Possumblog

Reporting for Doofus

I know all the pundit blogs have covered in great detail the latest verbal gaffe flung by the junior Senator from Massachusetts, so I really have nothing to add.

Except.

This is why the Democrats continue to lose elections. A lame attempt at humor? This is supposed to be a member of the World's Greatest Deliberative Body. Yes, I know Joe Biden is in there, too--and both of them are politically tone-deaf dunces, but nonetheless they continue to put themselves forward as Great Men of Thought, and revile those of us who vote conservative as knuckle-dragging troglodytes. We may very well be, but please don't think you're any better or any smarter than us. Because if you can't tell a joke the right way, by definition you're a friggin' idiot.

Second--you're lying. Not only was it not a botched attempt at a joke, it was a most revealing glimpse of your truest feelings, that being that anyone who joins the military is a sucker, a dumb sucker, a poor dumb sucker who can't do anything else because he didn't graduate from Yale and marry two heiresses, and a poor dumb sucker who can't do anything else because he didn't graduate from Yale and marry two heiresses AND who can't see how superior Democrats are in every scientifically measureable way and that anyone who doesn't vote for them is evil and probably going out right now to lynch 'em up a bunch of Negroes. Oh, and Democrats are kind and tolerant toward others. And they really love all that Jesus crap that people talk about.

Third--since we've already decided Senator "I have that hat to this day" is a dunce, it's probably not worth noting that his "fiery" rebuttal is idiotic in that no one is asking him to apologize to the President. Bush gets worse things said about him by better men than John Kerry every day of his life--that's part of his job as President. He asks no apologies from anyone. But to bow up and act like you're being Swiftboated because it sounded like you were telling college kids to make sure they get an education or else they'll end up in Iraq, well, it defies reason. And THIS is the man people talk about being so smart!?

Look--I'm willing to let the poor dumb sap try to wiggle out of this by saying he misspoke, but he seems as incapable of admitting an error in judgement as Bill Clinton was about his mendaciousness. All that had to have been said was--"I said something that is being construed as a shot against the men and women of the military, and I understand how it came out that way. Let me say that I apologize to them that I made it sound that way, and I know that the members of our militiary are today some of the best and most educated leaders we have in our society. Military service is a noble goal, and we'd do well to encourage our college students to consider a career in the millitary after graduation to help us make our armed forces even stronger and more capable."

That's what I want to hear.

But I know I won't.

Yes, I know it's unfair to paint all Democrats with a Lurch brush, because there are some who are conservative, and who do not defend in any way either what Senator Kerry said or his mangled meltdown of a reponse. But let's face it--Kerry spoke what passes for the truth for a wide swath of those who consider themselves Democrats--that the military is full of mindless victims who are too ill prepared in life to do anything else. This perception of the Democrats, more than anything else, is why they are mistrusted with national defense.

Do the Republicans "deserve" to maintain control of Congress. No, no more than any partisan group "deserves" anything. Both parties have their full share of political opportunists and swindlers, and neither of them deserve anything.

But do Americans deserve to allow the affairs of our nation--particularly our international affairs that rely heavily upon a well-trained and usable military--to be run by a group of people who have nothing but utter contempt for those who put on a uniform in defense of the United States; who see them as nothing more than a subhuman murderers? No, I don't think we need that, either. But that bitter ideology is what has become prevalent within the national Democratic party.

I've said previously it's a bad idea to try to punish Republicans by taking away their power, mainly because the alternative is to give power to the Democrats. This whole minor imbroglio is a perfect example of why. Not only have the Democrats not earned our trust, they've done everything in their power to cement their reputations as undependable in a crisis--even one that could have been so easily corrected.

They can't even fight a minor brushfire in their own ranks, and yet they want control? They don't want to fight our enemies, but they have no trouble acting tough when they know it costs them nothing?

I am reminded of the episode of Seinfeld when George is waiting on the unemployment office to call him at Jerry's apartment, which he told them was Vandelay Industries, a company that sells latex. When they call, George is in the bathroom, and has to come running out to try to answer the phone, but with his pants down around his ankles, he trips and he falls facefirst onto the floor. Jerry comes in, looks down in mild disgust, and says, "So you want to be my latex salesman?"

Posted by Terry Oglesby at November 1, 2006 11:49 AM