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McCain Adds Fuel to the Fire

October 31, 2006 12:06 PM

An e-mail from McCain's political action committee quotes the Arizonan slamming his fellow Vietnam veteran.

“Senator Kerry owes an apology to the many thousands of Americans serving in Iraq, who answered their country's call because they are patriots and not because of any deficiencies in their education," McCain said in a statement.

The press release also indicates that McCain will be available for questions during an event with Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels at the Indiana Statehouse in Indianapolis at 1:15 p.m. EST.  ....Meaning the GOP is hoping to make this the political story of the day.

--jt

October 31, 2006 | Permalink | Share | User Comments (51)

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When any form of government in the U.S. becomes
destructive. Isn't the right of the people to alter or abolish it.He at this time is transporting large armies of mercenaries to complete the work of death,desolution,and, tyranny. Already begun with circumstance of cruelty.Paralleled in the most barbarous ages and
totally unworthy the head of a civilized Nation.

Posted by: K.C.L. | Nov 2, 2006 10:54:49 PM

Carolyn, I can only say that you are profoundly stupid to have gotten things so backwards. It is the republicans who are using the troops as pawns to achieve their objectives. It is they who started a war on false pretenses. And you accuse the democrats of treating the troops as pawns, but have nothing to say about the republican administration? It is people like you that allow the republicans to continue to be elected when their policies are only beneficial to the richest 1% of Americans. Are you one of those 1%?

Posted by: Aaron | Nov 2, 2006 1:37:28 AM

There is a very obvious trend that everone should clearly note, John Karey and the party he represents is totally opposed to supporting those who are willing to protect our freedom, our home land and all of the basic foundation for a thing that we call democarcy. To me it is an insult that the Democratic Party has the gall to use democarcy as the root word for the name of their party. When you look at the likes of Kary, Clinton, Rangle, Polosi and Gore, you have got to be kidding me that you would want these totally gutless individuals to influence the future of this country and the future of our children. Not one of these anti-American politicians, are smart enough to have the common sense to see beyond their own personal ideology and understand the needs of the American people. How sad is it to think these stand for nothing individuals are in our nations capitol.

Posted by: Gary Abner | Nov 1, 2006 7:40:04 PM

I do not care what Kerry thinks of the troops or himself. I only care that the office of president and vice president has been hijacked by cold blooded murderers of our troops and innocent Iraqis. The victory Bush and Cheney seek is the iraq oil fields. Make no mistake about it.

Posted by: Edfleck | Nov 1, 2006 4:19:54 PM

John Kerry is a disgrace to the US and to the military. Yes, he served and his followers call him a veteran of distinction but I call him a veteran of treachery and lies. He thinks he is better than anyone else, an elitest for sure. I just can't imagine what it would be like if this idiot would have won the election. You can say what you want about President Bush, and I know there are some that hate him worse than Bin Laden, and that is a shame, but at least President Bush has character, something that Kerry and most Democrats lack.
Whatever you think about the war and President Bush I am glad he is the Commander in Chief, I can't imagine a bumbling idiot, who can't control his mouth for the hatred of the military like Kerry, would be leading this country right now, but maybe we wouldn't even have a country now if he would have won the election.
President Bush has only one objective and that is to keep the American people safe and no matter what your political views are you can not deny that. After all the government was formed for the protection of the people and not for handouts. The war in Iraq is protecting us here or would you rather they be bombing your backyard or driving a plane into another skyscraper? It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure it out. If our brave young men and women were not over in Iraq fighting then you pacifists here in the states might have to be cowering in your homes thinking maybe you and your family would be next to be under attack. These muslims mean business and don't you think if our guard was left down they wouldn't step right in and take over this country. They have done it in France, Germany, and are trying to in Great Britain, but thank God Austrailia has put a stop to it and told them to leave if they couldn't live by their rules.
Get over the 2000 and 2004 elections. President Bush has done a fantastic job with defending us, protecting us, the economy, the deficit, and I could go on and on but when you only hear the leaning left sided media I can understand why you can't.

