would someone please tell me why do ppl think kerry should apologize to bush and the troops? what did he say ?

Question

i havent been home for awhile only caught the end of it on tv. just would really kike to know what kerry said? thanxs

Answer 1

he basically said that if you're a loser or dumbass, you "end up in iraq." how's that for a slam against all our soldiers over there?

Answer 2

If you watch the whole video, and not just the one sentence, then you'll know Kerry was referring to Bush and not the troops. Any intelligent person knows he was talking about Bush. Why would a veteran like John Kerry who has been advocating for veterans rights all his political career talk smack about the troops?

But then of course, the right is trying to capitalize on this, trying to make a John Kerry the traitor, when Kerry actually is a veteran, and Bush is not.

The funny thing is Bush reacted on this issue as soon as possible than when he did during the Katrina situation.

Answer 3

Kerry tried to call Bush stupid but bungled the line. It is really obvious what he was trying to say. But the bushies jumped on it to criticize Kerry. Pro bushies think its great, the rest of us see it as pathetic.

Answer 4

Bottom line he called our soldiers rapist and baby killers in the 70"s in front of congress he stated that our soldiers are killing and raping Iraqi civilians in the dead of night that was recent, this man has a history of denigrating the arm forces so those people that are saying he mess up a joke are full of it, facts are facts.

Answer 5

he said that if you are not smart enough to stay in school and go to college then you end up in Iraq - meaning all of us soldiers are stupid. I resent that fact since I am an enlisted member of the Armed Forces and I have a Bachelors Degree in Aeronautical Engineering. He should apologize, then put his head between his legs and kiss his own butt.

Answer 6

The senator, in essence, called Mr. Bush stupid.

The context was unmistakable: Texas; the state of denial; stuck in Iraq. No interpretation required.

And Mr. Bush and his minions responded by appearing to be too stupid to realize that they had been called stupid.

They demanded Kerry apologize to the troops in Iraq.

And so he now has.

That phrase — “appearing to be too stupid” — is used deliberately, Mr. Bush.

Because there are only three possibilities here.

One, sir, is that you are far more stupid than the worst of your critics have suggested; that you could not follow the construction of a simple sentence; that you could not recognize your own life story when it was deftly summarized; that you could not perceive it was the sad ledger of your presidency that was being recounted.

This, of course, compliments you, Mr. Bush, because even those who do not “make the most of it,” who do not “study hard,” who do not “do their homework,” and who do not “make an effort to be smart” might still just be stupid, but honest.

No, the first option, sir, is, at best, improbable. You are not honest.

The second option is that you and those who work for you deliberately twisted what Sen. Kerry said to fit your political template; that you decided to take advantage of it, to once again pretend that the attacks, solely about your own incompetence, were in fact attacks on the troops or even on the nation itself.

The third possibility is, obviously, the nightmare scenario: that the first two options are in some way conflated.

That it is both politically convenient for you and personally satisfying to you, to confuse yourself with the country for which, sir, you work.

A brief reminder, Mr. Bush: You are not the United States of America.

You are merely a politician whose entire legacy will have been a willingness to make anything political; to have, in this case, refused to acknowledge that the insult wasn’t about the troops, and that the insult was not even truly about you either, that the insult, in fact, is you.

So now John Kerry has apologized to the troops; apologized for the Republicans’ deliberate distortions.

Thus, the president will now begin the apologies he owes our troops, right?

This president must apologize to the troops for having suggested, six weeks ago, that the chaos in Iraq, the death and the carnage, the slaughtered Iraqi civilians and the dead American service personnel, will, to history, “look like just a comma.”

This president must apologize to the troops because the intelligence he claims led us into Iraq proved to be undeniably and irredeemably wrong.

This president must apologize to the troops for having laughed about the failure of that intelligence at a banquet while our troops were in harm’s way.


This president must apologize to the troops because the streets of Iraq were not strewn with flowers and its residents did not greet them as liberators.

This president must apologize to the troops because his administration ran out of “plan” after barely two months.

This president must apologize to the troops for getting 2,815 of them killed.

This president must apologize to the troops for getting this country into a war without a clue.

And Mr. Bush owes us an apology for this destructive and omnivorous presidency.

We will not receive them, of course.

This president never apologizes.

Not to the troops.

Not to the people.

Nor will those henchmen who have echoed him.

Answer 7

I think what it was is he went to a high school to speak to the students and told them if they don't do their homework and study they could end up stuck in Iraq

Answer 8

The first answerer is correct - Kerry called Bush stupid and the far right is trying to make it look like he called the troops stupid. The first answerer should have given credit to Keith Olbermann for his answer. You can watch Olbermann's full comment here:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15519404/

If you listen to the "botched joke" in context it's obvious that he was talking about Bush, not our troops.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kkk1FtqML-8

Answer 9

"you study hard, you do your homework and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well. And if you don't, you get stuck in Iraq."

That is an exact quote

Answer 10

Man. Olbermann is right on. Scathing. Bush's ears had to be burning when this aired.

Answer 11

He apologized, but who gives a crap. He's only apologizing because his "joke" didn't go off. He didn't apologize because he felt any remorse.