The Reporters: US mid-terms

Hard to argue? What a silly thing for you to say. The fact of the matter is this: the poor and uneducated are more likely to enlist. It's the simple truth, and would be even if Kerry hadn't admitted to mucking up the line (he was insulting Bush's intelligence, not the troops'). And it doesn't require a genius to realize that if you enlist, you'll likely end up in Iraq.

Who cares what John Kerry said,attempted joke or not. It's amazing with so many serious issues at stake, we would focus on any distraction. The White House and all the candidates need to stick to the issues and stop making a mountain out of a molehill (I believe that is the expression.)

If anything, Bush should apologize to the troops for sending them to Iraq. Still though, Kerry's comments are sketchy. He said the statement was misphrased, but either way, Kerry should know better. With less than one week to go until elections, this is the last thing the democrats need. Again, the dems are beating themselves.

Kerry has got it correct!
For example, during the Vietnam War, if you did not attend college, you were drafted upon graduating from high school. You simply went to Vietnam! It's that simple!
Kerry is not insulting soldeirs in Iraq; he is actually giving voice to the growing opposition to the war in the military today. Secondly, Kerry is telling you what the Bush administration has planned in the upcoming draft bill in Congress. Go read it! This new bill forces high school graduates to serve in the US military before attending college.

The complete comments say it all. Kerry was after Bush, Cheney, Limbaugh and all the other chicken-hawks.

They both seem capable of botching jokes but Kerry is still far smarter than Bush.

I think Senator Kerry finally remembered where his backbone is located. To me he is showing the difference between those do service, and those that give 'lip' service; making sure they and theirs are well hidden.

Is Mr. Greene joking? A 5 year old could see that Mr. Kerry was referring to Bush and Cheney. It's equally obvious that the Bush camp and McCain are blatantly spinning Kerry's words for political gain. Why can't Mr. Greene see this?

I think he was talking about the soldiers for if you see the pattern they are mostly uneducated and tough.

John Kerry was right. The kids who can afford top colleges and have parents rich enough that joining the army isn't a viable option don't join. They don't go to Iraq. It's the poor, the lower-educated who make up the ranks in the military, because the military will pay for your college if you serve. Why else do you think Bush and Cheney and Rumsfeld's kids aren't in uniform? Daddy's rich enough that they don't have to be. It's not an insult; it's the truth.

I suppose you think it's funny that Dub is responsible for getting over 100 of our young people killed this month so that the price of oil gets raised to where he and his fellow criminals can make more bucks.

I would love for "reporters" to stop joining in on the spin brigade and do their all important job as the 4th estate. Kerry was referring to George Bush in his criticism, not the soldiers. Clearly. Why Mr. Greene feels the need to join in the GOP spin attacks in a time of war is beyond me. It's tiresome. Can someone in the media call the GOP on their ridiculous spin for once? Is that too much to ask?

If Bush can't find anything better to talk about, then I think *he's* losing.

Shouldn't he be busy running the country?

Bush and Cheney are fools if they believe that their scare tactics are going to keep the Republicans from losing the House. Both men are acting out of sheer desperation. They both continue to lie and deceive by lumping the war on terrorism with the occupation of Iraq. They are shameful liars.

Hard to argue? Mr Greene you've got to be kidding. What Mr Kerry meant to say was all about President G.W. Bush not the troops in Iraq. Even my stupid dog Johny knows that.
I think Mr Greene owes his readers apology.

I guess he could have said that if you could get 5-deferments like Cheney did, you'd be safe. Still coming across a little kind if you ask me.

Mr. Greene sounds more like a cheerleader for the Bush Administration and the neocons than a Washington reporter. Where are the journalists when we need them most?

It's something no politician in his right mind would ever say, but the truth is....Kerry is absolutely right. These days, the only decent reason to join the armed forces is to get them to pay for college. Otherwise, joining the Army is for losers with no other good options in life.

You write that "when you review Mr Kerry’s comment, it’s hard to argue" that he was in California insulting the troops, as Mr. Bush and his spokesman would have us believe.

Perhaps you would profit by actually reading Kerry's explanation of the comment instead of dismissing explanation as a sign of political defeat. Kerry explains that he intended to say that if Bush had studied Iraq -- or listened to the hundreds of scholars who dedicated their lives to such study and told him that his war was doomed to failure -- before waging war against it, he would not have led us into a catastrophe like the one in which the US currently finds itself.

