Commentary

Kerry the clown

Poor John Kerry, or should I spell it “Jon Carry”, as the banner painted by
our mentally challenged troops in Iraq reads, he just loves the taste of his
silver-plated loafers.

The NY Post had a field day with Kerry’s latest blunder. A photo of the
Minnesota National Guard unit’s response to the senator’s bungled joke was
plastered on the front page of Murdoch’s rightwing rag.

Neither the Pentagon, nor the Minnesota National Guard would comment on
the photo, which may lead some who are conspiratorially inclined to ponder
whether the grand wizard, Karl Rove, was behind it. My advice to Democrats
is to deal with the fire that is already raging. To suggest that these troops were
stooges of the all powerful Republican machine would only add napalm to the
flames.

I saw many replays of the standup comedian/senator’s joke on one of the 24
hour hardly-news channels, and I must agree with the paranoid nationalists at
the Post: to the casual observer, this was an insult to those serving in Iraq.

This is the greatest gift to those who least deserve it. Kerry’s idiotic comment
adds unwanted weight to the notion held by many red state inhabitants that the
Democratic party is led by elitist, wind surfing snobs. The Republicans can
now shift the focus to the horrors inherent in a Congress led by liberal elites.
They have been driving home the notion that Democrats will leave you less
secure, with higher tax bills, and to top it all off, at the mercy of the secretive,
yet all-powerful, national gay agenda.

Kerry’s initial inept “tough guy” response only made matters worse. When
he finally did issue an apologize- on his web site, it didn’t seem all that sincere.
He mentioned that he was sorry that his remarks were misinterpreted. I guess if
the troops weren’t so dense, they would have understood his brand of lame-ass
humor.

It is actually a falsehood that US troops serving in Iraq are those scraped from
the of society’s barrel. According to the Heritage Foundation- yes I know it is
a conservative think tank, in the years 2003-05, 96.7 percent of enlistees were
high school graduates, compared with 80 percent for the population as a whole.

My point in bringing this up is not to add weight to arguments made by the
Republican noise machine, but to point out that many Democratic members of
congress are really quite clueless as to the characteristics of the population that
resides in the belly of the nation.

The only Democrats who responded forcefully were those running in states that
are more red than blue. Senatorial candidates Harold Ford(Tennessee), and Jon
Tester(Montana), immediately denounced Kerry’s remarks and demanded an
apology.

Due to the slow and bumbling response to an idiotic statement, John Kerry has
allowed the Republicans to shift the focus away from this administration’s
criminally incompetent handling of the war in Iraq. The one issue that American’s
are united on may slip away from the Democrat’s control at the worst possible
moment.

The Republicans have played the fear card to rally their base, cynically contriving
irrelevant issues in order to divide the population and drive the faithful to the polls.
All of this casts a convenient veil over their actual policy decisions, which are
inflicting real damage on America’s ability to defend itself, and saddling future
generations with crippling levels of debt.

The bright spot lies in the wake-up call that this incident offers. It is time for
Democrats to reach out to everyone with a message that is centered on optimism
and grounded in sound policy.

Greg Strid

© 2006 Splendid Marbles.