Hanno On Kerry

From Hanno:

The latest flap over John Kerry is solid bullshit and it amazes me how the Republican party can take absolutely nothing, turn it into a political issue, and have the press run with it. Kerry said

"You know, education -- if you make the most of it, you study hard and you do your homework and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well. If you don't, you get stuck in Iraq."

This is not about the troops. It is about W. Bush, who didn't study, doesn't know a damn thing about foreign policy or history (funny, given that he was a history major at Yale). And if you don't know anything about foreign policy or history, you make really really bad decisions, like starting a war in Iraq, and getting stuck. This is an assault on W's education, pure and simple.
But what is it turned into?

"The senator's suggestion that the men and women of our military are somehow uneducated is insulting and shameful," Bush said. "The men and women who serve in our all-volunteer armed forces are plenty smart and are serving because they are patriots -- and Sen. Kerry owes them an apology."

It is now at attack on the troops.

Never mind that even if Kerry meant what Bush says he means, it would be empty. We already know that most of the people doing the fighting are not college educated. They recruit mostly out of high school, with the promise of paying for an education after service. Never mind the truth, this is an insult! Never mind that the real insult is to Bush himself, no, its our troops he insults! Never mind that it is no insult to say of people that they did not go to college, it is an insult!

But know because 1) the president says it, it is news 2) lots of Republican leaders say it, it is news so now 3) there is a 'controversy' so it is news. It being news, we are plastered with it. This is right up there with the Presidential campaign. When Kerry said he hoped that terrorism could be reduced to a mere nuisance, Bush & co started a firestorm claiming that Kerry thinks terrorism *is* a mere nuisance, and the media ate it up, making something out of absolutely nothing. It reminds me of Michael Kinsley's comic write up of that incident, showing how even the Declaration of Independence can be twisted:

/President Bush:/ "My opponent, you see, wrote -- or he helped to write -- this document, this so-called Declaration of Independence. And in it, see, he says something about how we hold these truths to be self-evident. Now, self-evident is just a fancy word -- or actually it's two words: Of course I know that! I can count! -- it's just a fancy way of saying you don't have to say anything because folks already know it."In other words, he's saying that you don't have to tell the truth. Well, I just happen to disagree with that. I think the truth is one of the most important things in our great country. The truth is American. And it's good. It's good to tell the truth. But my opponent disagrees with that. He thinks you don't need to tell the truth. And I happen to think that's wrong. It's a difference in philosophy, you see."