Patterico's Pontifications

11/3/2006

A Fictional Dialogue Involving John Kerry That Sounds Quite Real

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 7:20 am



Let’s go to the transcript:

JOHN KERRY: Only an uneducated idiot would interpret my remarks as referring to the troops.

THE TROOPS: That’s how we took it.

JOHN KERRY: As I was saying . . .

(Previous fictional dialogue here.)

48 Responses to “A Fictional Dialogue Involving John Kerry That Sounds Quite Real”

  1. I pegged Kerry as a narcissist back in the ’04 campaign. His inability to give a real apology is another aspect of his narcissism. He cannot admit imperfection in himself, and he cannot tolerate criticism by others.

    And his disparagement of the troops, intentional or not, is part of a long standing pattern on his part.

    larry (336e87)

  2. His inability to give a real apology…

    Just pointing out, this is not unlike his ’04 opponent.

    Tom (eb6b88)

  3. Tom,

    Actually his opponent was criticized not for failing to apologize for a mistake, but for not being able to admit a mistake. (And to be fair, Bush acknowledged that he had made mistakes, he just couldn’t identify a specific one.)

    Of course the idea that Bush couldn’t admit a mistake was a loaded and partisan one. The Democrats would have pounced on it if Bush HAD admitted a mistake. And of course, Kerry was never asked to acknowledge any mistake that HE had made.

    aunursa (1b5bad)

  4. Wow – Patterico has put up as many posts about John Kerry in the past five days as he has posted about the current situation in Iraq in the past three or four months.

    Perhaps if we renamed Iraq “Glenn Greenwald”, we could get Patterico to focus on it.

    m.croche (e5422c)

  5. Just to inject a little reality into this five day Kerry hate fest. The republicans just slipped a provision into a bill that would do away with the office of auditor for Iraqi reconstruction/contract money. See what you are fighting so hard for. The culture of corruption is not the problem acording to the republicans, it is the people fighting and reporting on the corruption.

    Warner slipped a provision into the Defense Appropiations Bill that would esentially do away with Posse Comitatus and the Insurrection Act and allow the president to use military troops at his discretion against U.S. citizens for police action.

    You have Allen using a passage from a novel to sully the reputation of Webb as somehow unfit to govern.

    You have over 100 americans dead in Iraq in October and no end in sight. 5 more died yesterday. But it is of course Kerry who hates the troops and Bush/Cheney who love them.

    You have over eight billion dollars of U.S. taxpayer money sent to Iraq for reconstruction missing and no accountability, indeed the republican response is to get rid of the auditor so we can never find out what happened to it. You don’t think any of that money went to contractors who donate to republicans do you? Quid pro quo no?

    So just a few postcards from the real world most of us live in. I’ll keep you all updated as you continue to discuss what is of course of paramount concern, Kerry’s botched joke.

    Paul (24af80)

  6. So now we have 10 posts (and a gizzilion updates) on the trumped-up and dishonest controversy about Kerry.

    Well, I guess nothing else important is happening with regard to the troops … except

    … close to 4 a day are dying in Iraq AND we learn our troops arms are tied by Bush policy so that they cannot fully respond to Shiite militia attacks upon them

    … our military follwed an order from Al Maliki (likely acting at the bequest of Islamic Fundamentalist Moqtada Al Sadr) and left a soldier behind with his captors in Sadr City

    … significant amounts of American reconstruction money and Iraqi oil money is makinmg its way into the hands of those killing our soldiers, including Al Qaeda in Iraq, AND we now learn the Republicans snuck a provision into a bill that will pull our Inspector General in Iraq certain to enable more money to go in that direction

    Pat, you are a great American … well, a great Republican anyway.

    Macswain (76d8da)

  7. And don’t forget the Iraqi NUKES!.

    “Last March, the federal government set up a Web site to make public a vast archive of Iraqi documents captured during the war. The Bush administration did so under pressure from Congressional Republicans who said they hoped to “leverage the Internet” to find new evidence of the prewar dangers posed by Saddam Hussein.

