Foort In Mouth?

LaShawn Barber is a Christian conservative of African-American persuasion. She thinks Kerry just flubbed a line, but compounded his error by refusing to say so:

And, perhaps worst of all, he won’t apologize to the troops for giving the impression that he thinks they’re stupid, and he won’t humble himself and tell critics exactly what he was supposed to say! It’s not enough to go on the defensive and call Republicans “hacks…willing to lie.” Correct the record! According to a “Kerry aide,” he was supposed to say this:

“I can’t overstress the importance of a great education. Do you know where you end up if you don’t study, if you aren’t smart, if you’re intellectually lazy? You end up getting us stuck in a war in Iraq.”

That’s a clear reference to Bush, who Kerry implies is dumb. But it came out like this:

“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.”

I’m trying to figure out why Kerry has not released his prepared speech to the press. It would clear up this whole mess (I contacted his office yesterday and requested a copy - still waiting). Instead, Republicans and conservatives have jumped all over this. As a conservative, I’m embarrassed that my “brethren” are willing to use our troops to score points for the mid-term elections. It was a botched joke, for crying out loud. Let it go!

I'd give the guy the benefit of the doubt, too, if he'd just say "I goofed. Sorry 'bout that."

LaShawn's right. If he owned up to a flub and apologized he should be forgiven. Harder to do with folks one doesn't like.

Unfortunately, the man is self-absorbed and not very swift. He also wants to be President of the United States. Forgiving a flub and supporting a pompous bozo are two very different things.