Three Way News: John Kerry: I'd rather he give my daughters Bratz

Tuesday, October 31, 2006

John Kerry: I'd rather he give my daughters Bratz

In terms of gifts, John Kerry didn't do anyone any favors with this comment:

You know, education, if you make the most of it, if you study hard and do your homework, and make an effort to be smart, uh, you can do well. If you don't, you get stuck in Iraq.

...See, in this joke, Bush is the one who didn't study hard, do his homework, and make an effort to be smart. Instead, he got stuck in Iraq.

I'm not a professional comedian, but it seems like the joke might have had a chance to work if he would have been a bit more specific. For example, "...If you don't, if you're elected President, you'll get the country struck in Iraq."

Eh. It's still not funny.

While the winds howl over this one for the remainder of the campaign, I think TA Frank gets it just about right:

Let’s turn to Kerry’s original comments first. Was what he said so outrageous? Well, yeah. To imply that soldiers in Iraq are there because haven’t studied hard, done their homework, or made an effort to be smart is pretty offensive.
But—there’s a but—Kerry’s intention, according to his handlers, had been to say the following: “I can't overstress the importance of a great education. Do you know where you end up if you don't study, if you aren't smart, if you're intellectually lazy? You end up getting us stuck in a war in Iraq.” And, hey, I believe the handlers. It’s a weak, wooden joke—quintessentially Kerry-sounding. I’ve no doubt that he got handed a lousy joke and botched it further.
As for the GOP muck machine, it’s fair to ask if it’s being unfair, willfully deaf to what Kerry meant to say, etc. Well, of course. But this is standard campaign stuff. Republicans are about to lose control of the House—maybe even the Senate, too—and John Kerry has marched up to them and handed them a perfect gift that no sane politician of any party would ignore. Oh, those dirty GOP bastards—they opened it.

The subtext, of course, which no one really wants to say, is that Kerry's joke was ripe for misinterpretation precisely because so many American soldiers come from economically and educationally disadvantaged areas. Some soldiers enlist because they really want to serve their country in uniform. Some soldiers enlist because it's the only job available or the only way to pay for college -- choices I didn't face when I was 19 years old.

The members of the Keyboard Commandos can really stick it to John Kerry, too. We face desperate troop shortages in the coming years of occupation. Want to prove to John Kerry that the smartest guys in the room are fighting in Iraq? Enlist.

5 Comments:

Some soldiers enlist because it's the only job available or the only way to pay for college

And then there are smart rich kids who could pay for an Ivy League education out of pocket and enlist anyway. You know, guys like, um, John Kerry.

(Sorry Hammer, didn't know you had posted this before I put up my own on the topic, but since I think it's a lot less damaging than you do I'm not going to go back and edit it.)

By Jambo, at 11:49 PM

people already have thier minds made up about who they are going to vote for.

By Vinneeee, at 8:25 AM

I don't know if you're right about that. I suspect a lot of people (2-3%) don't make up their minds until they get to the booth. Kerry's comment won't make much of a difference in Minnesota, but it'll get more play in the South and West -- the close battleground states.

This isn't a 'Swiftboating'. Republicans want to turn this into a 'Wellstone memorial' event.

By Hammer, at 8:28 AM

It was a DF thing for him to say, even with all the explanations, and the Democrats will (unfairly) pay a price for it.

By Anonymous, at 11:11 AM