    But in recent weeks, the site has posted some documents that weapons experts say are a danger themselves: detailed accounts of Iraq’s secret nuclear research before the 1991 Persian Gulf war. The documents, the experts say, constitute a basic guide to building an atom bomb.

    Last night, the government shut down the Web site after The New York Times asked about complaints from weapons experts and arms-control officials. A spokesman for the director of national intelligence said access to the site had been suspended “pending a review to ensure its content is appropriate for public viewing.”

    Those brave republican Senators, always choosing the safety of the country over politics.
    No… Wait!

    Alois Fahyling (6aa211)

  8. Oh hey, we only have one track minds, and its imppossible for us conservatives to focus on more than one issue. Our superiors are saying hammer Kerry, so thats what we are clearly doing.

    G (722480)

  9. G,

    Thanks … finally an honest righty.

    Macswain (76d8da)

  10. Oh, since i’m being honest and all, I can’t stank Kerry. But I believe that he made an honest mistake in his joke about the President. Though he just digs himself deeper by what he has said afterwords.

    But yeah, don’t forget, not only are we conservatives ignoring the claims of racism on George Allen, Mark Foley’s non-e-sex with a former page, but we’ve totally forgotten about the war in wherever it is.

    Oh, and whats going on with the North Korea nuclear situation?

    G (722480)

  11. Hail, hail, most of the gang’s right here.

    There are few things as ridiculous as a pack of Lefty know-it-alls trying to pass off bald faced lies to folks who know better.

    Have you guys no shame?

    mokus (539ee5)

  12. That was a rhetorical question, right? They have no shame. There’s been no talk about the Iraq war for a month because lefties had other talking points. Now that John Kerry shot the Democrats in the foot, they suddenly want to talk about Iraq. Makes sense if you’re a lib.

    sharon (dfeb10)

  13. Way to go NYT for protecting us from the incompetence of the republicans posting information about making nuclear weapons on the internet. Is that not classified material? Is this not the kind of thing the right has been clamouring for the jailing of journalists over? I’m sure the right will find some way to spin this so that it is the traitorous NYT who really screwed up and not the angelic, honest, serious protectors of national security that are the republican party.

    Paul (24af80)

  14. What the NY Times did, unintentionally, was to prove George W Bush was right all along about Saddam’s attempts to build atomic weapons.

    Every single Lefty who claimed Bush twisted pre-war intelligence to justify the invasion of Iraq has been advancing the terrorist’s interests at the expense of American lives.

    mokus (539ee5)

  15. The following is from Rep. Peter Hoekstra’s response to the NY Times, linked at Michelle Malkin. I offer it in anticipation of more of the same idiot nonsense as contained in #15 above.

    “The sad reality is that the New York Times has done far more damage to U.S. national security by the disclosure of vital, classified, intelligence programs than is likely to be caused by the inadvertent disclosure of decades-old information that had already been in the hands of Saddam’s regime.”

    mokus (539ee5)

  16. m.croche

    I’m waiting for the “Bush Lied, People Died” “Iraq was better off with Saddam in charge” “There’s no such thing as Islamic terror” “It was all for oooiiiill” “It was all for Jews Israel ZZZiiiooonnnisssttsss” BDS lefties to have their Emily Latilla moment now that we know Saddam was only a year way from a nuke.

    Irony of ironies… the NYTimes, self-anointed on what classified information gets published or not (if it hurts American efforts to stop Islamo-fascists.. PUBLISH IT)…suddenly is aghast that maybe there might be a bit too much info about Saddam on the net.

    No wonder jihadists are urging Americans vote Democrat!

    Darleen (03346c)

  17. Mokus, you and Malkin want to play games about who did more damage fine. The point is if you think the NYT did damage in publishing what it did, so much so that they were called traitors and should be jailed or worse, then stick to your guns and use the same standard for your own govt..

