Kerry's "Joke"

John F. Kerry’s telling blunder once again lays bare his and the dysfunctional Democratic Party’s contempt for the military and, by extension, America. As I see it, the only shocking feature of the entire episode is that someone as renowned for his intelligence and Brahmin tastes as Kerry would make such a stunning mistake a mere week before crucial midterm elections. I had to laugh when I read the furious reaction of an anonymous Democrat, who couldn’t contain his bewilderment. “He (Kerry) already cost us one election, he needs to just shut his mouth until after this election.” In a frantic display of damage control following the wave of criticism he received, Kerry issued a cri de coeur, asserting that he merely “botched” a joke, and predicted that Karl Rove’s minions would scheme to exploit his slip for cheap political mileage ahead of next week’s elections. He must think the general public is as gullible and naive as he suggested the soldiers in Iraq are stupid. In both cases, he is sorely mistaken. Finally, after a relentless barrage of revulsion and condemnation from every honest patriot in America, Kerry was whipsawed into making an artfully constructed and begrudged apology. And everyone savored Vice President Cheney’s quip that “Kerry must have been for the joke before he was against it.” Now there’s a real joke! That Kerry caused a fatal wound to his own political fortunes, no one can deny. But was his mea culpa proffered to the troops and to Americans sincere? One can only guess.

The media is keen on reminding us, ad nauseam, that Kerry is a “decorated” war veteran, while his actions since returning from Vietnam receive noticeably less attention. Kerry’s history of casting aspersions on American soldiers, however, is hardly a novelty; it can be traced back to his post-Vietnam, medal-jettisoning days, when, for starters, he likened U.S. soldiers to the marauding armies of Genghis Khan. More recently, Kerry made a sweeping accusation that U.S. soldiers in Iraq were “terrorizing women and children.” How comments such as these can be interpreted as being helpful or supportive to the overall mission in Iraq or to our country is a question left unanswered. It seems to me that his apology was, in a sense, nothing more than an expression of regret that his “joke” was misinterpreted. In other words, “I’m sorry that you didn’t get what I really meant.” So everyone, not just the soldiers “stuck in Iraq,” must be stupid, since no one was able to grasp the subtle nuance of his sophisticated humor. Maybe Americans should apologize to Kerry for their inability to keep up with his quick wit. As I see it, his qualified apology for this latest and totally unwarranted slander was just as forced and artificial as his attempt to play the role of the American hunter during his failed run for the presidency, when, strutting about, he risibly and unforgettably asked, “Can I get me a hunting license here?”

Kerry’s attempts at feigning normalcy aside, Americans must ask themselves if his views are merely the private opinion of an aging, irrelevant political relic of the 1960s? Or, more to the point, is Kerry’s untimely, yet revealing, slur another manifestation of an opinion held in common by an entire political Party? Don’t forget that just two years ago, John F. Kerry was the Democrat’s anointed savior to run against enemy number one, President George W. Bush. Would a major political party in America throw their considerable weight behind a particular candidate without first whole-heartedly endorsing his own most deeply held convictions? It is no secret that Kerry ranks among the most liberal of his kind. Despite his superficial and transparent triangulation to cast himself as a moderate, or his priceless attempts at rusticity, Kerry’s haughty New England pedigree and down-the-line leftist voting record betray his true loyalties. The Democrats crowned him in Boston because he personifies their skewed vision of the world. Kerry stands as a prime apostle for the “BLAME AMERICA FIRST” movement in the United States and the rest of the world. We must not divorce his views from those held by the Party to which he subscribes. They are utterly indistinguishable.