John Kerry’s getting plenty of support for his tough response to today’s Republican distortions of his comments on education, George Bush, and Iraq. Retired U.S. Army Lieutenant General Claudia J. Kennedy, the first woman to achieve the rank of three-star general in the United States Army, defended Senator John Kerry today in the wake of right-wing attacks. In a statement, Kennedy said:

“Senator John Kerry has served our country with great distinction, both in the military and in the United States Senate. The men and women of our armed forces know they have a friend and tireless advocate in John Kerry. When it comes to Iraq, he’s right to stand up against baseless attacks, and right to keep fighting for a better course for our troops and our country.”

At Talking Points Memo, Josh Marshall touched on the issue several times today. He agreed that Kerry’s punch-back press conference was “the right response. Nothing to apologize for. What does he have to apologize for to the president and his party who’ve gotten thousands of Americans killed on their altar of their arrogance and lies.

Over at Daily Kos, Markos, who noted that “…I haven’t been shy to pile on Kerry when warranted,” called what the Republicans were doing “a load of bullshit.” According to Markos, “Kerry responded the right way. Not by bowing to the full blast of the right wing noise machine, but by standing up to it on behalf of our troops, our nation, and the truth.”

 

[Editor’s Note: All comments will be held through the night. Feel free to leave comments, but they will not be published until about 7 am eastern time]

John Kerry took time today to speak about the speech he made yesterday and the distortions that have appeared today.   <!-more->
And here’s what Max Cleland had to say this afternoon:

“I think people will remember John Kerry’s press conference today as the moment we Democrats stopped once and forever accepting the disgraceful smears of Republicans. John Kerry showed our Party how to fight back with the truth.

“John Kerry is a patriot who has fought tooth and nail for veterans ever since he came home from Vietnam. He has stood with his brothers in arms unlike this Administration which exploits our troops to make a political point and divide America.

“John Kerry should apologize to no one for his criticism of the President and his broken policy in Iraq. George Bush is the one who owes our troops an apology. This is text book Republican campaign tactics.

“Everybody knows it’s not working this time around. If anyone thinks a veteran would criticize the more than 140,000 heroes serving in Iraq and not the president who got us stuck there, they’ve got a partisan political agenda and that’s the bottom line. We’re not going to take it any more.”

 

Kerry: “If anyone owes our troops in the fields an apology, it is the President”

Transcript of John Kerry Responding to Attacks on his Remarks

Today in a press conference in Seattle, Washington, John Kerry responded to Republican attacks and partisan efforts to distort his botched George Bush joke.

Below is a transcript of Kerry’s remarks, as delivered:

SENATOR KERRY: Let me make it crystal clear, as crystal clear as I know how: I apologize to no one for my criticism of the president and of his broken policy.

If anyone owes our troops in the fields an apology, it is the President and his failed team and a Republican majority in the Congress that has been willing to stamp—rubber-stamp policies that have done injury to our troops and to their families.

My statement yesterday - and the White House knows this full well - was a botched joke about the president and the president’s people, not about the troops.

The White House’s attempt to distort my true statement is a remarkable testament to their abject failure in making America safe. It’s a stunning statement about their willingness to reduce anything in America to raw politics. It’s their willingness to distort, their willingness to mislead Americans, their willingness to exploit the troops, as they have so many times at backdrops, at so many speeches at which they have not told the American people the truth.

I’m not going to stand for it. <!-more-> What our troops deserve is a winning strategy. And what they deserve is leadership that is up to the sacrifice that they’re making.

Sadly, this is the best that this administration can do in a month when we have lost 100 young men and women who have given their lives for a failed policy.

Over half the names on the Vietnam wall were put there after our leaders knew that our policy was wrong. And it was wrong that leaders were quiet then, and I’m not going to be quiet now.

This is a textbook Republican campaign strategy: Try to change the topic; try to make someone else the issue; try to make something else said the issue, not the policy, not their responsibility.

Well, everybody knows it’s not working this time, and I’m not going to stand around and let it work. If anyone thinks that a veteran, someone like me, who’s been fighting my entire career to provide for veterans, to fight for their benefits, to help honor what their service is, if anybody thinks that a veteran would somehow criticize more than 140,000 troops serving in Iraq and not the president and his people who put them there, they’re crazy.

It’s just wrong. This is a classic GOP textbook Republican campaign tactic.

I’m sick and tired of a bunch of despicable Republicans who will not debate real policy, who won’t take responsibility for their own mistakes, standing up and trying to make other people the butt of those mistakes.

