the audio and video clips that were used by the media, which drowned out all the background sound. Roger Simon can be good sometimes, like when he took George Allen to task for his utter dishonesty about his Jewish ethnicity and the way he handled it, but this is the total opposite of that.
THANK YOU.
njguy93@yahoo.com
I don't get it...
Didn't Kerry botch the joke? He was supposed to say "We get stuck in Iraq"... I realize that's not the point by this piece (i.e. this is supposed to be continued 'echo chamber' crap). But, come on. This is lame. No news. A big yawn. The democrats are lucky Kerry decided not to muddy the waters and run again for President (IMO). He may be a good guy...but, he won't win. Charisma is 90%.
Exactly - it has always been Kerry's correction on what he meant vs. what he actually said. And old news.
Kerry did botch the joke, but it wasn't a joke about the draft. By saying his joke was about the draft, Simon is implying that the joke was intended to insult the troops.
I'm yawning too
Shame on Roger Simon, shame on Politico...there does everybody [who still gives a crap] feel better?
Now may we move on?
A joke About The Draft?
Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't the draft end in the early seventies?
While you are absolutely correct insofar as a pro-forma, draft-board, induction of unwilling members into supposedly* mandatory military service, the export of worthwhile jobs has combined with "back-door" extended tours - in one case (a member of my son's last unit), even beyond the contracted 8 years of active service - to create the equivalent. When there are NO jobs available that allow one to raise a family, military service becomes relatively a lot more attractive. And how many of the returnees between six and eight years of active service, have been forced already to join the reserves (Federal) to avoid call-backs (again, I know of three, including my son, who already has 7 years and 9 months, but heard the drums from his buddies who are still in, and signed just before Christmas.)
* see Bungle, Cheney, Rove, etc.
Consider the next two years as a testing ground for where Bungle (who ain't gonna leave if he can stay) gets the troops to invade Iran, without completely leaving Iraq?
Really hasn't ended, just inactive for the past 30+ years. Young men still have to register at 18, would just take some tweaking to the government infrastructure to make it active again.
Still rewriting history
For the last effing time: Kerry's joke was and always will be about GEORGE W. BUSH. Everything said before the murdered punch line was about Bush. Everything. Only the lapdogs of the rightwing would or could interpret it as anything but an assault on Bush's character.
And please don't offer up the rightwing canard that Kerry doesn't get to explain himself after the fact, what he meant vs. what he said. Why? Because the only people who called him out to explain himself were right wingers. Those of us who read or watched the ENTIRE JOKE IN CONTEXT knew Kerry meant Bush, clear as day, no sidebars required, we got it, Bush got stuck in Iraq because his education was ultimately pretty pieces of paper to hang on the wall, that, if you look at the present mess, it's obvious that all of Bush's "book learnin'" went in one ear and out the other.
Furthermore, why do Bush supporters get a free pass to explain what Bush meant after he slaughters the English language? Because he's the President? Bull. Because he's a Republican. Allen's "macaca" comment was the subject of hours and hours of "what he meant" type analysis. What Allen said had racist overtones, no doubt about it. But instead of the right wing pundits just admitting Allen was being racist, we were treated to explanations such as "macaca is clown in Italian," which is a lie. Buffoon is clown in Italian.
One would think those rightwing buffoons would know that.
I fail to understand how a "botched" joke from three months ago could still be considered newsworthy. Any person with half a mind understood what Kerry meant. Must not be enough going on in the world of politics for a "cheif political columinst" to come up with something relevent to write about.
Who Kept Carrying This Charge
Keeping it simple: "I made a mistake; I am sorry. Or, no you did not; you really meant what you said." In affect, that is what happen to John Kerry. Behind every attempt to clarify his words or joke about the troops, the media was right their restating the Republican charge Kerry meant to offend our troops.
Kerry had a way of using to truth to fortify his claims, so that, sooner or later, he would defend his false claims away. I do not feel there is any Republican who is as honest and truthful as Kerry. Add to that the resolve to set the record straight with dogged determination and you have an very formidable opponent. You have to cheat to beat him. Just ask George Bush.
Joseph
I'm only have awake now, so maybe I missed your point.
Are you saying that the media was correct in attacking Kerry over his botched joke about the President? I'm not a huge Kerry fan (although I would rather have him than Bungle), but give it a rest. The vast majority of intelligent people understand that it was a bad joke gone wrong.
Kerry is/was the "botched joke" all along. He could've been prez if he weren't such a dolt.(and a stiff)
Plus I think his "explanation" was a lie from the start. I think it was to be a serious statement, but since he so miscalculated ( remember he is a dolt) he needed an excuse for his stupidity, and someone drummed it up.
Kinda like saying you smoked pot, but since you didn't inhale( really means you didn't REMEMBER actually inhaling, even though you did) it's like you didn't smoke pot at all.
Like "Hussein" Obama didn't attend a .....
Nice theory, except the context was about Bush anyway, and the prepared speech read the way he said he meant to say it.
(I'm only have awake now, so maybe I missed your point.)
I must of been half asleep when I wrote this. In trying to summarize the context in which John Kerry spoke, the post lost the intended meaning.
kerry was victimized by the media, the Republicans, and the Democrats. I will not take the time to back up my claims because I want to save the effort to try to bring some light to the Iranian escalation. We are in the run up to another war. Thank you for your feedback.
Joseph