    Your comment 16 is nonsense. Everyone knew Saddam had a nuclear weapons program. The Isrealis bombed it remember. It is hardly breaking news to anyone but you apparently. The fact is Saddam had no nuclear weapons program when we went to war.

    Paul (24af80)

  18. Paul

    You ought to learn the difference between an accident and premeditation.

    Darleen (03346c)

  19. Darleen, it was the republicans who were clamoring for these documents to be released. It was the NYT who pointed out there were documents on how to make nuclear weapons. Then it was the U.S. govt. who once again pulled the documents off the internet, not the NYT. I don’t see how you spin this one but your free to try.

    By the way, these documents also contain a frantic APB put out for Zarqawi when the Iraqis learned he may have entered Iraq. Does not help your al Qaeda/Saddam theories.

    Paul (24af80)

  20. Republicans weren’t “clamoring” for a nuclear bomb recipe to be released. They wanted other documents released that showed that Saddam was, in fact, trying to get and create WMDs. These prove it.

    sharon (dfeb10)

  21. Saddam desperately wanted a bomb. According to his foreign minister, “Saddam was irate that Iraq did not yet have a nuclear weapon because money was no object.”

    Saddam had the plans, the trained scientists who could make a bomb, and the money necessary to buy the equipment. All he needed was fissionable material and he would have had an atomic weapon in 18 to 24 months.

    If George W Bush had not had the courage and foresight to enforce the UN sanctions against Saddam, the Iraqi dictator would be in possession of several nuclear weapons today.

    mokus (539ee5)

  22. THE DOCUMENTS CONCERN ACTIVITIES BEFORE 1991.
    That Hussein wanted a bomb is
    OLD NEWS.

    Hussein had
    NO ACTIVE NUCLEAR PROGRAM AFTER THE FIRST FULF WAR.
    This is accepted
    AS FACT

    But the
    DOCUMENTS FROM BEFORE 1991 SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN MADE PUBLIC
    because they
    INCLUDED INFORMATION ABOUT HOW TO MAKE A BOMB.

    THANKS TO THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION
    THAT INFORMATION WAS AVAILABLE TO EVERYONE ON THE WORLD WIDE WEB.

    There. Is it clear now?

    Alois Fahyling (6aa211)

  23. What if Bush and his proxies had gone along with Kerry’s explanation of his comment, even if they didn’t buy it?

    Wouldn’t that decrease the probability that al Qaeda would use Kerry’s remarks in their propaganda?

    Have Bush and his proxies in fact increased the probability that al Qaeda would use Kerry’s remarks in their propaganda?

    Did President Bush undermine our troops and our war effort? (05c6a0)

  24. Re #24,

    No. Putting Dem talking points in upper case doesn’t indicate accepted fact, or that foolish assertions have any validity at all.

    # 25, now that’s about as convoluted a bit of moonbat insanity as I’ve seen for quite some time.

    mokus (539ee5)

  25. I must be prescient. In comment 7 I said that it looked like a quid pro quo was going on in the republican attempt to cover up theft, corruption, and fraud in Iraqi reconstruction by abolishing the Office of the Special Inspector General for Iraqi Reconstruction which oversees fraud in the reconstruction funds.

    Well, well. It looks like republican Duncan Hunter, who is one of the biggest recipients of donations from the U.S. companies involved in Iraqi reconstruction such as Halliburton, Bechtel and Parsons, companies that have been the focus of investigations by the Inspector General, snuck a line into the huge military authorization bill that would abolish the Inspector Generals Office.

    This is just absolutly disgusting. Even if you hate government, hate democrats, hate Iraqi reconstruction, to not be upset by this blatant attempt by the republicans to hide the corruption and theft of all our hard earned taxpayer money is beyond belief. This is not how democracy should work, important provsions secretly slipped into huge bills with no debate, but this has become the standard operating procedure of republicans in Congress.