Posted by: Carolyn | Nov 1, 2006 12:26:30 PM

This morning I sent my husband of 10 years, and fathers to our two beautiful children, to Iraq. He is going proudly, as he always does. After he got out the door, I turned on ABC Good Morning America, as I always do, to hear the remarks that John Kerry said yesterday in regards to the military.

I feel his remarks are a reflection of how the Democrats really and truly see our military personnel . . . As pawns in a political game. Dumb, expendable tools to gain political points. I have never seen any sincere respect given to our military personnel from any Democrat.

It has also been my observation that the sentiments and feelings in regards to Democratic support are mutual among most troops who follow the orders of their officers and leaders - Democratic leaders only offer lip service. Not only in war time scenarios. During the eight years of Clinton the lack of military support was at an all time high. Downsizing, budget cuts ...yada . . . yada . . . We’ve all seen and heard the stories...

I realize that Kerry served our country long ago . . . he knows how it worked - how things were structured and how things used to operate. And maybe his remarks are derived from what he really thought of the people he served around and with during his time of service. After all he did protest the war back then too. I believe there are similar remarks on the books about the troops of the war of that decade as well?!

It is a different world and a different armed service. These men and women are not only brave. They are smart. They are technically, emotionally, spiritually, intellectually, physically challenged every day and still coming up with the latest and greatest in the defense techniques which defend our country. They fly, drive and operate the most mechanically engineered machines and pilot/charter the most advanced aircraft, aircraft carriers, tanks, and vehicles. They are protected by the best armor and shoot the best guns! And they are doing all of it with less. Only the best with what the budget will allow -Thanks Clinton!

Well, my husband just called to say his last goodbye before taking off (he is a pilot, flying the C-17 Globemaster out of Charleston AFB, SC) for Iraq. He was in a good mood as they only have two stops stateside before he heads on a 8.5 hours (looks like they will have a strong tailwind) flight to Germany then a “quick-turn,” 7.5 hour flight out of Germany to the dessert. He is hauling care packages for other deployed spouses so that slows him down a bit . . . but he is happy to do it. I packed him a lunch so he should make it ok . . . I hope the letters from his daughter and the scribbling from his son I put on the top of his lunch box don’t upset him as he knows he wont see them for until after the new year. One bachelor degree, two masters degrees, aircraft commander of two major airplanes later . . . always proud to serve.

Posted by: Natalie | Nov 1, 2006 9:46:46 AM

This child-like bickering election mess is such an embarrassment for our country. I believe, "freedom of speech" in our country is totally out of control.. and doing the country in. Our forefathers wanted to ensure our liberties, but I am also sure they had no idea how abusive our liberties would evolve. They, had no idea they needed to add, ... IN A RESPONSIBLE MANNER! But since the participants are all adults, should'nt that be a given? NOT today. So it needs to be spelled out now.

Too much TV, ( driven by the media ), has produced real life soup operas and sitcoms, with better writting, ( read tacky and irresponsible ), than any one writer cold dream up themselves.

The WORLD outside our boarders is laughing at the rediculous shananigans going on in our country. The total lack of respect for America, our President, our troops, our poor, each other.. even the alien workers, all within our OWN BOARDERS!! It is abosolutely sickening. HOW can we expect to keep, or let alone gain back, any worldly respect, when we cannot even muster ANY, for our leaders, and representatives WE put in office, nor, each other. It is astounding. I dont want to hear any, "I didnt vote for'em crap either, I am talking about the system as a whole! ).

PEOPLE, get the BIG picture.. WAKE UP! the anti American "everyones" fighting us on the ground for whomevers for whatever reasons, are gaining ground against us, NOT by what we are doing over there, so much as by WHAT a fiasco we are displaying over here! No unity, yes our President has made HUGE mistakes, he was confronted with uncharted terrain, in a world where FAIR tactics no LONGER exist and rules are no longer even followed. No one else has had to deal with what he has faced, ever. So yeah, POOR decisions were made, some based on lies, lives are being lost, it sucks. BIG TIME.