Let's see if this argument is so hard to make, as you allege. Interpreting the pronoun 'you' not as the second person pronoun but as a colloquial substitute for the third person, that is, 'one', we find that Kerry does not need to have been referring to his student audience. It is complete plausible that he was referring to the third person in general. Additionally, "getting stuck in Iraq" need not mean the passive construction of "someone sticks someone in Iraq." It could mean the reflexive "one gets oneself stuck in Iraq," in the sense of implementing policies that bring the US into Iraq in such a way that it cannot extract itself from Iraq.
Combining the interpretation of 'you' as 'one' and 'get stuck' as 'get oneself stuck', we see that it is completely plausible that Kerry meant what he says he meant, namely, "if one studies hard, one does not get oneself stuck in Iraq. Mr. Bush, known to have no interest in his studies, did not study the situation in Iraq before invading, and now he has gotten himself stuck in Iraq."
No doubt this joke could have been clearer. However, I have just as little doubt that this is what Kerry intended to say.

Of course, you will simply repeat that old maxim, "if you're explaining, you're losing." In doing so, you justify the laziness which allows you to content yourself with the first explanation you hear. Your unwillingness to hear out an explanation offered by someone other than the Bush administration, or even consider whether the Bush administration's explanation makes sense, displays the ideological prejudices that guide your reporting.

Mr. Kerry's comments have lent themselves to the explanation which Mr. Bush's spokesman has offered and which you parrot, and as such they have done damage to the Democratic cause. However, it is not Mr. Kerry who has done this damage but you and your ideologically grounded laziness as a 'reporter'.

It is clear that Kerry meant to insult GW in that comment. Bush is not an intelligent man, and people usually associate with like-minded people, hence the administration he picked to work with. The war is another Vietnam without the draft and we clearly saw the effects of Vietnam on economy and warfare. If Kerry runs and he keeps this current attitude, he very well may become the next president because he represents both the silent majority and those who let their voice be heard.

Mr. Kerry is an elitist and finds it hard to hide. To him people who enlist are not only poor and low class but also stupid and lazy. The rest of us are perhaps not smart enough to get Mr. Kerry's jokes.

I am so tired of the people who (like Kerry) are embarrassed to be US citizens. I have nothing to be embarrassed about, only to be proud about. Kerry has been dogging the Army since his days as an appeaser and so-called activist. Check the stats and one will see that the volunteer Army is made up equally from all US econonic sectors.
Some people marry well, others have to work for a living, John!

John Kerry only said what is universally acknowledged in the U.S. Why is that the prestigious, academically advanced prep schools don't receive the heavy pressure of military recruiters that more economically and socially depressed schools and students do? In many cases, the recruiters are so desperate to correct their underperforming quotas, that they bribe students to sign up. My full sympathies are with the students and their families, but John Kerry didn't say anything that any hardworking American doesn't know.

Mr. Green should be ashamed of himself,he is using Mr. Kerry's words out of context. What was said prior to this quote, that Mr. Bush was not smart enough, never studied hard enough to understand history and politics, that's why he is stuck in Iraq. Anybody understands this, but Mr. Green. He is deliberately chosing to ignore it, just trying to score some cheep points and now twisting the whole sentence.

So America isn't the only country in decline with lazy reporters...

Yeah, you're enabling them - bushco that is - because you're simply transmitting their bunk and calling it news. You call yourself a reporter?

Why don't you provide some critical analysis to the affair and say how bushco is trying to make hay out of what Kerry said, and how pathetic it is given what Kerry MEANT. He was referring to bush and his effort in regard to the Iraq war - HOW BUSH WAS LAZY AND DIDN'T DO HIS HOMEWORK, AND AS A RESULT IS STUCK IN THE SAND.

Geez, glad he didn't use some churchilian allusion or something. That would have sailed completely over your head.

You should not hold the job you're in. The BBC - and the public - are poorer for it.

I love that everyone who reads this and comments agrees with kerry. Of course we never hear from Bush supporters because they are less educated, and less prone to read the news.

All Kerry had to say was "Think about it."

After watching Kerry's comments play on national t.v. a dozen times today there should be NO doubt in what he said. It is a good reminder why Kerry LOST to Bush. So to those who have posted comments regarding Kerry's superior IQ, you may want to re-think that. As for Iraq being another Viet Nam. Study your history. Currently, the economy in the United States is in better shape now than it ever was during the Viet Nam war. Our armed forces are now all volunteer. After 9/11 many Americans, young and middle aged, enlisted in the military and continue to do so. There is a more educated military today than during the draft years of Viet Nam. Maybe the person who needs to do his homework is Kerry.