    One party rule and a thirst for power has twisted and corrupted our democratic institutions beyond recognition. If you want to see what is in store for America if no accountability is brought to bear by the electorate just look at Mexico and what their seventy year one party rule by PRI wrought.

    Paul (aeea58)

  26. John Kerry insults the troops and you defend him, now you insult our Mexican neighbors. What’s up with you guys, can’t you angry Dems make a point without having to find someone to dump on?

    mokus (539ee5)

  27. I’ve summed up jfk in this manner…

    John Kerry = village idiot

    Any questions?

    fmfnavydoc (78befa)

  28. fmfnavydoc,
    Please don’t offend the many “fools” by comparing them to jfk.

    the Dragon (32f357)

  29. mokus, it must be sad when you have to act like a troll on a site you agree with.

    Paul (aeea58)

  30. What’s sad is when your political memory is so short you complain about Republican behavior that has been done by Democrats for YEARS. Sneaking stuff into must-pass legislation? We’ve seen that before. That’s how Democrats managed to ensure they get pay raises every year without having to vote on it.

    sharon (dfeb10)

  31. If anyone wants to blame anyone for “One party rule..” I think Dems should blames themselves.
    Studds
    Clinton
    Ed (Soviet Memo) Kennedy
    Jimmy Carter
    and now John Kerry and NYT!
    Damn it really does seem like that team works for the other side…. and they don’t care WHO the other side is as long as it isn’t AMERICAN Republicans…

    Paul from fl (967602)

  32. The Army Times:

    “So long as our government requires the backing of an aroused and informed public opinion … it is necessary to tell the hard bruising truth.”

    That statement was written by Pulitzer Prize-winning war correspondent Marguerite Higgins more than a half-century ago during the Korean War.

    But until recently, the “hard bruising” truth about the Iraq war has been difficult to come by from leaders in Washington. One rosy reassurance after another has been handed down by President Bush, Vice President Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld: “mission accomplished,” the insurgency is “in its last throes,” and “back off,” we know what we’re doing, are a few choice examples.

    Military leaders generally toed the line, although a few retired generals eventually spoke out from the safety of the sidelines, inciting criticism equally from anti-war types, who thought they should have spoken out while still in uniform, and pro-war foes, who thought the generals should have kept their critiques behind closed doors.

    Now, however, a new chorus of criticism is beginning to resonate. Active-duty military leaders are starting to voice misgivings about the war’s planning, execution and dimming prospects for success.

    Army Gen. John Abizaid, chief of U.S. Central Command, told a Senate Armed Services Committee in September: “I believe that the sectarian violence is probably as bad as I’ve seen it … and that if not stopped, it is possible that Iraq could move towards civil war.”

    Last week, someone leaked to The New York Times a Central Command briefing slide showing an assessment that the civil conflict in Iraq now borders on “critical” and has been sliding toward “chaos” for most of the past year. The strategy in Iraq has been to train an Iraqi army and police force that could gradually take over for U.S. troops in providing for the security of their new government and their nation.

    But despite the best efforts of American trainers, the problem of molding a viciously sectarian population into anything resembling a force for national unity has become a losing proposition.

    For two years, American sergeants, captains and majors training the Iraqis have told their bosses that Iraqi troops have no sense of national identity, are only in it for the money, don’t show up for duty and cannot sustain themselves.

    Meanwhile, colonels and generals have asked their bosses for more troops. Service chiefs have asked for more money.

    And all along, Rumsfeld has assured us that things are well in hand.

    Now, the president says he’ll stick with Rumsfeld for the balance of his term in the White House.

    This is a mistake.

    It is one thing for the majority of Americans to think Rumsfeld has failed. But when the nation’s current military leaders start to break publicly with their defense secretary, then it is clear that he is losing control of the institution he ostensibly leads.

    These officers have been loyal public promoters of a war policy many privately feared would fail. They have kept their counsel private, adhering to more than two centuries of American tradition of subordination of the military to civilian authority.

