No Apology

By Amanda Carpenter
Human Events
October 31, 2006

In a live broadcast this afternoon in response to the intense reaction of his criticism about the intellect of U.S. troops, Democrat Sen. John Kerry (Mass.) refused to apologize for his remarks.

He charged, “If anyone owes our troops in the fields at an apology, it is the president and his failed team.”

Kerry said yesterday at a campaign stop at Pasadena City College, “You know education, if you make the most of it, you study hard, 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.”

He characterized those comments as a “broad joke about the president and the president' s people, not about the troops.”

Nineteen House Republicans have now called on Kerry to apologize for these remarks, led by Sen. John McCain (R.-Ariz.)

McCain was the first to issue a formal statement demanding Kerry apologize to U.S. troops. In it, he said “The suggestion that only the least educated Americans would agree to serve in the military and fight in Iraq, is an insult to every soldier serving in combat, and should deeply offend any American with an ounce of appreciation for what they suffer and risk so that the rest of us can sleep more comfortably at night."

Kerry intoned he would not be considering McCain’s request for an apology. “I will not be lectured by the White House or by the likes of Rush Limbaugh who is taking a day off from mimicking and attacking Michael j. Fox and who is now going to try to attack me, lies about me, and distort me,” he said.

“No way. It disgusts me that these Republican hacks who ever worn the uniform of our country are willing to lie about those who did.”