BUT if we dont get our responsibilities AND PRIORITIES in order, and stand behind our military, ( even IF while biting our tongues ), and show SOME sort of coherent backing of OUR beloved country's actions, regardless of personal feelings, we will be sunk, mark my words. We change up, and pull out, and run with our tail between our legs, we might as well open the boarders wide too, because they, ( meaning destroyers of whomever from wherever ), will be here, like it or not. ( franky, it appears WE ARE , our own destroyers! at this point just look at what is highest rated on TV! Reality- blablabla.. thanks media! ).

We have NO self discipline, or respect for athority in our schools, thanks to, in my opinion, the media, and video games, and television, and who are the role models responsible? Our Government of elected officials and the media? IF THEY were not before, They ARE NOW, for THEY, have no self discipline either, but even worse, no self respect, PROVEN by what is reflected in what they say ABOUT EACH OTHER. Our congress is like an out of control kindergarten class.. and our lovely media, puts it on the air for all the world to see... AND THE WORLD IS HAVING THE LAST LAUGH. We seem so dense as to not even notice, we are so wraped up in the laughable chaos of our on making.

EXPRESS and USE our liberties in a RESPONSIBLE RESPECTFUL MANNER, and the world will respect us. Radio hosts to news casters, to congressmen to, our glamorous movie stars... show some decency, and respect for crying out loud. If you have nothing good to say... SHUT IT UP, and THINK of the all consequences and ramifications what you say may have on the world stage both positive and negative BEFORE SAYING IT. THEN, try to find something worthy and meaningful to say..for the better for ALL!! Quit BASHING each other.. otherwise, the joke is on us ALL, AS A COUNTRY, collectively, regardless of the outcome.

WE ARE NOT THE JUDGE of who is doing right or who is doing wrong. Giving an opinion is wonderful, when done resposibly, not acting as if you are some kind of diety. NO ONE, appointed YOU, or any of us as "the judge" of life. Have faith in that, and to those of you who say you have no faith, well DUH!!! you have to have FAITH in the fact that you dont!, so you DO have faith in something.

Now start showing respect for your fellow MEN.. and WOMEN..
and ACT DECENTLY, with some HUMILITY... and try to grasp what this country REALLY IS ALL ABOUT, before we lose it all.

Now FORGIVE, quit the blame game, as Americans, by default or whatever, we are ALL RESPONSIBLE for our collecive actions, so behave and act like mature adults. WE CAN change the situation in a RESPONSIBLE MANNER WITH DIGNITY, and SELF RESPECT.. not like some comic sitcom for the world to enjoy at our expense, as we have been..

ALL OF YOU, from the President to the News Media, the stars, the Radio hosts, even to the migrant workers... for YOU TOO, chose to be here, and everyone in between, even terrorists that may be within our boarders, did I miss anyone? NOW... Take a deep breath.. relax, let it out.. AHH GOOD... now TREAT EACH OTHER, THEY WAY YOU WOULD WANT TO BE TREATED, ****UNDER A N Y CIRCUMSTANCE...**** at least TRY!
and watch the magic happen... it is THE ONLY WAY any sense of PEACE is going to happen, so DO IT!

Now ISRAEL, pay CLOSE ATTENTION!! ISRAEL, HELLO.. KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK!! GIVE THE OCCUPIED TERRITORIES BACK LIKE THE U.N. RESOLUTION TOLD YOU TOO 30 YEARS AGO if YOU want ANY respect on the world stage, and BEFORE, you expect ANY OTHER COUNTRY to HONOR THEIR U.N. RESOLUTIONS! ***DO IT YOURSELF****
And SHAME on the US, for not demanding they do the same, and even MORE shame for BACKING their FARCE! (for whatever reasoning!! it WONT WORK!! )
This whole mess could actually end soon, if you resolve the reason for it all beginning in the first place. duh!

now.. PAY ATTENTION each and every one of you, AND DO WHATS RIGHT FOR THE BETTER FOR ALL INVOLVED, NOT JUST for YOUR SELFISH SELF!