As a member of the military, I was very insulted by Senator Kerry's comments. He spoke in code to California liberals but his words were obvious.

However, I am a college graduate who CHOSE to go to the military just like every other person - the military is made up entirely of volunteers and we represent A CROSS-SECTION OF AMERICA.

The military is different from Vietnam, Korea and WWII when soldiers and sailors were drafted.

John Kerry has a history of insulting the troops. In the 1970s he called them rapists and criminals. He did the same thing earlier this year on the CBS show, "Face the Nation."

The Foley scandal received 2 weeks of attention for no reason. This man is the standard-bearer of the Democratic Party and his words matter.

...

I believe Bush graduated from Yale University. Would you even jokingly call him someone who didn't study hard and do his homework? Democrats who resort to insulting their opponants do not deserve the respect of the voter any more than incompetent and thick-headed Republicans. I don't think any of these characters has actually studied history or had a serious thought about accomplishing anything other than their own self-interests. Where is Kerry's plan?

I am disappointed with Kerry's comment. I don't think that was the message he was trying to send out but the truth is that he did. The US military have one of the best intellects compared to any other military in the world past or present. I am previleged to deal with these intellects of today and tomorrow on a daily bases at west point. As a hard working cadet, I am not happy because I believe Kerry insulted my future troops.

Kerry is a Senator (1 of 100) in the minority party in the senate. Who cares if he makes a joke and botches the delivery? His stupid comment, even if it was not meant to be has no bearing on anything in the real world. People are dying by the scores and President Bush has time to respond to criticism from an irrelevant senator? Why is this news? By the tone of every other response to this blog, it isn't. Kerry is the junior senator from one of the smallest states in the union and has no bearing on how things are run in this country because of his position in the minority party so shouldn't we all worry about things that matter? And, lest we forget, Kerry served his country in a time of war much unlike those who are in charge of this war.

Despite the set up by the commentator, it was obvious to me that the person Kerry meant had wasted his Yale education was President Bush. That this could be misconstrued is clear even to him as he calls the joke "botched". As someone who was "stuck" in Viet Nam, I don't think he meant the soldiers at all, but the people who sent them there, and now have to find a prettier way to say "cut and run." But I am sure many people will take offence, and no doubt conservative pundits will flog this "shamelessly." I would hope that our servicemen and women are smart enough to see for themselves what Kerry meant.

oh yeah, what a scandal. after a comment like that, i demand an apology. it's like, he's insulting the troops. everyone knows that most troops are wealthy and college educated. and selected by god, like angels. selected by god to stop evil and spread freedom. so, i say to mr. kerry and his gerrymandering quotas, keep your negativity to yourself! our troops are out there protecting your freedom. it's ironic how liberals are always all negative about stuff.
and yeah, it's like a gift for the republican party. i mean, an offensive quote like that just shows how bush has the moral highground. kerry must surely resign.

Bush and his friends are desperate.They are about to loose so they want to pick on Kerry.Kerry was right to insult Bush's intelligence.

This only becomes a "gift" when its given the attention it least deserves by "reporters" such as yourself Mr Greene.As has been said above,its fairly easy to understand what John Kerry meant and its also the truth. What I do have trouble understanding however, is why you dont care to "report" on other "gifts" the Bush administration has received in the last few weeks? Eg; The John Warner Defense Authorization Act of 2007 or The Military Commissions Act of 2006
Or how about the little "gifts" its managed to push out to, amongst others,Haliburton and its engineering and construction subsidiary, Kellog, Brown & Root?
Come on! With the wealth of things that you really could be wasting our time with, why choose to do it with this nonsense?

Kerry: “If anyone thinks a veteran would criticize the more than 140,000 heroes serving in Iraq and not the president who got us stuck there, they're crazy."

look in the mirror -- you be crazy!

Hey man, this is not a gift for Bush.
Today nothing can boost Bush, he went to vicious extremes and he is paying the prize.
Are you a serious reporter, where is your analysis?

If you look at Kerrys statement Mr Greene, its quite obvious who won this round, and it sure isnt George Bush. If Kerry had talked back with guts like this in '04, we all wouldnt be enduring the moronic criminal catastrophe of Bush's war, Bush's disaster mismanagement,Bush's economic shambles, and worst of all Bush's wilfull obstruction of any positive attempt to deal with climate change. Mr Greene, you sound like every other Republican party shill in the corporate US media. Wake up & smell the coffee, BBC!