November 1, 2006--It's the Stupidity, Stupid!
This time it’s not the economy, stupid. It’s just the stupidity.
The most recent example—Senator John Kerry lobbing a political softball to Karl Rove and company when he “misspoke” while attempting a lame joke about Bush and company not being the sharpest tacks in town. (See linked NY Times article.)
So now it’s “All Kerry All the Time.” If you want a dose, go right now and switch on MSNBC. They’re devoting the entire day to the upcoming election, but all they are talking about is what Kerry really meant when he said if you don’t do well in school you’ll wind up “stuck” in Iraq. Was he attempting to say that because Bush is so uneducated (read “stupid”) he is stuck in Iraq or did he, in a Freudian moment, call the troops illiterates?
Who should care? Kerry’s not running for anything right now and neither is Bush. But the Bush strategists (or should I say “tacticians” since we’re staying the “strategic” course) have jumped all over this as a drowning person grabs for a life preserver. Kerry, on the very day that the number of U.S. troops killed in Iraq in October passed 100, handed them on the proverbial silver platter a gaff so ideally constructed to distract voters from the real issues that one can hear the sound of Republicans drooling from coast to coast.
A lot of Democrats, though cringing at Kerry ineptly inserting himself into the middle of the closing days of the campaign, are saying, “Well, he at least did two good things—one, he got the electorate focused again on Iraq [this is supposed to be good for Democrat candidates] and, two, like Bill Clinton with Chris Wallace, he took Bush and Snow and Rove on in a ballsy way, showing that Democrats are Real Men and not just a bunch of pansies who will surrender to terrorists.”
As a liberal Democrat who at the moment only cares about seeing Democrats take control of both Houses of Congress, I view this in an entirely different way—as yet another disastrous example of Democrats shooting themselves in the foot in the face of victory by always having to appear smarter than all those Rednecks out there in Kansas sucking on a beer. Kerry in effect said to them: “Who are you going to believe—me or your own ears?”
Since the answer is obvious, instead of issuing all sorts of clarifications, as good and ballsy as they in fact were (“I’m not going to be lectured by a stuffed suit White House mouthpiece standing behind a podium.”), he should simply have said:
“I really stepped in it this time [Real Guys like excrement jokes]. Boy, am I a jerk [Real Women like self-chastising men]. I think I should have stood in bed [bad grammar is often a good thing]. In fact, since I can’t seem to say anything these days without putting my foot in my mouth, I’m gonna stay home with Teresa until after Election Day [dropping the “ing” is always smart]. And, it breaks my heart, as a combat veteran [he has to say this—he can’t totally control himself] if out of carelessness and stupidity I gave the impression that I have anything but respect and appreciation to all of our troop-heroes who are risking and losing their lives in the cause of freedom.”
QED: One-day story, because, Stupid, it’s always about the longwinded explanations and clarifications, the definitions of “is,” and, yes, the cover-ups.
The most recent example—Senator John Kerry lobbing a political softball to Karl Rove and company when he “misspoke” while attempting a lame joke about Bush and company not being the sharpest tacks in town. (See linked NY Times article.)
So now it’s “All Kerry All the Time.” If you want a dose, go right now and switch on MSNBC. They’re devoting the entire day to the upcoming election, but all they are talking about is what Kerry really meant when he said if you don’t do well in school you’ll wind up “stuck” in Iraq. Was he attempting to say that because Bush is so uneducated (read “stupid”) he is stuck in Iraq or did he, in a Freudian moment, call the troops illiterates?
Who should care? Kerry’s not running for anything right now and neither is Bush. But the Bush strategists (or should I say “tacticians” since we’re staying the “strategic” course) have jumped all over this as a drowning person grabs for a life preserver. Kerry, on the very day that the number of U.S. troops killed in Iraq in October passed 100, handed them on the proverbial silver platter a gaff so ideally constructed to distract voters from the real issues that one can hear the sound of Republicans drooling from coast to coast.
A lot of Democrats, though cringing at Kerry ineptly inserting himself into the middle of the closing days of the campaign, are saying, “Well, he at least did two good things—one, he got the electorate focused again on Iraq [this is supposed to be good for Democrat candidates] and, two, like Bill Clinton with Chris Wallace, he took Bush and Snow and Rove on in a ballsy way, showing that Democrats are Real Men and not just a bunch of pansies who will surrender to terrorists.”
As a liberal Democrat who at the moment only cares about seeing Democrats take control of both Houses of Congress, I view this in an entirely different way—as yet another disastrous example of Democrats shooting themselves in the foot in the face of victory by always having to appear smarter than all those Rednecks out there in Kansas sucking on a beer. Kerry in effect said to them: “Who are you going to believe—me or your own ears?”
Since the answer is obvious, instead of issuing all sorts of clarifications, as good and ballsy as they in fact were (“I’m not going to be lectured by a stuffed suit White House mouthpiece standing behind a podium.”), he should simply have said:
“I really stepped in it this time [Real Guys like excrement jokes]. Boy, am I a jerk [Real Women like self-chastising men]. I think I should have stood in bed [bad grammar is often a good thing]. In fact, since I can’t seem to say anything these days without putting my foot in my mouth, I’m gonna stay home with Teresa until after Election Day [dropping the “ing” is always smart]. And, it breaks my heart, as a combat veteran [he has to say this—he can’t totally control himself] if out of carelessness and stupidity I gave the impression that I have anything but respect and appreciation to all of our troop-heroes who are risking and losing their lives in the cause of freedom.”
QED: One-day story, because, Stupid, it’s always about the longwinded explanations and clarifications, the definitions of “is,” and, yes, the cover-ups.
posted by Steven Zwerling at
10:10 AM
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