I’m sick and tired of a whole bunch of Republican attacks, most of which come from people who never wore the uniform and never had the courage to stand up and go to war themselves.

Enough is enough. We’re not going to stand for this. This policy is broken. And this president and his administration didn’t do their homework. They didn’t study what would happen in Iraq. They didn’t study and listen to the people who were the experts and would have told them.

And they know that’s what I was talking about yesterday. I’m not going to be lectured by a White House or by the likes of Rush Limbaugh who’s taking a day off from mimicking and attacking Michael J. Fox, who’s now going to try to attack me and lie about me and distort me.

No way. It disgusts me that a bunch of these Republican hacks who’ve never worn the uniform of our country are willing to lie about those who did.

It’s over.

This administration has given us a Katrina foreign policy: mistake upon mistake upon mistake; unwilling to give our troops the armor that they need; unwilling to have enough troops in place; unwilling to give them the Humvees that they deserve to protect them; unwilling to have a coalition that is adequate to be able to defend our interests.

Our own intelligence agency has told us they’re creating more terrorists, not less. They’re making us less safe, not more.

I think Americans are sick and tired of this game. These Republicans are afraid to stand up and debate a real veteran on this topic. And they’re afraid to debate—you know, they want to debate straw men because they’re afraid to debate real men.

Well, we’re going to have a real debate in this country about this policy. The bottom line is: These Republicans want to distort this policy. And, this time, it won’t work because we are going to stay in their face with the truth.

And no Democrat is going to be bullied by these people, by these kinds of attacks that have no place in American politics. It’s time to set our policy correct.

They have a stand-still-and-lose policy in Iraq and they have a cut-and-run policy in Afghanistan. And the fact is, our troops, who have served heroically, who deserve better, deserve leadership that is up to their sacrifice, period.

QUESTION: Senator, John McCain said that you owe an apology to the many thousands of Americans serving in Iraq, who answered this country’s call because they are patriots.

To those people who didn’t get your joke, who may have misinterpreted you as saying the undereducated are cannon fodder, what do you say?

KERRY: I never said that, and John McCain knows I’ve never said that and John McCain knows I wouldn’t say that.

And John McCain ought to ask for an apology from Donald Rumsfeld for making the mistakes he’s made. John McCain ought to ask for an apology from this administration for not sending in enough troops.

He ought to ask for an apology for putting our troops on the line with a policy that doesn’t have an adequate coalition, that doesn’t have adequate diplomacy, where we don’t have a strategy to win.

And what we need is to debate the real issues, not these phony, sideline issues that are part of the politics. Americans are tired—sick and tired of this kind of politics.

They know my true feelings. They know I fought to provide additional money for veterans. They know I fought to provide money for combat for veterans. They know I’ve fought to put money for V.A. They know I’ve honored those veterans.

They know that this is the finest military - and I’ve said it 100,000 times - that we’ve ever had. They know precisely what I was saying.

And they’re trying to turn this because they have a bankrupt policy and they can’t defend it to the nation and they can’t defend it to the world.

KERRY: And I’m not going to stand for this anymore; period. That’s the apology that people ought to get.

QUESTION: Do you need to go to joke school?

KERRY: Sure.

QUESTION: Senator, do you regret saying the remark? And what were you trying to say?

KERRY: Very simple: that those who didn’t study it properly, those who made the decisions, they got us into Iraq. Very simple.

The fact is they know that. The administration knows that. And they’re simply trying to distort this. They’re trying to play a game.

And, again, I’m not going to stand for it. This is the kind of thing that makes Americans sick. People know—I mean, there ought to be some level of honor and trust in this process.

I have fought a lifetime on behalf of veterans. We have the finest young men and women serving us in the United States military that we’ve ever had, and I’m proud of that.

But this administration has let them down, and that was clearly a remark directed at this administration. They understand it. They want to distort it. It’s a classic Republican playbook. They want to change the topic.

We’re not going to let them change the topic. The topic is their failed policy in Iraq. The topic is that they don’t have a strategy, they don’t have a way to be able to win.

You got Dick Cheney saying everything’s just terrific in Iraq only a week ago. John McCain ought to ask for an apology from Dick Cheney for misleading America. He ought to ask for an apology from the president for lying about the nuclear program in Africa. He ought to ask for an apology for once again a week ago referring to Al Qaida as being the central problem in Iraq, when Al Qaida is not the central problem.

Enough is enough. I’m not going to stand for these people trying to shift the topic and make it politics. America deserves a real discussion about real policy. And that’s what this election is going to be about next Tuesday.

