Kerry apologizes for Iraq joke, cancels appearances

From the AP via the Houston Chronicle:

"Of course, now Senator Kerry says he was just making a joke, and he botched it up," Vice President Dick Cheney said in remarks prepared for a campaign appearance in Montana. "I guess we didn't get the nuance. He was for the joke before he was against it."

The jab was designed to recall Kerry's inartful comment from the last election that he had voted for $87 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan before he voted against it.

Two days ago, Kerry stirred controversy when he told a group of California students that individuals who don't study hard and do their homework would likely "get stuck in Iraq." Aides said the senator had mistakenly dropped one word from his prepared remarks, which was originally written to say "you end up getting us stuck in a war in Iraq." In that context, they said, it was clear Kerry was referring to Bush, not to the troops.

The speed with which party leaders and candidates shoved Kerry aside underscored the difficulty he will face running for the nomination after leading the party to defeat in 2004. He also had the misfortune of being disinvited from an appearance in Iowa — the state whose caucuses will begin the delegate selection process for the White House race.

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Christ, this is so pathetic. This is one of the main reasons why Democrats are the loser party, and, even if they manage to take Congress next Tuesday, it's also why they'll probably be fairly ineffective as the majority party. Kerry, for whom I voted in '04 but don't really respect, obviously didn't insult the troops. I think it's fairly safe to buy the missing word story. He misspoke. Big fucking deal. What's happening here is that the Republicans have nothing positive on which to run, but they still posess amazing capabilities when it comes to smearing opponents, and that's exactly what they're doing. Of course, everytime that happens the Democrats start to cower like the big fucking pussies they are. Fucking idiots. Didn't any of these donkey butts take notice when Bill Clinton on Fox a few weeks back showed them how to fight back? Man, when one of your own is attacked you don't join in the dog pile: you help him out. All this retreat does is help the Republicans.

God, I hate the Democrats.

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