US Troops Appear Much Smarter Than Kerry

In vintage (John) Kerry (D-MA) arrogance, the Senator told an audience "You know, education, if you make the most of it, if you study hard and 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.” The natural response to that by me was "ouch." Surely the Senator will own the inappropriateness of the remarks and distance himself. After all, we can all think of individuals whom we know who are well educated and successful and decided to risk it all for their country. The most classic example is Pat Tillman, who was a successful safety for the Arizona Cardinals with a multi-year contract worth millions and who graduated with a 3.8 GPA in three and a half years from Arizona State University with a business degree. Hmm, financially successful, very smart, and a volunter who gave it all for his country. I'm sure his family, friends, and former teammates appreciate that. I personally know of college educated individuals who chose to volunteer to fight for their country when they had plenty of other options.

Kerry was immediately taken to task by the media and the Republican party. I'm sure the rest of us who would make such a stupid remark would quickly apologize. Instead, Kerry has decided to defend his behavior and now describes his remarks as a "botched joke." The "uneducated ones" wasn't the soldiers, he now explains, but the Bush administration who got us "in this situation." I remind the Senator that the President, who is the butt of many jokes because of his unique language, did graduate from Yale and went on to get an Harvard MBA. Also, Bush actually made better grades than Kerry during his college years. Furthermore, it is clear by what he said about the troops that all of our collective interpretation is exactly what he meant. This argument that those who serve in wars are not smart is as old as military history itself. This was the mantra of critics during the Vietnam War and he was one of the leaders in that anti-war effort. And wasn't true then and it isn't true now. Furthermore, those who fought now are actual volunteers, which wasn't always the case during the Vietnam war. This makes his remarks all the more hurtful, in my opinion.

Senator Kerry has been caught, red handed, taking a position that he desperately needed to apologize for and distance himself. Instead he moves from a shovel to using heavy equipment in his effort to destroy his political future. I feel confident that any and all of our troops are smarter then that.