Posted by
Buster Foghorn on Saturday, November 04, 2006 10:30:25 PM
John Kerry’s statement about the troops in Iraq at Pasadena Community College on October 30, 2006, created quite a stir. The words themselves were very clear: "You know, education, if you make the most of it, if you study hard and you do your homework, and you make an effort to be smart, uh, you, you can do well. If you don't, you get stuck in Iraq."
Hours later, after his warning to a junior college audience about the “value of an education or you can end up in Iraq” comment had traveled across the Internet, the negative reaction built to a point where Senator Kerry was forced to hold a press conference. Over the ensuing days, the Senator continued to keep the story in the news. First, at his press conference, the Senator said he refused to apologize to anyone. Second, he subsequently said he left out a word. Third, he said it was actually a little more than a dozen words. And finally, he posted a statement on his web site, I am sorry if you misinterpreted what I said [implication: because you were too stupid to read my mind].
While many were just calling for the Senator to apologize for his comment, some supporters indulged in convoluted efforts to keep up with the Senator’s frequent iterations of his defense. Even the NY Times got trapped between version 2.0 and the upgrade to version 3.0 when they tried to defend Kerry for the failure to include a single word in his purported joke -- “us.“ What to do if you were a fence sitter and not sure how to divine Senator Kerry’s intent as to whether it was an intentional insult or a flubbed joke? Perhaps a way to approach a decision would be to apply my Grandpa’s beef stew test.
Years ago I went with my family to visit my grandfather in New England. One evening my Dad offered to take Grandpa out for dinner and Grandpa suggested we try a new restaurant that had just opened out near two-mile corner on the outskirts of town.
Of course, when we were seated and saw the menu, we all knew what Grandpa would order. He was an inveterate lover of beef stew and it was prominently displayed on the menu as a specialty of the house. Sure enough when the time came for Grandpa to order, he said, “I think I’ll have some of your beef stew.”
Something unexpected happened, however, when Grandpa later began to eat the beef stew-- his face turned from pure delight to extreme displeasure. After he took one bite of the beef, he called the waitress and told her to take it all back. My Dad asked what was wrong and Grandpa said the beef was rancid. I remember that Grandpa didn’t pick through the stew trying to find some good pieces of beef; he sent it all back.
Similarly, if Senator Kerry is found to have made any misstatements during this controversy, there is little reason to pick through his various iterations to try to find a defense somewhere. For example, at his press conference Senator Kerry said that as a veteran he would never criticize the military heroes serving in Iraq. So, what are we to make then of his prior criticism of the troops when he testified before Congress in the early 1970s and his critical comments about US troops in Iraq terrorizing families in the dead of night on Face The Nation just last year?
Since the Senator in his press conference denied ever criticizing the military and he is on record as having done so in the past, do we really need to pick through his defense or should we -- like Grandpa -- just reject it all? Why should we be concerned with whether he left out one word or twelve? Who cares if he intended to tell a bad joke or not, the words were very clear and the posting of a lame apology that fails to acknowledge the insult or take responsibility for it is as rancid as the stew Grandpa rejected.