Just some heapin' helpin' of "support the troops"

Every blogger, and most senators, make mistakes. I am sure I will regret comments and posts in the not too distant future. However, when I read something like this from the Left Wing Blogosphere, I become irate. We (and I use the first person plural for the last time) should be a little smarter than this. Steve Gilliard, now oft-linked from the Right:

Jesus, so many people are so nervous about what John Kerry said, like he's lying.

John Kerry is telling the truth and everyone knows it. Rich kids do not join the military, college bound kids don't join the military, only the poor and those who can't get scholarships do. Acting like he was lying or insulting people is just bullshit.

First, John Kerry did not say what Steve said John said, at least that is what Kerry said (re-read that sentence if you want to reflect on how well the Democrats stay on message before an election). Here is what John said he meant to say, CNN:

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Sen. John Kerry apologized Wednesday for a "poorly stated joke," which the Massachusetts senator says was aimed at the president but was widely perceived as a slam on U.S. troops.

"I sincerely regret that my words were misinterpreted to wrongly imply anything negative about those in uniform, and I personally apologize to any service member, family member, or American who was offended," he said in a written statement.

I suggest that Mr. Gilliard examine a few biographies of some volunteers in our Armed Forces. Start with Pat Tillman. Yeah, he had no options in life. Just some dumb kid. Or what about PFC Jeremy Staat, Tillman's former roommate and now a member of the Marine Corps. You can read an interview that Staat gave with CNN right after he got the Marine Seal pinned to his uniform. Then there is former Wall Street Journal reporter Matt Pottinger.

There are plenty of men and women with plenty of options in their life that are willing to risk their necks for $1600 a month in the United States Armed Forces. It is too bad that these brave people have to go into harm's way with insufficient manpower and dwindling public support. But, there are a few bloggers out there that will trumpet "support the troops" so they can enhance their arguments against a president that they disdain. John Kerry may have cost the Democrats their chance at the Senate. We in the left should rue the day he got his groove back. Steve Gilliard and the clowns with keyboards have been a force multiplier for Kerry's political and comical ignorance. We should rue the day that they signed up on Blogger.com.