One more question, then I got to run.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

KERRY: Let me tell you something: I’m not going to give them one ounce of daylight to spread one of their lies and to play this game ever, ever again. That is a lesson I learned deep and hard.

And I’ll tell you: I will stand up anywhere across this country and take these guys on. This is dishonoring not just the troops themselves by pointing the finger at the troops, it’s abusing the troops. They’re using the troops. They’re trying to make the troops into the target here. I didn’t do that, and they know that.

KERRY: And for them to suggest that somebody who served their country, as I did, and has a record like I have in the United States Congress of standing up and fighting for the troops would ever, ever insult the troops is an insult in and of itself.

And they owe us an apology for even daring to use the White House to stand up and make this an issue again. Shame on them. Shame on them.

And may the American people take that shame to the polls with them next Tuesday.

Thank you all.

QUESTION: What do you say to the men and women fighting in Iraq if they hear this in passing, that may be confused on the issue, sir?

KERRY: They will hear what I just said. I honor their service, and I always have.

GlobalVillage put together a great Countdown video that has some familiar shots. Check it out!

If anyone else has put together a GOTV video or know of one we should all check out, please nominate them below.

JK’s appearance at Lance Armstrong’s LiveStrong Summit in Texas got a nod from one attendee at haiku of the id. <!-more-> Tim Tagaris, (Ned Lamont’s Internet guy), gives JK a very nice hattip in his dailykos diary:

_snip

2008: Who’s helped, who hasn’t, who has hurt

I’ve seen the entries, I’ve been part of back-channel discussions on the topic, and I know it’s on a lot of people’s minds. Let me just clear a few things up, and know that I will go into tedious amounts of detail (along with Swan) post-primary. Let me start by saying this has never been about a $5,000 PAC check or high-dollar fundraisers.

John Kerry and Wes Clark have been nothing short of amazing. If you are the type of person keeping score at home, note that please.

_snip

Matt Stoller also gives JK a nod in his support for Lamont in this post at myDD:

With the exception of John Kerry, Chris Dodd, Ted Kennedy, and Wes Clark, no high profile Democrats have been there for Lamont. (John Edwards is a bit more complicated, but the jury’s still out.)

Taylor at taylormarsh.com and Pamela at The Democratic Daily both added some insight to the “How do you spell desperation? G.O.P.” post.

Taylor’s title says it all:  Ken “Cesspool” Mehlman Running Scared

And Pamela pulled together some good background in her post about the RNC desperation email.

And thanks to Jane Hamsher at FireDogLake for the hattip in “Thanks, Howie”. We’re glad to help out in this historic opportunity.

A little farther afield, we have this note from a blogger in Tunisia, Zizou from Djerba, who read JK’s post Mistakes and Responsibilities and commented,

“J’etais vraiment malheureux le jour ou John Kerry a perdu.[...] Je viens de lire ce post et je me dis que si ce mec a été élu nous aurions eu peut etre une vie plus paisible au moyen orient et peut etre meme sur terre.”

Loosely translated,

“I was really unhappy the day John Kerry lost. [...] I have just read this post and I think that if this guy were elected we would have had maybe a more peaceful life in the Middle-East.”

A more well-known source provided discussion material for many blogs in Frank Rich’s column, “Dying to Save the G.O.P. Congress” which concluded with:

If we really support the troops, we’ll move past Mr. Bush’s “fundamental question” to one from 1971 posed by a 27-year-old Vietnam veteran, John Kerry, before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee: “How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake?”

In the whoops-glad-we-caught-this category is this review by Mike Kean, a blogger at the South Chicagoland Young Dems blog, of JK’s speech at the New Hampshire JJ dinner:

[...] as far as I am concerned, [JK] outlined a platform for the Democratic Party to push for in the months to come. I got goose bumps watching the video and I suggest that everyone else watches it too.

Great idea, Mike.

  -- Prepared by the JK Blog team

As I wake up in California today, it’s a little hard to believe we’re just 8 days away from this election. 8 days. I think about all the incredible people who could’ve walked away and licked their wounds, but who just got up and kept pounding these last two years so that in this election - no matter what the conventional wisdom began predicting - we have a real grind-it-out opportunity to win Democratic control of Congress.