    And although that tradition, and the officers’ deep sense of honor, prevent them from saying this publicly, more and more of them believe it.

    Rumsfeld has lost credibility with the uniformed leadership, with the troops, with Congress and with the public at large. His strategy has failed, and his ability to lead is compromised. And although the blame for our failures in Iraq rests with the secretary, it will be the troops who bear its brunt.

    This is not about the midterm elections. Regardless of which party wins Nov. 7, the time has come, Mr. President, to face the hard bruising truth:

    Donald Rumsfeld must go.

    Vote Vets!

    Alois Fahyling (6aa211)

  33. Alois, now for the republican response according to sharon and Paul from fl.

    We don’t care cause the democrats did it to, NYAH NYAH NYAH NA. So there.

    Paul (528d78)

  34. It’s getting more than a bit tiresome watching idiot Left-wing hate mongers pretend to support the troops when all they really support is the Democrat Party’s efforts to undermine the military and oppose President Bush.

    There’s room in this country for an honorable opposition, but that’s not what’s on display here. These people don’t engage in a forthright debate,their efforts are not intended to inform or to seek understanding.

    They’re out to spread venom, to insult, and to denounce anyone who won’t knuckle under to their delusions. These people are sick, mean-spirited, charlatans, without a shred of intellectual honesty on view. #35 above is an example.

    mokus (539ee5)

  35. Great News! This should really put a fork in that traitor Kerry’s career and swing the election our way! On Monday, the day before election day, there will be a rare joint editorial run in the Army Times, the Air Force Times, and the Navy Times:
    http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfgate/indexn/detail?blogid=16&entry_id=10582

    Avatar (734ea1)

  36. Mokus Pokus. Remember,
    VOTE VETS!

    A.F. (6aa211)

  37. Want proof of a bald faced Lefty lie?

    Check out the first sentence in the last paragraph in #34 above. It says, “This is not about the midterm elections.”

    Why, of course not, it just happens to appear on the Friday before an election. It’s all over Lefty sites, some of which pretend to be associated with Vets (see # 34 above) and will be published in Gannett’s family of military oriented papers: Army Times, Navy Times, Air Force Times, and Marine Times.

    What a coincidence, imagine that. And, remember, it isn’t about the elections, nope, not at all.

    Anyone remember Dem efforts to invalidate military ballots in 2000? That wasn’t about the election then either, to hear Dems tell it, after all, they “support the troops.”

    These cheap stunts are supposed to persuade US service men and women, and their family members, to vote for people who hate them and everything they stand for. Fat chance!

    The oh, so, “Progressive” among us who pull this sort of idiotic nonsense aren’t fooling anyone but themselves, and demonstrating the poverty of their nature to everyone who cares to take notice. BTW, I’m a Vet and I vote.

    mokus (539ee5)

  38. My uncle was an American POW in Nazi Germany, my Father was in the Army and my brother in the Navy.

    The Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America.

    Go read.

    idiot

    A.F. (6aa211)

  39. Last week a Muslim cleric in Australia said this:

    In the religious address on adultery to about 500 worshippers in Sydney last month, Sheik Hilali said: “If you take out uncovered meat and place it outside on the street, or in the garden or in the park, or in the backyard without a cover, and the cats come and eat it … whose fault is it, the cats or the uncovered meat?
    “The uncovered meat is the problem.”
    The sheik then said: “If she was in her room, in her home, in her hijab, no problem would have occurred.”

    After a world wide uproar he issued this written “apology.”

    While he expressed some contrition to the women of Australia, he attacked the “dubious media” and “devious groups” which he says have slandered and defamed him.

    “The metaphor … has been quoted and misinterpreted by some groups with ill intention,” the statement said.

    Senator John Kerry made these comments last week.

    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, you can do well. If you don’t, you get stuck in Iraq.

    after much uproar in the United StatesJohn Kerry refused to apologize.After Democrats called for him to apologize and abandoned him on the campaign trail Senator Kerry reluctantly relented and issued this Imanesque apology.

