Kerry's College Comments

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

I say Senate and HoR.  People will forget by 08.  if nobody knows what I'm talking about, I'll get a story up later.

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

He did appologize.  And no, I had thought that the Dem's would be close in the HoR--within a few seats of winning it.  But I think this COULD definitely get a tossup state to go rep, but he did appologize:


Kerry cancels appearances over 'botched joke'
Updated 11/1/2006 5:00 PM ET E-mail | Save | Print | Subscribe to stories like this   
 
 
By Ann Johansson, AP
The White House called remarks by U.S. Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass, shown here at Pasadena (Calif.) City College on Monday, "an absolute insult" to Iraq veterans. Kerry dismissed the attack as "the classic GOP playbook."
 

From staff and wire reports
Two days into an uproar over remarks he made that critics said insulted U.S. troops, Sen. John Kerry this afternoon issued a personal apology "to any service member, family member, or American who was offended."
The furor over a comment he made Monday had turned into a full-scale war of words, as several Democratic candidates joined the White House to call on the senator to apologize and other Democrats painted the dispute as a Republican effort to avoid talking about Iraq.

ON DEADLINE: Bush and Limbaugh agree on Kerry's meaning | More on the war of words | Video

Earlier in the day, as the debate had swirled, Kerry canceled several appearances for Democratic candidates in next week's midterm elections, saying, "I don't want to be a distraction to these campaigns."

At issue are remarks the Massachusetts Democrat made on Monday before a college audience in California, where he said if people don't study and work hard they could end up getting "stuck in Iraq," referring to President Bush's decision to go to war.

This morning, Kerry apologized for misspeaking, saying he was joking. "Of course I'm sorry about a botched joke. You think I love botched jokes?" Kerry said during an appearance today on Don Imus' nationally syndicated radio program. "I mean, you know, it's pretty stupid."

Kerry said Republicans have "taken those words ... and distorted them on purpose in order to distract America from their policies."

Kerry spokeswoman Amy Brundage said the senator's prepared text had called for him to say: "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. Just ask President Bush."

The White House jumped on Kerry's remarks, which they interpreted as saying that only uneducated people end up in the military.

Some Democrats moved quickly to try to limit the damage in the final days before the election.

Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., called Kerry's remarks "inappropriate."

"If it was a botched joke, he should just apologize and move on," Rep. Harold Ford, a Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate in Tennessee, said in an interview on MSNBC.

Shortly after 4 p.m. ET today, in a statement e-mailed to reporters, Kerry went the furthest he's gone so far to tell U.S. military personnel that he didn't mean to offend them and is sorry if he did. He also used the statement to take another shot at his critics.

"As a combat veteran, I want to make it clear to anyone in uniform and to their loved ones: my poorly stated joke at a rally was not about, and never intended to refer to any troop," Kerry said. "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.

"It is clear the Republican Party would rather talk about anything but their failed security policy," Kerry continued. "I don't want my verbal slip to be a diversion from the real issues. I will continue to fight for a change of course to provide real security for our country, and a winning strategy for our troops."

Bush, campaigning in Georgia on Tuesday evening, had said Kerry's statement was "insulting and it is shameful" and called on the senator to apologize.

In an Oval Office meeting with reporters today, Bush brushed off Kerry's explanation of his controversial remarks.

"It didn't sound like a joke to me," the president said. "More importantly, it didn't sound like a joke to the troops."

Asked about the controversy today on Rush Limbaugh's radio talk show, Bush was less direct and did not mention Kerry by name.

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., also called on Kerry to apologize. He said he wasn't sure "how you could construe" Kerry's comment as a joke.

Calling Kerry "my friend," McCain said on ABC's Good Morning America, "I've found that if it is just a botched joke, then apologize and move on."

The head of the Democratic Party downplayed Kerry's remarks. "Kerry made a blooper. Bloopers happen," Howard Dean told reporters in Burlington, Vt.

Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York, head of the Democratic campaign effort, called the White House attacks on Kerry an effort by Bush "to divert attention from his failed Iraq policy."

"Instead of going on television attacking John Kerry and everyone else under the sun, the president ought to be sitting at his desk coming up with a plan for Iraq," Schumer said.

A number of Democratic candidates, mindful that elections are less than a week away, sought to distance themselves from Kerry, who canceled campaign appearances in Iowa, Pennsylvania and Minnesota.

"Sen. Kerry's remarks were poorly worded and just plain stupid," said Montana Senate President Jon Tester, a Democrat trying to unseat GOP Sen. Conrad Burns. "He owes our troops and their families an apology."

In Indiana, Baron Hill, a Democratic candidate for the House, called Kerry's remarks "unacceptable and disturbing" and said he was returing a $1,000 contribution to his campaign from the senator.

White House spokesman Tony Snow, peppered by reporters at a White House briefing, said he was throwing Kerry a "lifeline" by simply suggesting that the senator apologize.

"This should not be hard," Snow said. "Everybody in public life has said something they wish they could take back. You simply apologize."