Spin

The best defense is a good offense. Senator John Kerry came out on stage before live national television cameras and distinctly did not apologize for his remark about those who serve in Iraq. Given that all these things are on the record, that was pretty surprising, even for political tactics.

What did Kerry originally say?

Speaking to a group of students at Pasadena City College on Monday, Kerry said:

“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. And if you don’t, you get stuck in Iraq.”

That’s the black and white of it, the quote and the words, on the record, that Kerry said.

What did he say in the damage-control press conference this afternoon?

“I apologize to no one for my criticism of the president and his broken policy,” Kerry told reporters in a press conference in Seattle. “My statement yesterday, and the White House knows this full-well, was a botched joke about the president and the president’s people and not about the troops.”

A botched joke about the president and the president’s people? Botched, yes. But he said what he said, and in the process of trying to change the subject, accused the president and the president’s people of trying to change the subject. He was clearly rattled, and grew increasingly caustic.

Our men and women in Iraq, as Lt. Col. Oliver North said on my radio show last Memorial Day, are noble, honorable, intelligent, well-trained and well-tested heroes. They all volunteered for this service to this country and the cause of freedom. That includes freedom of speech, but criticism of the troops who are in Iraq because you don’t want the U.S. to be in Iraq is irresponsible use of that freedom. It’s political spinning out of control.