Study Hard, Get Smart, or End Up Stuck in Iraq

John F'ing Kerry, that unabashed lover of the US military, has added a new idiotic quote to his long list of anti-military rhetoric. In Pasadena last night, while campaigning for soon-to-be loser Phil Angelides, Kerry had this to say:

"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."

In other words, the men and women serving in Iraq are stupid and uneducated, or else they wouldn't be there. What a moron, and sadly, his views are probably very typical of much of the Democratic left. And don't forget, Kerry voted to send those troops to Iraq.

The video of the smarmy Kerry making that statement can be found here. It's even worse when you watch it.

A soldier serving in Iraq sent this email to K-Lo at National Review upon watching Kerry's statement:

Ms. Lopez,

Thanks for link to U-toob. Me not understand big words bout kerry. Like pictures better.

BOY, it Hard to rite e-male with crayon.


Very respectfully,


major

Camp slayer, Bahgdad, iraq

And Kerry wants to be their commander-in-chief. That'll never happen.

John McCain is calling on Kerry to apologize (from Drudge):

Senator Kerry owes an apology to the many thousands of Americans serving in Iraq, who answered their country's call because they are patriots and not because of any deficiencies in their education. Americans from all backgrounds, well off and less fortunate, with high school diplomas and graduate degrees, take seriously their duty to our country, and risk their lives today to defend the rest of us in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere.

They all deserve our respect and deepest gratitude for their service. The suggestion that only the least educated Americans would agree to serve in the military and fight in Iraq, is an insult to every soldier serving in combat, and should deeply offend any American with an ounce of appreciation for what they suffer and risk so that the rest of us can sleep more comfortably at night. Without them, we wouldn't live in a country where people securely possess all their God-given rights, including the right to express insensitive, ill-considered and uninformed remarks.

The media will ignore all of this for the most part, as opposed to the outrage they expressed over Rush Limbaugh's remarks about Michael J. Fox. However, if this remark gets wide play in the proper context, Kerry may have succeeded in sabotaging his party's near victory. Wouldn't you just love to see that.

Kerry finally issued a statement in response to the criticism. Let's see if this helps his and the Dems cause:

If anyone thinks a veteran would criticize the more than 140,000 heroes serving in Iraq and not the president who got us stuck there, they're crazy. This is the classic G.O.P. playbook. I’m sick and tired of these despicable Republican attacks that always seem to come from those who never can be found to serve in war, but love to attack those who did.

I’m not going to be lectured by a stuffed suit White House mouthpiece standing behind a podium, or doughy Rush Limbaugh, who no doubt today will take a break from belittling Michael J. Fox’s Parkinson’s disease to start lying about me just as they have lied about Iraq. It disgusts me that these Republican hacks, who have never worn the uniform of our country lie and distort so blatantly and carelessly about those who have.

The people who owe our troops an apology are George W. Bush and Dick Cheney who misled America into war and have given us a Katrina foreign policy that has betrayed our ideals, killed and maimed our soldiers, and widened the terrorist threat instead of defeating it. These Republicans are afraid to debate veterans who live and breathe the concerns of our troops, not the empty slogans of an Administration that sent our brave troops to war without body armor.

Bottom line, these Republicans want to debate straw men because they’re afraid to debate real men. And this time it won’t work because we’re going to stay in their face with the truth and deny them even a sliver of light for their distortions. No Democrat will be bullied by an administration that has a cut and run policy in Afghanistan and a stand still and lose strategy in Iraq.

Nope. Kerry is still a pompous ass and his Dem brethren have got to be fuming. This story is taking the air out of their anti-Bush campaign. Attacking Tony Snow as a "stuffed-suit White House mouthpiece" and going after Rush Limbaugh, whose show hadn't even come on the air yet when Kerry's statement was released (and Rush hadn't even had a chance to comment on it) was particularly juvenile. I'm sure to Rush and Tony, having John Kerry attack you is like having a yappy little dog run up and piss on your leg. It's not very scary and it gives you a warm feeling.

By the way, Kerry's opening sentence implies that no veteran would criticize American troops in the field. Let's take a ride in the Wayback Machine and the Senate hearing in 1971:

They told stories that at times they had personally raped, cut off ears, cut off heads, taped wires from portable telephones to human genitals and turned up the power, cut off limbs, blown up bodies, randomly shot at civilians, razed villages in fashion reminiscent of Ghengis Khan, shot cattle and dogs for fun, poisoned food stocks, and generally ravaged the countryside of South Vietnam in addition to the normal ravage of war and the normal and very particular ravaging which is done by the applied bombing power of this country.

And this:
Yale Grades Portray Kerry as Lackluster Student

Behavioural scientists will tell you that past performance is the best indicator of future performance. Kerry is a perfect example of that.

Other reaction from Instapundit:

Kerry's suggestion that the troops in Iraq are dumb failures is not only reprehensible, but false on the facts. In other words, a typical Kerry performance, just in time for the elections. Democrats must be wondering what they were thinking to nominate him in 2004, and why he won't go away now. ...

A major blunder for Kerry and the Democrats, timed to do maximum damage to them and maximum good for the Republicans.

Is it possible that Kerry just "Swiftboated" himself and the Dem party?

UPDATE: Kerry gives indignant statement refusing to apologize (video here), thus guaranteeing that a one day story will now become a multi-day story, much to the detriment of his party.