John Kerry Retreats

John Kerry has decided NOT to stay the course.

He's starting to abandon his broken policy of "I apologize to no one."

Kerry and the Dems realize that it's time to cut and run.

WASHINGTON -- Sen. John Kerry apologized for "a botched joke" about President Bush's Iraq policies that led Bush and fellow Republicans to accuse him of insulting U.S. troops. Even some Democrats assailed Kerry, who had some campaign appearances scratched Wednesday.

"Of course I'm sorry about a botched joke. You think I love botched jokes?" Kerry said during an appearance on Don Imus' nationally syndicated radio program. "I mean, you know, it's pretty stupid."

Kerry, D-Mass., said he meant no offense to troops. "You cannot get into the military today if you do badly in school," he said. But he said the White House was purposely twisting his words, and asserted that it is Bush who owes troops an apology for a misguided war in Iraq.

"I'm sorry that that's happened," he said of his comment. "But I'm not going to stand back from the reality here, which is, they're trying to change the subject. It's their campaign of smear and fear."

A number of elected officials are weighing in today on Kerry's "botched joke."

A string of Kerry's fellow Dems have cancelled campaign appearances with the troop-bashing Kerry.

"Whatever the intent, Senator Kerry was wrong to say what he said," said Democratic Rep. Harold Ford Jr., running for the Senate in Tennessee.

"Sen. Kerry's remarks were poorly worded and just plain stupid," said Montana Senate President Jon Tester, a Democrat trying to unseat GOP Sen. Conrad Burns. "He owes our troops and their families an apology."

"I'm sorry he did what he did. But I think the issue ... we want to make sure it doesn't confuse the subject of the war in Iraq," Democratic Rep. Ben Cardin, running for Senate in Maryland, said on CNN.

A spokesman for Democratic congressional candidate Bruce Braley in Iowa said Braley had decided independently to cancel an event with Kerry scheduled for Thursday. Braley, who is running against Republican Mike Whalen, said in a statement that the White House and Kerry should stop bickering and focus on how to change course in Iraq.

Meredith Salsbery, a spokeswoman for congressional candidate Tim Walz, said Kerry made the final decision but acknowledged campaign officials were worried that the controversy would distract from his effort to unseat incumbent Republican Rep. Gil Gutknecht.

Kerry spokesman David Wade confirmed he no longer would appear at a Philadelphia rally on Wednesday for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Bob Casey.

"We made a decision not to allow the Republican hate machine to use Democratic candidates as proxies in their distorted spin war," Wade said.

...Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York, head of the Democratic campaign effort, called the White House attacks on Kerry an effort by Bush "to divert attention from his failed Iraq policy."

"Instead of going on television attacking John Kerry and everyone else under the sun, the president ought to be sitting at his desk coming up with a plan for Iraq," Schumer said.

Chuckie is so lame.

The White House isn't attacking Kerry. It's standing up for our troops.

Why do you think Kerry's remarks have touched such a nerve?

I think it's because Kerry's comments tap directly into the great divide in this country.

--Victory v. Defeat

--Supporting the mission v. Undermining the mission

--Fighting our enemies v. Appeasing our enemies

--Supporting our troops v. Disdaining our troops

The head of the Democratic party also downplayed Kerry's remarks. "Kerry made a blooper. Bloopers happen," Howard Dean told reporters in Burlington, Vt.

If anyone knows bloopers, Dr. Dean knows bloopers.



This isn't about a "botched joke" or a "blooper."

It's about the impression that Democrats and their lib media mouthpieces aren't with us in the borderless War on Terror.

Lynne Cheney posed THE question to CNN's Wolf Blitzer last week: "Do you want us to win?"

That gets right to the heart of the matter.

When The New York Times splashes stories revealing national secrets that aid and abet our enemies--

When John Kerry says, "And there is no reason, Bob, that young American soldiers need to be going into the homes of Iraqis in the dead of night,terrorizing kids and children, you know, women, breaking sort of the customs of the--of--the historical customs, religious customs"--

When John Murtha accuses our American soldiers of murder, "they killed innocent civilians in cold blood"--

When Dick Durbin says, "If I read this to you and did not tell you that it was an FBI agent describing what Americans had done to prisoners in their control, you would most certainly believe this must have been done by Nazis, Soviets in their gulags, or some mad regime—Pol Pot or others —that had no concern for human beings"--

When Ted Kennedy says, "Shamefully, we now learn that Saddam's torture chambers reopened under new management: US management"--

It's "crystal clear" what the Dems and the Leftist propaganda media outlets think of our military.
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Kerry has conceded, sort of.

He issued an apology, or as The New York Times puts it, "Kerry Offers Apology for Iraq Remark."

That's a slimy Times headline. It wasn't an "Iraq remark" that caused members of Kerry's own party to run from him as if he had the plague. It was a remark disparaging the troops.

Everyone knows that. It's pathetic that The Times can't be honest.

From The Times:

Senator John Kerry tried this afternoon to put what he called a “poorly stated joke” behind him for good, offering an apology for anything he said on Monday that might have been interpreted as an insult to American troops in Iraq.

“As a combat veteran, I want to make it clear to anyone in uniform and to their loves ones: my poorly stated joke at a rally was not about, and never intended to refer to any troop,” Mr. Kerry said in a statement. “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.”

Blah, blah, blah. It wasn't a poorly stated joke. The Times later refers to it as "Mr. Kerry’s gaffe."

Give me a break!

He trashed the troops, a pattern he's maintained since he came back from Vietnam.

Here's Kerry's 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 never intended to refer to any troop.

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.

It is clear the Republican Party would rather talk about anything but their failed security policy. I don't want my verbal slip to be a diversion from the real issues. I will continue to fight for a change of course to provide real security for our country, and a winning strategy for our troops.

Kerry regrets that his words were misinterpreted. In effect, he blames those doing the "misinterpreting."

That's a crock.

It's cowardly.

What a loser!