    “I sincerely regret that my words were misinterpreted to wrongly imply anything negative about those in uniform, and I personally apologize to any service member, family member or American who was offended,” Kerry said.

    Great minds think alike.

    tom scott (7479b7)

  40. Re #40

    Your father, your uncle, your brother, they can all stand up proudly and look other men in the eye. They’ve earned that right.

    mokus (539ee5)

  41. Hey, A.F?

    Is that the same VoteVets who have to use a Veteran Hoaxer to make their anti-war points in an ad?

    Oh… Paul, old news, eh?

    On October 5th 2006 I sent the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) an e-mail requesting some answers to the findings I got from the captured Iraqi documents regarding Saddam Regime re-constructing their prohibited nuclear program. The findings were about Saddam regime rebuilding and re-using some of their nuclear labs and facilities like the RWTS (Radioactive Waste Treatment Station), Radio-Chemistry Laboratories, and the Degussa Furnaces which are used to melt Uranium and other nuclear activities.

    Of course I did not receive any response from the IAEA but here we go today and read in the New York Times article that the IAEA has complained recently about US captured documents showing some sensitive nuclear information. The IAEA and the New York Times did not care about the documents showing Saddam regime re-constructing its nuclear program because these documents expose all the lies that they have been spreading in the last three years but they are rather focusing on a small released portion of Iraq 1996 FFCD (Full Final and complete disclosure) that relates to Iraq previous nuclear program.

    I am not sure if the IAEA was not aware, before I sent them the e-mail, that the captured Iraqi documents were posted on the FMSO website but it seems they have reacted just recently about these documents and their reaction unfortunately was not to show Saddam re-building his nuclear programs as many documents prove but rather to blame the Bush administration for publishing part of Iraq 1996 FFCD which by the way was not such a secret document as the IAEA is pretending since this FFCD has been reviewed by experts of “Members Nations” and thus it can be subjected to leak regardless.

    Again, you and other leftist Dems have proven unserious about the Islamist threat and are totally incapable of being trusted with US national security.

    Your “values” are more in line with Euro values, not American.

    I’m still an American with American values and will not abide by your ilk trying to turn the US into a French suburb.

    Darleen (03346c)

  42. Weekend Wingnut Roundup…

    What a week! Pastor Ted flamed out (sorry), Dick Cheney told most of the country to go fuck themselves, Lynne Cheney told Wolf Blitzer to go fuck himself, Republicans lied about the viability of Saddam’s so-called nuke program, and now…

    AGITPROP: Version 3.0, Featuring Blogenfreude (72c8fd)

  43. Darleen,

    Thanks for the link, you’re correct, it’s the same dishonest VoteVets which used a lying Hoaxer in Weasely Clark’s TV ad.

    It’s absolutely typical of the two-faced, two-bit, anti-military, smear merchants to pretend to be the opposite of what they actually are.

    They’re the worst sort of unpatriotic scum, and unfit to be seen in public, let alone hold office in a free society.

    mokus (539ee5)

  44. According to JohnKerry.com quoting the Seattle Post-Intelligencer editorial board, his remarks weren’t a botched joke. They were “right either way.”

    DRJ (8b9d41)

  45. I thought it was funny that a bunch of dumb enlisted soldiers made a sign for John Kerry. But the sign showed how uneducated the enlisted soldiers were because it had spelling errors.

    When I deserted the Korean War they had a bright military. The Korean War conflict was filled with drafted skilled and educated citizens. Not just hacks trying to get their education paid for or parents trying to get their kids off drugs and MTV.

    Very, very sad. It is a sad commentary for this military today.

    Shalom,
    —Leland Milton Goldblatt

    Leland Milton Goldblatt (1ffa59)

  46. #34 The Army Times is NOT a military publication. It’s run by the same guys as USAToday. That was covered by several blogs last week, including this one, if I remember correctly.

    #47 LOL!!

    SecretSquirrel (a5129b)


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