But He Supports the Troops!
Ubiquitous
Virginia Democrat and Barack Obama supporter, about John McCain. As the
Charleston Gazette reports:
Rockefeller believes McCain has become insensitive to many
human issues. "McCain was a fighter pilot, who dropped laser-guided
missiles from 35,000 feet. He was long gone when they hit.
"What happened when they [the missiles] get to the ground?
He doesn't know. You have to care about the lives of people.
McCain never gets into those issues."
Apparently Rocky was wrong--McCain was captured in 1967, before laser-guided
weapons were used in Vietnam. In any case, McCain complained and Rockefeller
apologized, as Fox News reports:
Rockefeller . . . personally apologized to McCain on the
Senate floor for suggesting to a West Virginia newspaper
that the Arizona senator does not care about "the lives
of people" caught in the wars he champions, dating back
to his Navy service in Vietnam. . . .
But McCain advisers told FOX News Tuesday that they see a
trend in Obama not personally addressing these comments,
and that it conflicts with his message of bringing a new
kind of politics to Washington.
"Why does Sen. Obama refuse to personally condemn this type
of despicable attack? Sen. Obama has run for president on
the basis that he represents a new kind of politics, yet
every day there is another smear that Obama refuses to
repudiate," McCain spokesman Tucker Bonds said in a written
statement.
It strikes us that both McCain's complaint and Rockefeller's apology miss the
point. What was appalling about Rockefeller's comment was not the slight
against McCain, but the underlying assumption that someone who serves his
country in war is acting in an "insensitive" or ignoble way.
It's reminiscent of John Kerry--not the "war hero" of 2004, but the antiwar
activist of 1971, who slandered his fellow veterans as war criminals. "We
support the troops" has become a mantra of those who oppose their mission, but
gaffes like Rockefeller's lead one to doubt that they really do.
--
"You know, education--if you make the most of it, you study hard, you
do your homework, and you make an effort to be smart, uh, you can do
well. If you don't, you get stuck in Iraq."
Ubiquitous
remark he made a month ago at a writers symposium for high school students,"
the Associated Press reports from Bangor, Maine:
''I don't want to sound like an ad, a public service ad on
TV, but the fact is if you can read, you can walk into a job
later on. If you don't, then you've got the Army, Iraq, I
don't know, something like that. It's not as bright,'' King
said at the April 4 event in which he was accompanied by his
wife Tabitha and son Owen.
Blogger Noel Sheppard likened the comment to former Democratic
presidential candidate John Kerry's remarks that if you don't
get a good education, ''you get stuck in Iraq.''
''Nice sentiment when the nation is at war, Stephen,'' Sheppard
wrote.
King fired back Monday.
''That a right-wing-blog would impugn my patriotism because
I said children should learn to read, and could get better
jobs by doing so, is beneath contempt,'' he said in a statement
posted on his Web site.
King said he supports the troops . . .
Did you hear that, he supports the troops! That means if he called them
stupid, he must have a good excuse. If he doesn't, we have one for him: It's
John Kerry's fault.
Most people don't remember this, but when the haughty, French-looking
Massachusetts Democrat ran for president in the early part of this century, he
tried to present himself as an intellectual, a man of depth and nuance. Toward
that end, he mentioned at every opportunity that he had served in Vietnam.
Back in those days, that was understood as a sign of intellect and refinement.
But it turned out that Kerry was--how do we put this kindly?--not actually the
sharpest knife in the block. In the Vietnam era, the military's standards were
lower than they are today, which means that someone like Kerry was able to get
in. So identified is he with military service in the public mind that even
someone as prominent as Stephen King now accepts the stereotype that
servicemen are dumb--and he _supports_ the troops!
Nice job, Kerry.
Ubiquitous
he supports the troops, the Boston Globe reports:
A large military spending bill moving through Congress
contains a little-noticed outlay for Boston that has
nothing to do with national defense: $20 million for an
educational institute honoring late Senator Edward M.
Kennedy of Massachusetts.
The earmark, tucked into the defense bill at the request
of Senator John F. Kerry of Massachusetts, requires US
taxpayers to help the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the
United States Senate realize its goal of building a
repository for Kennedy's papers and an accompanying civic
learning center on the University of Massachusetts at Boston
campus in Dorchester, next to the John F. Kennedy Library
and Museum.
The item is drawing fire from fiscal watchdog groups, who
assert that military funds should not be raided to pay for
an institution that has nothing to do with improving military
readiness. . . .
Kerry strongly defended the insertion of the $20 million
earmark yesterday. He requested that it be included in
the $360 billion defense budget, he said, to recognize
Kennedy's long tenure on the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Not to mention his keeping America safe from the threat of Mary Jo Kopechne.