On the November 2 edition of MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews, Family Research Council president Tony Perkins declared that a recent “botched joke” by Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) “shows that many of the liberals just don't have an understanding of how there are people that have such commitment to this country that they would volunteer to defend the ways and the ideas of this nation.” As Media Matters for America has noted, Kerry himself volunteered for military service and, in February 1968, requested Swift boat duty in Vietnam.

From the November 2 edition of MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews:

CHRIS MATTHEWS (host): I don't. I don't think that's what he meant, but that's my opinion. Based upon the context of what he was saying, he was trashing Bush, trashing his -- what he called -- his denial of facts, his honesty, and in the midst of all that, he took this crack at the president's lack of book learning. I don't think he was taking a crack at the soldiers. If he did, he's an imbecile, and I don't think John Kerry is an imbecile.

PERKINS: Well, I mean, in the -- in the -- if he said it in a vacuum of never doing anything else to be dismissive toward our troops and our military, then I would say you're probably right. But I would disagree with you. I think that it shows that many of the liberals just don't have an understanding of how there are people that have such commitment to this country that they would volunteer to defend the ways and the ideas of this nation.