Washington – Senator John Kerry issued the following statement in response to White House Press Secretary Tony Snow, assorted right wing nut-jobs, and right wing talk show hosts desperately distorting Kerry’s comments about President Bush to divert attention from their disastrous record:
“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.
So, Kerry may not have intended to say what he did. I seriously doubt he decided to insult US troops as a campaign strategy, but the fact is, he did. I also doubt that Trent Lott intended to endorse 50' segregationist policy during his tribute to Strom Thurmond, but that was how it was interpreted, so he apologized and moved on. Kerry can't do that, he is too arrogant and cannot understand how anyone could criticize him.
A little humility will go a long ways.