Think BIGGER, for the worlds existance depends on it now.

thank you for reading

now GET WELL AMERICA one person at a time, at once.

with love, BECAUSE DESPITE IT ALL, I STILL..

love YOU America, and it is with my deepest love.. this was written.

tom

ps.. hey Sheehan, howeveryouspellit.. so now your gonna make millions off your book eh? What say donate ALL THAT moola to an education fund for all the kids, of daddies and mommies lost in this ugly war... to honor the life of your son? OR, if you already have, and i dont know about it, i am happy for you.. for it will make up for your, in my opinion, disrespectful actions too. Its not that I disagree with you, I disagree with the total lack of respect your method shows towards our servicemen, our country as a whole really, to try and make your point. All the tax dollars being used on your behave for your protection too. ( not speaking of the war either, crowd control? guards? in our courts? ). For me, your actions are an embarrassment as an American in the world. Our liberty of "free speech', abused through lies, by our President it appears, and abused by your irresponsible actions which harm our troops in ways not realized or measurable, but, in my opinion, puts you equal to him in misdeed, if that is really what it can be called. No wonder those fighting our troops appear to be winning. The louder we yell it is a stupid war bring them home, the louder they will kill us, until we do. Try the flipside for a while.. it may work..

And finally, Mr. Kerry and those ascribing to your "opinions", you all are the definition of irresposible "free speech". AND IF YOU CANNOT SAY WHAT YOU REALLY MEAN BY NOW, the FIRST TIME OUT OF YOUR MOUTH, May I suggest a new line of work, before you wind up stripping America of what little respect it has left world wide. If I spoke out in kindergarten,with the disrespect you do freely on a regular basis, I would be in a corner with a dunce cap on. YOU SHOULD BE TOO, IN A HALLWAY IN CONGRESS! Thank the universe, you guys dont wear wigs like the Brits do! Or the US Congress would be Monty Pythons Flying Circus. well actually... oh.. ok ill stop.

Posted by: tom | Nov 1, 2006 12:29:57 AM

As a ex Marine & a Democrat Kerry needs to apologize to Veterans. The Democrats were doing soo good recently & Kerry had to screw it up by offending all who served by calling us uneducated. He needs to go back in his hole & keep his mouth shut! Because of my service I have been able to give a college education to my three children. He insulted me for being a Marine!

Posted by: Patrick Shea | Nov 1, 2006 12:25:36 AM

Kerry should apologize to all the troops past and present but we should not hold our breath. Kerry is not a true patriot of this United Stated, not with his vile attitude towards our brave and noble troops. John Kerry branded the Vietnam troops as war criminals and by doing that, he handed the enemy all the validation they needed to torture and execute the captured soldiers. He actually was a great press agent for the spread of his anti-American propaganda by stating the soldiers were baby killers, rapists, torturers and murders of the defenseless South Vietnamese civilians. That gave the Viet Cong the logic that they could do anything to our soldiers. He portrayed the American soldiers as barbaric! He slandered an entire generation of soldiers who fought in Vietnam; he continues to do the same to our brave men and women in Iraq. He was able to dupe the American people in the 70’s, which propelled his public career. The American people are too smart to fall for his dishonesty twice. Kerry should apologize to the troops. Without them, he would be hiding in a closet praying some soldier will save him!

Posted by: Rafaela | Oct 31, 2006 11:51:39 PM

OK, I get it.

john Kerry was FOR the military BEFORE he was AGAINST them?

Well, we all know how well THOSE type of misunderstandings work out for John Kerry.

All the GOP needs to do is hammer home in every Republican candidates' commercials over the next 7 days is a screen shot of John Kerry insulting the troops.

Thank GOD this man lost the Presidential election.

No longer will democrats be able to hide their disdain of our military with the help of the liberal-loving media. John Kerry just keeps outing them!!!

Karl Rove should be sending Kerry a thank-you card tomorrow.

