This apparently was Sen. McCain's first opportunity to respond to Sen. John Kerry's controversial statement today on the Iraq War. Kerry told a group of students: "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." This is an even more stupid comment than the one Kerry made during the 2004 presidential race when he said he voted for funding the Iraq War before he voted against it.
McCain, like all Republicans today, immediately pounced on Kerry's statement. The Star's Mary Beth Schneider reports:
McCain, also a decorated veteran and former prisoner of war in Vietnam, had a rebuttal drafted and, when no one asked about Kerry at the Statehouse news conference, volunteered that he thought Kerry owed an apology to the troops 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 poor, serve in the armed forces of the United States because they are dedicated to the cause of freedom and democracy. They deserve our respect and deepest gratitude," McCain said. "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 today. This should offend the American people as well."
Indiana's State House reporters were no doubt pleased that McCain chose today to pay his visit to Daniels. I liked the part of Schneider's story where she said McCain, who had a prepared response to Kerry's statement, had to prompt State House reporters to ask him about it. The State House reporters must not have been reading the Internet before the McCain visit. That's all the political blogs were talking about all afternoon and still tonight.
15 comments:
Ah yes - the same GOP quasi-Presidential candidate John McCain who is firmly against "gay marriage" ? MMM is such a gay-friendly Governor, for sure! Right AI. right??
McCain voted against the federal marriage amendment, but he told Arizonans he supports the ballot initiative this year to ban gay marriages in his own home state. He's not very good on the GLBT issues. He says he supports gay marriage, as long as it isn't legal. Sound a little Clintonesque?
McCain doesnt seem to have the intellectual power to be truly Clintonesque ... he seems more Doleish to me - probably a nice guy to have a beer with but gawdawful on 21st century social issues - kinda like a Southern Baptist Church deacon ... I do like his opposition to Cheney's torture policies!
Incidentally Wilson, I was checking Eric Miller's "nonpartisan" voter guide for the 7th District congressional race. He deducts a point from Dickerson for declining to support federal or state constitutional amendments to ban same-sex marriages and civil unions. Eric scores Julia a zero. He says she doesn't even oppose pornography on our library computers. I'm guessing none of the Democrats on the survey even responded with the exception of Kathleen Carr. Her score matched Danny Burton's. You'll be interested in one Republican who scored only a 1. That was Jon Elrod who is running against Ed Mahern. He only agreed with Eric on repealing the property tax.
Democrats will say anything to win votes, and they deliver nothing. John Kerry lost his bid for the presidency because he lacked substance. If the democrats get control of Congress next year,I am curious to see how they are going to get the national debt under control without increasing it. For the elections in 2008, who will they have to blame?
Under the leadership of President Clinton, the U.S. govt stopped running up the debt and was running a surplus. With Bush and his rubber Stamp Congress, the country went zooming back into massive deficits. Horrendous! It takes checks and balances to prevent a runaway big government... elect Democrats to stay the hand of a wayward President Bush.
So Eric rated Eric highly over Julia Carson? Figures! Kinda like AI does huh? See where your quasi-pathological hatred of Black elected officials gets you? In the same political groove as Eric Miller and Jocelyn Tandy ... not a nice place to be. The illinois Republican Party ended up running Alan Keyes for U.S. Senator - Dickerson is similar without brimstone and the overt verbal gay bashing.
This is how pathetic the GOP message is this year. They pounce on a has-been elitist Northeast senator who married a snobbish bore.
If the roles were reversed, the Repubs would (rightly) point out how utterly ridiculous the "shock and awe" is.
Look for more diversions with shiny objects from Repulibcans in the enxt six days.
It's the war, stupid. W put us there. After he used outdated and vastly inferior intellegence (the CIA's not his own brain) and logic.
And, lest we forget--the banneron the ship--"Mission Accomplilshed." ?? It is?
Kerry effed up. Again. Nothing new.
Only difference is, when he flubs up, nobody dies.
As for the Dems' handling of the budget, are you freaking serious? Have you no sense of history, even recent history?
Get real.
Wilson’s quote "the same GOP quasi-Presidential candidate John McCain"
"... he seems more Doleish to me - probably a nice guy to have a beer with but gawdawful on 21st century social issues - kinda like a Southern Baptist Church deacon .."
"See where your quasi-pathological hatred of Black elected officials gets you? In the same political groove as Eric Miller and Jocelyn Tandy ..."
"Dickerson is similar without brimstone and the overt verbal gay bashing."
Wilson, Dickerson is African American and he isn't a gay basher and he doesn‘t hate blacks. Tandy is African American and she doesn’t hate blacks. And why are you bashing the Baptist Church when it just opened its doors to Julia Carson. Your comments show who’s really racist.
You are nothing but a DIRTY, HATE MONGERING, HETEROSEXUAL SLAMMING, CHRISTIAN BASHING LEFT WING RACIST IDIOT. Your writing style shows your "QUASI"-intelligence
6:40Am Sounds like Jen.
Gary,
Can't ya at least stop the spin long enough to accurately report that Democrat Kathleen Carr (unlike Republican Danny Burton) DOES NOT support the proposed Constitutional Amendment to ban same sex marriage!
I'm 6:40, and I'm not Jen...but...reality check: federal budget-wise, you're a piker.
Obsess much, indyernie? Anyone who knows me remotely well knows I'm almost always asleep at 6:40 a.m.
It's no big secret that McCain would make a formidable opponent in 2008. But it's also no big secret that he probably won't make it past the nomination process unless he sucks up to the nutterballs.
That being said, if the GOP loses the House and Senate this year, look for a period of self-evaluation. Maybe they'll realize that they can't continue to divide and conquer the electorate. Maybe they won't.
Oh, and what Kerry said was stupid, and he's paying for it.
The war remains the bigger issue, but it's unfortunate that Kerry gave the GOP an excuse to wave their arms in the air and cry foul.
It's similarly unfortunate that fewer people take the President to task for telling his supporters that a vote for Democrats is a vote for the terrorists.
Again with the divide-and-conquer technique.
Like I said, it sounds like Jen.
I do like John McCain. I would have voted for him in 2000 rather than to get stuck with George W. Bush... TWICE. Now we are paying the price for those decisions.. with the blood of our countrymen in Iraq!
However... I don't give any points at all for a vote of confidence from Governor Mitch Daniels. I have personal reasons for not having faith in Daniels or his decisions. I think he has made some bad decisions for Indiana... the BMV fiasco is the first mess that comes to mind.
McCain would be better without Daniels being his Indiana based cheering section.
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