Right now the landscape’s a hell of a lot different than it was even eight months ago. Don’t forget how courageous some of our candidates have been. Jim Webb, whose opposition to the Iraq War drew him into a Senate fight some said was the longest of long shots. Tammy Duckworth, who went from recovering from a hellish injury in war to mounting an incredible campaign in a so-called Republican district. Patrick Murphy, who came out of Veterans for Kerry and - even knowing the lies the Republicans throw at veterans – challenged the stay-the-course platitudes of Republicans who don’t honor our heroes by acting as apologists for Don Rumsfeld. Jon Soltz, who worked to make Iraq and Afghanistan veterans’ issues become voting issues in this campaign. Ned Lamont and Bob Menendez, who stood up courageously against this war that – according to this morning’s papers - reached an American military death toll of 100 in Iraq this month.

As we head into the final stretch - the final sprint, really - I want to thank each one of you for what you’ve already done. No group has done more than the Johnkerry.com community to help Democrats this cycle. (To see what we were able to accomplish together, go to the Election06 page on the website.) <!-more-> And you’re not alone out there. So many incredible people who care - really care - about our country—have been a part of this incredible effort. My staff, who have suffered through endless airports to get me to all the candidates we’ve worked for. Friends of mine from 40 years ago whose support has never wavered. Bloggers old and new, who’ve been out there in the writing and debating and fighting for our convictions. Volunteers who have taken vacation time to help. And most important of all, my wife Teresa, who’s been worked for Democrats in critical House races in Pennsylvania, and stumping in Iowa for her friend Denise O’Brien. This is a family effort and I mean that.

But it ain’t over. Every day you read that what people once thought were solid Republican seats are falling into the “too close to call” category. For the next eight days, every single thing that every one of us does is critical: you could be the person who makes the phone call that gets that last voter out in one of the races that determines control of the House or the Senate. Get in touch with your state Democratic Party and find out where you can volunteer to get every Democratic voter to the polls on November 7th.

Let’s go all out for these last few days—we’ve got a job to do, and we are proving every day we still know how to fight to change our country.

John Kerry

Road Report from Ted Chiodo:

10-29-2006: Our next stop was in Austin, Texas. where John Kerry attended the first ever Live Strong Summit with Lance Armstrong. The Live Strong Summit is a three-day event produced by the Lance Armstrong Foundation.

According to the summit website, the event was intended “to organize, inspire and direct the efforts of cancer survivors from across the country to change the face of cancer survivorship.”

The summit took place at the massive Austin Convention Center two blocks away from our hotel. It was a sunny bright day and I headed over early to make sure I had a good spot to grab a video of John Kerry’s speech (plus I heard they had some breakfast—a sometimes-rare meal on the road). <!-more-> The breakfast rumor turned out to be true. Around the table, I met people from around the country who had beaten cancer and wanted to change how this country views cancer and cancer survivorship. These men and women had two things binding them together: first, they were Americans; and second, their lives were fundamentally affected by cancer. I don’t really get too emotional in my line of work, but this room full of brave Americans was truly inspirational. I really have a hard time putting it into words.

The speakers were Lance Armstrong, AOL founder Steve Case, Elizabeth Edwards, and John Kerry. Plainly put, this was a from the heart speech by John Kerry that you have to see. Please check out the video and remember to wear your LiveStrong bands proud!

As John reminded us, “Every day is a gift.”

Mahalo!

    -- Ted

 

Road Report from Ted Chiodo:

10-27-2006: As he travels around the U.S., John Kerry is helping Democratic candidates up and down the ticket. In Austin, Texas, we flew in to work for Chris Bell, the Democratic candidate for Governor. <!-more-> We arrived in Austin to a balmy 71 degrees and sunny skies. Chris met John on the sidewalk outside the press conference, and the two Democrats walked through the lobby and to the elevator. The room was packed with reporters and cameras who were all jostling for a good shot.

Afterwards, we all walked across the street to make an appearance at a Chris Bell fundraiser.

On our way there, we were intercepted by some trick-or-treaters who stopped to have their pictures taken. One young Texan flashed the hook’em horns sign to the camera!

Austin is a blast so far.

Mahalo!

    -- Ted

 

Road Report from Ted Chiodo:

John Kerry continued his swing through Philly on Thursday, meeting up with another fighting Democrat, Admiral Joe Sestak. Sestak was a leader in the U.S. Navy, rising to the rank of three-star admiral commanding an international fleet comprised of 30 ships and 15,000 sailors and marines.