Posted by: Cindy | Oct 31, 2006 11:45:44 PM

Let's just think - what would the response be if Bush or a Republican had said this... What would the media be doing now? What would Kerry say? The point is even if (and a big IF here) he did misspeak, he still owes the troops an apology - that's just common courtesy, to say "oh, I told a botched joke, I'm sorry, I was wrong." But will he do that? Nope.

Posted by: Dave | Oct 31, 2006 10:41:13 PM

And this whole thing has exactly what to relationship to the election? If the battle in the last few days is "who like the troops best" then both parties are going for the moron vote. Intelligent or even just moderately aware voters have already made their choices; only the dregs remain undecided.

Sorry if that's "elitist" but let's face it, some people are just dumb.

Posted by: Ron Simmons | Oct 31, 2006 10:23:31 PM

Words are what they are- you can't take them back. in addition kerry's comments play right into the conventional wisdom that liberals have a deep seated disdain for the military and in fact have a distrust for it. ( Remember 2000 and the attempts to stop military ballots???)

Posted by: peter | Oct 31, 2006 10:12:34 PM

Who cares about John Kerry? He's 2 years ago's news. He's will forever be remembered as just a failed presidental cantidate. He should just fade away like Bob Dole or Fritz Mondale.

Posted by: Rick | Oct 31, 2006 9:27:42 PM

Sen. Kerry's claims that he did not intend to defame the members of our armed forces would be more believable if he did not have a history of defaming our troops. For example, in his infamous 1971 speech before Congress Sen. Kerry falsely claimed that most Vietnam veterans were war criminals:

"... not isolated incidents but crimes committed on a day-to-day basis with the full awareness of officers at all levels of command....

...they had personally raped, cut off ears, cut off heads, taped wires from portable telephones to human genitals and turned up the power, cut off limbs, blown up bodies, randomly shot at civilians, razed villages in fashion reminiscent of Genghis Khan, shot cattle and dogs for fun, poisoned food stocks, and generally ravaged the countryside of South Vietnam in addition to the normal ravage of war, and the normal and very particular ravaging which is done by the applied bombing power of this country."

See http://www.richmond.edu/~ebolt/history398/JohnKerryTestimony.html

Also, it is ironic that Sen. Kerry would now claim that he was attempting to mock Pres. Bush's poor school performance when, according to the Boston Globe, Sen. Kerry earned a lower grade average at Yale than Pres. Bush.

See http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2005/06/07/yale_grades_portray_kerry_as_a_lackluster_student/

Sen. Kerry should admit he was wrong and apologize for his recent and past comments maligning our Armed Forces.

Democrat candidates should make it clear that they beleive that members of our Armed Forces in Iraq are performing an honorable and noble mission and that all Americans are grateful for their service and sacrifice.


Posted by: Navy veteran | Oct 31, 2006 8:42:38 PM

So let's assume Kerry really did botch a joke on Bush...did not Bush average a C at Yale, where Kerry only had a C- at Yale? Who's the dummy?

Posted by: doug | Oct 31, 2006 8:40:46 PM

Would someone in the Democratic party PUHLEEZE tell Kerry to SHUT UP - in 1 day with one of his typically stuped verbal blunders he is undoing months of work by people who are trying to change our course to a better path for everyone. This man is out of control. Pelozi - please - put a muzzle on him.

Posted by: allen | Oct 31, 2006 8:25:25 PM

What a spin on John Kerry, read the transcripts and you see John Kerry was talking about Bush's stupidity it had nothing to do about the soldiers. But what do we expect from the spinners,they are so desperate to keep power they need anything to distract. Shame on you Republicians using our troops for your win.

Posted by: Joe Kelly | Oct 31, 2006 7:49:11 PM

He is a disgrace. A man who got his butt kicked by "an uneducated" hick, now is reduced to pyscho-babble. Of course, he was not talking ablut Bush at the time...People can make up all the rationales in the world for him. We know what he stands for, what he means and in the end, he is a nobody within his own party.....

Posted by: Jose | Oct 31, 2006 7:30:15 PM

That's one surprising October surprise.

Posted by: Michael Benedict | Oct 31, 2006 7:07:29 PM

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