November 1, 2006
One week before the 2006 midterm elections the silly season has begun. One would think that President George W. Bush and his 2004 Democratic opponent Senator John Kerry were on the ballot. You can look all you want but you won’t find either of their names on any ballot next week.
But, with races getting closer around the country every day, candidates and their supporters are looking for anything that might give them an edge over their opponent and put them across the finish line as the winner in their respective House or Senate race.
Enter, Massachusetts Senator John Kerry who botched a joke at a university when he said, “You know, education - if you make the most of it, you study hard and 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.”
The remarks couldn’t have come at a worse time for Kerry and the Democratic Party. Kerry has been very active and speaking out forcefully against the war in Iraq lately and looking like a serious contender for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination and the Democrats appear poised for a takeover of the House of Representatives and quite likely a takeover of the Senate. The Democratic candidates for office have been speaking out against the Administration’s handling of the Iraq War and their focus has been very clear with polls indicating a backlash against the president and his Iraq policy.
Now, the Massachusetts senator changes the focus of the campaigns because of his “mangled in delivery” remarks which were supposed to be a slap against the president and not the troops serving in Iraq.
But, Republican candidates including Kerry’s senate colleague John McCain are calling for an apology from the 2004 Democratic presidential candidate. So far, Kerry has not offered an apology but has increased his outspoken rhetoric against the Bush Administration for its policies in Iraq.
I interviewed Senator Kerry on September 28th after he spoke at the opening of our new Center on Politics and Foreign Relations at Johns Hopkins SAIS in Washington, D.C.
In our more than thirty-minute interview he was very vigorous in his anger at the Bush Administration for how they were conducting not only the war in Iraq but the war in Afghanistan. The senator, in our interview, however was very supportive of U.S. troops serving in both conflicts and said they deserve the support of all Americans.
I take Kerry at his word that his remarks were “botched” or “mangled in delivery” but I also think he should let it go and give an apology today. Let the issue die down. It is a distraction from all of the other important issues in the midterm races.
It is silly to think that Kerry, a soldier who served in the Vietnam War, would really be disparaging to U.S. troops serving in combat today. But, his remarks sound like an elitist view of the U.S. armed forces, so the sooner he apologizes the better it will be.
President Bush took full advantage of Kerry’s remarks when he stated, “The senator’s suggestion that the men and women of our military are somehow uneducated is insulting and shameful. The men and women who serve in our all-volunteer armed forces are plenty smart and are serving because they are patriots.”
Kerry, more angry than he ever appeared on the campaign trail in 2004, stated, “I’m not going to be lectured by a stuffed-suit White House mouthpiece standing behind a podium, or doughy Rush Limbaugh, who no doubt today will take a break from belittling Michael J. Fox’s Parkinson’s disease to start lying about me just as they have lied about Iraq.”
The senator also went on to denounce “Republican hacks who have never worn the uniform of the country.”
Typical of politicians in the midst of tight races for both parties, Democrats are now canceling their invitations for the Massachusetts senator to speak on their behalf today and most likely from now through Election Day.
Kerry should apologize immediately and let the issue disappear. I agree with the senator’s friend former Senator Max Cleland, who defended the 2004 presidential candidates’ patriotism. Cleland, a wounded Vietnam veteran, remarked, “John Kerry is a patriot who has fought tooth and nail for veterans ever since he came home from Vietnam. He has stood with his brothers in arms unlike this administration, which exploits our troops to make a political point and divide America.”
Of course Kerry supports the troops. And, every candidate running for office today supports our troops. Candidates may disagree with the current policies of the Bush Administration in Iraq but no one seriously feels our troops are not being supported by our politicians.
It would be too much to expect that the GOP won’t use the senator’s unfortunate “botched joke” remarks to help their candidates in the final week of campaigning. But, it would greatly add to Kerry’s stature to immediately apologize and let the campaigns get back to the serious issues of Iraq, Afghanistan, the economy, North Korea and a host of local and state issues.
Kerry should continue his vigorous and critical remarks about the president’s policies in Iraq and Afghanistan. He shouldn’t try and replay the 2004 presidential election. Instead he should continue helping his party in its attempts to capture the House and Senate next week.
Senator, apologize and move on.
Robert J. Guttman
Founder and Director, CPFR
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