Has Everyone But Us Gone Crazy?

Allah finds the full tape of the Kerry speech inonclusive. Because, apparently, the swipe at the military followed a couple of Bush jokes.

This is inapposite. It's irrelevant.

First of all, the "joke" as I believe it was intended -- which is precisely as it was delivered -- is still a swipe at Bush. It just happens to also include the implication that our soliders are dumb.

Because when Kerry says "make yourself smart or get educated, or you get stuck in Iraq," he's not offering Iraq up as a good place ot be. He intends, of course, to mean Iraq as a threat held out to those who don't "make themselves smart and get educated" -- and that is an indirect swipe at Bush (because Bush made Iraq so bad, so now you live in danger of being sent there if you don't de-retardify yourself).

Yes, he does mean it, as he means everything, as ultimately a crack about Bush. But he was, in fact, talking about our soldiers -- or rather, urging students to study up and not end up like our stupid, uneducated soldiers, winding up in Bush's unilateral war of choice.

Further, I find it rather asinine that the fact that Kerry made jokes about Bush to prove anything about what he said later.

He's Kerry. He's a Democrat. He's giving a speech on behalf of Democrat. Democrats are running against Bush.

Of course he made cracks about Bush. Every Democratic speech in America makes cracks about Bush.

This proves... what, exactly?

If a Democratic candidate said "The most pressing problem facing us today is wetbacks and their damnable cockfighting," and then claimed, "Oh, I meant to say 'the Bush Administration, not 'wetbacks and their damnable cockfighting," would their claim be buttressed by the fact that eariler in the speech they'd slammed Bush?

All of their speeches slam Bush. The fact that a speech slams Bush three, four, five, eight, ten times is hardly evidence of what was meant in any particular part of the speech.

That's like Kerry claiming his "joke" was obviously only meant to be an insult about Bush because he'd earlier used pauses while speaking, or jabbed his hand forcefully to emphasize a point.

He said what he said. According to Kerry's "written version" of the speech, he only managed to miss 12 or so words that would have made the reference directlly applicable to Bush.

One word? Maybe.

The guy missed a dozen frickin' words.

And yet conservatives are determined to somehow find evidence he didn't mean to say what he clearly did say, and what all of his fellow leftists say, and which he has never criticized his fellow leftists for saying.

I understand bending over backwards to give an opponent the benefit of the doubt.

I draw the line at bending over forwards, however.

Dan Riehl... has a similar take.

The trouble is this "joke about Bush" thing. Yes, it was intended, ultimately, to criticize Bush. But that's not the question.

The question is by what means does he get to that critique.

And the means by which he does so is to say that stupid, uneducated kids will "get stuck in Iraq" by Bush unless they put their heads under a sink and wash all that drooling-stupid out of their hair.

posted by Ace at 11:50 PM

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