Scary Kerry just can't leave it alone, can he? When the very veterans he supposedly supports are telling him to shut the fuck up, you'd think he'd get a clue. But, not our Johnny:
VFW to Kerry: Don’t Use Troops as Butt of Jokes
WASHINGTON, Oct 31, 2006 - The national commander of America’s largest organization of combat veterans is calling for an apology from Sen. John Kerry, who told a group of college students yesterday that education is the key to keeping themselves out of Iraq.
“The senator was attempting levity and it backfired, big time,” said Gary Kurpius, the commander-in-chief of the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the U.S. “You don’t use troops as the butt of your jokes.”
The Massachusetts senator, who was speaking at Pasadena City College on behalf of the California democratic gubernatorial challenger, said: “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, you can do well. If you don’t, you get stuck in Iraq.”
“Senator Kerry is a decorated Vietnam veteran and a fellow VFW member who differs with the president on the prosecution of the war, but that doesn’t give him carte blanche to use education as a weapon and our servicemen and women as his targets,” said Kurpius, who’s also a Vietnam veteran.
“There’s already a serious disconnect between the war’s impact on the general population and the 2.2 million who proudly serve in uniform,” he said. “Let’s not use politics to widen that gap.”
-from the VFW website.
American Legion to Sen. Kerry: Apologize Now
INDIANAPOLIS, October 31, 2006 - The National Commander of The American Legion called on Sen. John Kerry to apologize for suggesting that American troops in Iraq are uneducated.
“As a constituent of Senator Kerry’s I am disappointed. As leader of The American Legion, I am outraged,” said National Commander Paul A. Morin. “A generation ago, Sen. Kerry slandered his comrades in Vietnam by saying that they were rapists and murderers. It wasn’t true then and his warped view of today’s heroes isn’t true now.”
While addressing a group of college students at a campaign rally in Pasadena, CA., Monday, Kerry suggested that they receive an education or “if you don’t, you’ll get stuck in Iraq.”
“While The American Legion shares the senator’s appreciation for education, the troops in Iraq represent the most sophisticated, technologically superior military that the world has ever seen,” Morin said. “I think there is a thing or two that they could teach most college professors and campus elitists about the way the world works.
“And while we are on the topic of education, why doesn’t the senator and his comrades in Congress improve the GI Bill so all of today’s military members – reserves and guard included – can achieve the educational aspirations that the senator so highly values?” Morin said. “The senator’s false and outrageous attack was over-the-top and he should apologize now.”
The 2.7-million member American Legion, www.legion.org, is the nation’s largest veterans organization.
- from the American Legion website.
Us quaint, uneducated folks here in flyover country have a little saying:
Better to keep your mouth shut and let people think you're a fool than open it and remove all doubt.