Our 2-car convoy arrived and JK was greeted with a smile and hearty hand shake by Joe Sestak and his wife Susan. The Admiral spoke first about his appreciation for John Kerry and JK’s early help in his race. He then spoke from his heart about steering a new course for this country on Iraq and refocusing our strength in fighting the war on terror. He was very sharp and very impressive as a speaker (check out his website).. The admiral then introduced his fellow Navy veteran, John Kerry. <!-more-> JK started by focusing on Joe Sestak’s naval career. “You don’t get to be a three-star admiral unless you have talent, and unless you have values and integrity,” Kerry said. “That integrity has never come under assault until now, here, in this campaign for the United States Congress by a man who should know better. I am simply not going to stand for this. Americans needs to end the culture of corruption in Washington D.C. (Sestak’s opponent, Congressman Curt Weldon, is currently under investigation by the FBI.)

“I think every American who is worried about this war should be excited that we have the potential of having a United States congressman who understands the war on terror, who knows how to fight it most effectively and who has seen firsthand the mistakes—and understands them,” Kerry continued. “If you send Joe Sestak to Congress, you can be rest assured he will work around the clock to fix those mistakes, make our country stronger, and fight a more effective war on terror.”

JK and the admiral then went downstairs to do a press conference about Iraq and the war on terror. Most of the questions though were about the FBI investigation of Curt Weldon, but Joe Sestak declined to comment on Weldon’s woes. The two Navy veterans then ended the press conference and talked for a while before we had to head off again to the airport. Let’s makes sure we do everything we can at johnkerry.com to send this man to Washington.

Mahalo!

    -- Ted

 

Want to know what desperation looks like?

Here’s what Bill Frist and Ken Mehlman sent out yesterday in a desperation email fundraiser. They’re scared to death that John Kerry and Ted Kennedy ponied up to elect Democrats.

Let’s see their $2 million, and raise them.

Have you got your checkbook out yet? Go to ActBlue.com here, here or here and make sure that our Democratic candidates don’t miss this “critical opportunity…to reverse the Bush Administration.”

And get ready to vote for “3 at the Buzzer” starting at 7 am eastern, Wednesday on www.johnkerry.com to really scare the Republicans.

Road Report from Ted Chiodo:

10-25-2006: John Kerry arrived in Hartford, Connecticut (Ned Lamont Country) and home to one of the most exciting races this fall. I missed the karma of my earlier good seat as I struggled to find a comfortable position in 18D, the seat right next to the lav in the small Continental regional jet out of Newark.

Connecticut is where Democrats took action, stood up and supported Ned Lamont’s campaign to change the current failed policy in Iraq. A policy based on a lie that makes America less safe in the world. Ned Lamont is a courageous candidate who believes the generals when they tell us Iraq is not solvable militarily. If you don’t already know, Ned is running against Joe Lieberman, the single member of a one-member party who supports a Bush policy based on distortion and outright lies. <!-more-> At the East Hartford middle school, we de-vanned (like de-planeing but out of a mini van). All of the familiar smells of a middle school cafeteria hit me as I went to find a good position for my camera. The final touches to the piping and drape were being done as I found a good spot to capture some video.

John Kerry and Ned Lamont were seated in front of a large contingent of Connecticut veterans who faced the cameras and the people seated in the auditorium. The event began and after some great introductions, soon-to-be Senator Ned Lamont took to the auditorium floor to discuss his deeply held belief that American must change course in Iraq. Please get out and support Ned if you are in the area. If you care about the Iraq War and the GOP’s lack of accountability, you must work to send Ned to the Senate. I got some great video of Ned’s remarks that is available on our site and Ned’s.

JK laid bare the Bush administration’s and Joe Lieberman’s stay-the-course foolishness. John Kerry correctly summarized their blunder: “When we tell them we will be there as long as it takes, Iraqis will take as long as they want. Without timelines to measure success, Iraqi politicians will delay making the hard choices they must make in order to solve their internal problem.” JK asked people to think about the whole premise of a time line.

“When schools teachers assign a paper they attach a timeline to make sure students get the paper done. Bosses assign timelines to work project because everyone knows with out a due date projects will be delayed or not fully accomplished. A timeline will force Iraqis to take control of their own country and cease to rely on American troops for their well being.

After the event, JK and Ned went into the crowd to sign autographs and answer questions. I packed up my stuff and made my way back to the vehicle when I ran into the two guys who were behind Dumpjoe.com and the kiss buttons and float. It was fun chatting with them and we all had some laughs. I wanted to thank them for the buttons and tell them I am passing them out on my travels with JK throughout the country.

Well JK is off to PA to stump for the fighting Dems Patrick Murphy and Joe Sestak in Pennsylvania. Look for my road report.

Mahalo.

    -- Ted