Posted by
Team Turk on Wednesday, November 01, 2006 4:49:00 PM
John Kerry’s Career
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Republicans Tuesday said U.S. Sen. John Kerry insulted the troops when he told Los Angeles students they might "get stuck in Iraq" if they do not study hard.
"This is an absolute insult," said White House spokesman Tony Snow. "And I'm a little astonished that he didn't figure it out already. I mean, you know, if I were Senator Kerry -- I mean, you've seen me, I say something stupid, I apologize as quickly as possible. And this is something for which he ought to apologize."
President Bush and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., also denounced Kerry's remark, the New York Times reported.
The Massachusetts Democrat and 2004 presidential nominee struck back, although he said that he was making a "botched joke" during a campaign appearance for a Democratic congressional candidate Monday. He said that Snow and the others distorted what he said.
"I'm not going to be lectured by a stuffed-suit White House mouthpiece standing behind a podium, or doughy Rush Limbaugh, who no doubt today will take a break from belittling Michael J. Fox's Parkinson's disease to start lying about me just as they have lied about Iraq," Kerry said in a statement. "It disgusts me that these Republican hacks, who have never worn the uniform of our country lie and distort so blatantly and carelessly about those who have."