Right Side of the Rainbow

Now he’s lying.

A man who has called American troops rapists, murderers and terrorists — “reminiscent of Genghis Khan” — wants you to believe he couldn’t have also called them stupid. He says “right wing nut-jobs” have distorted his words:

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. This is the classic G.O.P. playbook. I’m sick and tired of these despicable Republican attacks that always seem to come from those who never can be found to serve in war, but love to attack those who did.

We can ignore the chickenhawk non sequitur, which says that if you’re not a police officer you can’t support crime fighting. Here, again, is what the man said:

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.

Manifestly, John Kerry is not referring to the president; he’s referring to the troops. That’s not just a fair read of his comments. That’s the only reasonable read of his comments.

John Kerry had two intellectually viable options here. He could have issued a simple, direct apology to the men and women he maligned.

Or he could have told the truth.

He could have embraced his remarks and expanded upon them. He could have admitted that in addition to seeing American troops as brutal thugs, he also sees them as stupid yahoos. His base would have cheered him.

Have many times has John Kerry told us the Bush Administration is a cabal of liars? How many times has he accused Republicans of being dishonest in their pursuit of power? And yet here, when he had the opportunity to tell the American people the truth as he — and many other Democrats — see it, he prevaricated.

John Kerry is a lout and a fraud.

ADDED —

Here’s the video:

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