Why did Kerry call the soldiers dumb?

Question

We all heard him say it so there is no way to deny it. Why did he call soldiers dumb when he was one once? Democrats are always bragging that he got a purple heart. Why did he call himself dumb? I am even happier that this guy isn't our president after that speech.

Answer 1

funny but as per his usual reaction to saying something stupid he of course flip-flopped and said what he meant to say was bush was stupid and uneducated (didn't bush go to Yale and actually got better grades than Kerry !) i guess with Kerry and Edwards we have to be mind readers too and guess at what they might mean...scary thought to have to get inside those two brains.

Answer 2

I don't think that he did mean it that way, he was probably trying to make a joke at the presidents expense and it went wrong. BUT, he didn't say look at President Bush at the end. He just made it look as though he bashed the troops. It really doesn't matter if you don't finish school that you end up in the Military(look at Kerry, who people say got lower grades than Bush and look where he ended up. MILITARY!, he must think that he's living proof) it doesn't matter what he TRIED to say. The fact is that he said it and that one of the most respected politicians(even though he's a republican, democrats respect this guy) John McCain said that Kerry should apologize. Yeah, he tried to make a joke, and now he should have just apologized and not done damage control at this point, bashing everybody who misquoted him(even though, you can clearly see it on video) So, since you won't hear a sincere apology out of him, I'll do it for him. I'm sorry. I won't say another word about it. Especially when I'm trying to win points with my party for a 2008 election by helping them get control of congress back

Answer 3

He really didn't say the soldiers were dumb but was trying to make a really stupid joke.
Goes to show that He must not have studied hard himself.
which is why.
His grades were worse than GW.
He had to write his own recommendation for a medal.
He voted against Iraq before he voted For Iraq.
He couldn't get elected to the Presidency.

Sounds pretty stupid of him to go to all this trouble of opening his mouth and sticking his foot in it.

By the way. the percentage of people in the Military who have high school diplomas or higher education is considerably higher than in the general population, so it isn't true that only uneducated people end up in the military.
People are stupid who believe that because they think themselves better than military folk. How Elitist to think so.
Most Democrats are the elitists. They think that Blacks and Hispanics are dumb and cannot get ahead without Government help.
Of course this isn't true, Many Blacks and Hispanics are Middle Class (as is my best friend) and worked hard to get educated and or start their own businesses, but democrats think that those are anomalies.

Answer 4

Why are we all arguing about a politician who isn't even running for office right now?

secondly he did not call soldiers dumb. He said that people who do not try hard at school and don't go to college wind up in the military. This has been true for ages. Take a look at the demographics about this and you will see he is speaking the truth. Vietnam is a good example to get everyone started with.

I would rather have our soldiers alive and being called "dumb" than dying for a needless cause any day of the week wouldn't you?

DUMB OR DEATH!!? COME ON PEOPLE THINK!!

Answer 5

I think it's stupid that the first people to tell everyone else how to feel about statements concerning the poor and under-educated are all rich and have masters degrees. I'm tired of leaping out of the water and biting whatever bait CNN throws at me.

Would you like to know what's even more insulting than words? When they come back from Iraq, the number of soldiers approved for disability will decrease by over one-in-ten, because nobody with a concluded rating of 10% or less will qualify for VA care any longer.

If a paraplegic returns from Iraq and applies for VA, we will likely be given a rating of 50%, because he is still fit for desk work. He will receive less than 800 a month, and will only be covered under VA care directly concerning his lost legs. A typical Purple Heart recipient receives a grand total of 20% or 30%.

My husband is a 100% service connected disabled Navy Veteran, and if he had money when he graduated, he wouldn't have contracted the 18th year of his life out at the end of the first Iraqi theater of operations. Make sure you address your thumbs down to my husband's local VA billing rep, so he can queue them into his monthly prescription regimen.

Answer 6

The problem is He said what He said, it was recorded and it looks as if He is calling the Soldiers dumb. It makes him seem elitist, especially since He was saying it at a college. Did He mean it? Absolutely not, but damage has been done. No one is going to listen to the three page reply he has made as all we get on TV news is two sentence reply. This is same mistake He made when running for President, going in complete detail instead of giving news bytes. He has probably helped Harold Ford loose TN due to His remarks as many people are identifying all Democrats to His speech. He has also hurt all Democrats running in the South and border states, many of them have tried to distance themselves with His very liberal views but this will hurt them BAD. The irony of the whole thing is He did fight in Vietnam, He did get purple heart, He has helped get benefits for all Veterans, He does support giving the troops the funds for the materials they need to fight and Bush has put us in a war with no plan of withdrawal, cut veterans benefits, and for months our troops did not have the armored vehicles or even the bulletproof vest for all of them. Politics is weird..

Answer 7

Wow, I think we are up to at leasst ten repeats on this question. Thus far none of you have read his full comments, or, if you have read them, understood them. It was a convoluted and rather pitiful attempt to point out that if you do not really study history you will repeat it's mistakes the way President Bush has done in Iraq. He was not calling the troops dumb, he was calling President Bush stupid for the way he has handled Iraq. It was a pitiful attempt but you guys have twisted it all out of proportion. Just as the administration has. Luckily, whether you like Kerry or not, it has moved the focus back to Iraq. That can never be a good thing for this administration.

And folks, if the best you can do is quote Drudge, O'Reilly or Limbaugh well, then you are in a really sad spot.

Answer 8

Because Kerry loathes the U.S. Military . He proved that in Viet Nam when he helped the enemy back then . I suspect Kerry was trying to give aid & comfort to the enemy again now -hoping to somehow sock it to the White house because he's not in it .

Answer 9

Because he, as well as his elitist friends truly look down on those of us who were in the military.
He is trying to play it off like he was trying to make fun of the President, but funny thing is, George Bush got better grades than Kerry did.
We all know what he really meant, though. "Wes just didn't have the samrts to git ourself a real ed-ju-cay-shun"

Answer 10

So far...

He accused Soldiers of being 'Terrorists'

He disgraced the service by desicrating medals

He betrayed his fellow Soldiers by lying under oath in 77

He voted no for more body armor for the soldiers and on 99% of every military related agenda

Wrote his own purple heart

Called Soldiers stupid

And much more. And there are still people DEFENDING this guy. How blind can people get?