Kerry's Iraq Gaffe: Disappointment for German Anti-Bush Journalists

John Kerry's Iraq gaffe

"If you make the most of it and you study hard and 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." (Video)

propels a prominent victim of the Bush Derangement Syndrome into maximum intellectual overdrive: the incomparable Bush-hater Marc Pitzke of SPIEGEL ONLINE. In his article

Kerry's appearance fires up dirt campaign of Republicans

you can sense the disappointment of Pitzke about Kerry's gaffe: not because Pitzke feels U.S. troops in Iraq deserve better grades for their intellectual abilities (after all, SPIEGEL ONLINE has diagnosed them as sick criminals, torturers, losers, etc.), but simply because he realizes that the election chances of Democrats have suddenly plunged.

What a Schande! Scores of German Washington correspondents in the last weeks had already predicted - no: guaranteed! - a desastrous defeat for Bush's Republicans in the November elections - and all of a sudden things brighten up for these brutal right-wing warmongers, capitalist pigs, intellectually challenged redneck idiots. That's not fair! This needs to be stopped in the tracks!!

I expect the German Washington correspondents in the run-up to the election to do their utmost to expose the sinister acitivities of Karl Rove and other Bush puppets!

It's just too bad American voters don't give a damn about what German journalists want them to believe...

Update 1: Pamela, thanks for the link to this picture right from Iraq... Awesome! It definitely reinforces the stereotypes and prejudices held by German journalists about American GI's! BTW, Iraq is spelled in the German version Irak. Hmm...

Update 2: Dick Cheney sums it up: "Of course, now Senator Kerry says he was just making a joke, and he botched it up. I guess we didn't get the nuance. He was for the joke before he was against it."
Another classic from the Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler: "Lurch Shoots Foot; Pauses to Reload."

Comments

[Pamela]

It's just too bad American voters don't give a damn about what German journalists want them to believe...

Oh, hell, we don't care what American journalists want us to believe either.

A Message to Kerry from Iraq

[beimami]

That "Message to Kerrty is a riot."

P.S. I would have translated "Auftritt" as "appearance" in this particular case.

Note from David: Thanks. Changed it.

[Pamela]

Kerry just caved.
"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," he said in a written statement.

"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 [was] never intended to refer to any troop," he said.

Yeah, and as a combat veteran he's a fucking traitor.

[wingman]

What was there to misinterpret? The way he said it, there was nothing to interpret in any other way. Given his history, I still doubt that he didn't mean it like he said it.

Of course, the German media was siding with him right away, trying to make him appear as the victim of a republican witch-hunt.

[WhatDoIKnow]

Only Kerry knows what he *really* meant. The thing is that it's hard to believe him considering his history. Wait, he might not know what he meant either ...

I can only speculate as to what he wanted to say (just like everyone else). I believe him when he says his "joke" was indeed meant to bash Bush. I really do. However, I strongly believe that it was also meant to include the military in it, as a collateral victim of his humor. I would say that his "joke" was about 80% Bush bashing and 20% military bashing. That's my armchair shrink analysis.

[jlwb]

a few weeks ago I was in a grocery store, getting some chicken.
The man next to me, out of the blue, said: "they are commiting murder in Iraq". I asked him if he was talking about our soldiers. He said yes. I told him my son was a soldier and in Iraq for his 2nd tour. and he said.........yes.......
"I support the troops!"
Do I believe that Kerry was making a joke? Yea, right.

[Gabi]

Schlammschlacht der Republikaner? Was ich seit Jahren beobachte, ist eine einzige riesige Schlammschlacht in Spiegel, Stern und SZ gegen die Republikanische Partei in den US. Pitzke und Konsorten sitzen so tief im Schlamm, daß sie nicht mehr sehen und denken können. Die Demokraten sind ihnen einfach lieber, weil ähnlicher. Ähnlich niveaulos, ähnlich populistisch in ihren Thesen. Schröder hätte gut reingepaßt.

[joe]

Curry (Kerry), Kennedy, Durbin, Soras, Turner et al are all demos. They are all anti-American and they all speak for the democrat party. Their voices are amplified by such M$M organizations in the US as the NYT, WashPo, CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS and lesser organs.

The Germans may want to see the demos take over Congress and in 08 the presidency. If that happens, Germans will regret this for generations to come.

Americans too will have a period of regret but will move past it. I hold no such hope for Germany.

[Scott_H]

"I sincerely regret that my words were misinterpreted ,,,"

What a typical, weasly non-apology. Not, "I regret saying what I said, I was wrong to say it" but rather, "I regret that everyone misunderstood what I said."

No, you arrogant blowhard, we understand perfectly.

[jane m]

during the 2004 election campaign, the American far left began the accusations (see DailyKos) that the American military was comprised of loser teen-agers, too dumb to get a job or get into any college. I read this many times on many blogs. Kerry, no doubt, secretely agreed and has been privately expressing such an opinion to his circle of political supporters to be a cool left winger. Such an opinion was born in the Viet Nam era due to the existence of the college draft deferrments. It's obvious - he made a fruedian slip and the truth came out much to his chagrin.

[Gabi]

A famous Republican? Because he is Anti-Bush, says Klüver in the SZ.

Ein Republikaner ist beliebt?! Weil er Anti-Bush ist, sagt Klüver in der SZ:

"US-Wahlen
Der Anti-Bush
Arnold Schwarzenegger ist einer von wenigen republikanischen Gouverneuren auf der Gewinnerstraße. Seine paradoxe Strategie: Er geht auf Distanz zum obersten Parteifreund."
Von Reymer Klüver

http://www.sueddeutsche.de/,tt2m3/ausland/artikel/489/90399/

Mehr haben unsere Journalisten nicht mehr zu sagen. Damit füllt man dann einen Artikel, und deutsche Leser sind satt informiert.

[PamM]

Kerry only says what many on the American left are thinking: that only those with no other prospects would think of enlisting in the military. This thinking goes back to the days of the draft, when blue collar kids got drafted and those whose parents could afford to send them to college got a deferment. (Yes, Kerry had that coveted degree but was in danger of being enlisted anyway, so he joined before he was forced to join.)

Now with an all-volunteer force, you get many people from many different walks of life entering the military. Many of them go on to get higher education degrees after they leave the service (if they don't have them going in), and often their military training leaves them much better equipped for the civilian workforce than their civilian counterparts.

Kerry himself was against an all-volunteer force, saying it would prey upon minorities and the poor. Statistics have shown that those who volunteer are primarily whites from middle-class backgrounds. (So much for that theory.) Unfortunately the limousine liberal mindset prevails, as Kerry has amply demonstrated.

Botched joke? The only thing Kerry botched here was what he thought the reaction to his words would be.