Redstate

Is the reigning Presidential nominee going to ground?

By Jeff Emanuel Posted in Breaking News — Comments (26) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »

[Editor's note] Author Jeff Emanuel is a Special Operations military veteran whose assignments included combat duty in the War on Terror, including in Iraq.

[UPDATE] Kerry has cancelled his appearance with Bob Casey in PA later today. According to the AP:

Sen. John Kerry canceled his planned appearance Wednesday at a Philadelphia rally with Democratic Senate candidate Bob Casey amid controversy over comments he made about troops in Iraq.

"We made a decision not to allow the Republican hate machine to use Democratic candidates as proxies is the distorted spin war," said David Wade, a Kerry spokesman, in a statement.

Casey's opponent, Sen. Rick Santorum, had said Casey should disavow Kerry's comments.

[emphasis added]

Once again, Kerry took the initiative, rather that the candidate he was scheduled to support. Clearly if he had his druthers, Casey would have Kerry there standing by him this evening in Philadelphia -- making it clear that he supports Kerry's comments, and showing that he shares Kerry's opinion of the military.

[UPDATE] Kerry officially cancelled his stop in MN-1 on behalf of Tim Waltz today. According to the AP:

U.S. Sen. John Kerry canceled a campaign visit here in the wake of a controversy over remarks he made about students and the war in Iraq, according to a spokeswoman for congressional candidate Tim Walz.

"He wants to make sure the campaign is about the issues we've been talking about the last two years," the spokeswoman, Meredith Salsbery, said of Kerry's decision. "It's important to him that we are able to do that."

Again, this allowing of Kerry to take the initiative on cancelling these stops does not show repuditation of his statements in the least by the candidates in question -- just a feeble attempt at ducking the spotlight the Senator has shown on the entire Democrat field regarding national security and the Left's opinion of our military.

Word came out late last night that embattled former Presidential hopeful John Kerry, who followed up his disparaging comments on the education levels of American troops not with an apology (saying "I apologize to no one!"), but instead with an attack aimed at the (his words) "Republican hacks" and "assorted right-wing nut jobs" who had the audacity to "Swiftboat" him (i.e., to quote his own words back at him), has now cancelled his campaign stops and appearances for today in an apparent (and futile) attempt to undo what damage he has done to the Democrats this election season by so effectively highlighting the glaring -- glaring -- contrasts between the GOP and the alternative not only on national security, but -- perhaps even more importantly -- on the subject of their opinion of the troops as mindless, underachieving, knuckle-dragging neanderthals who are serving because it's their only option after failing at education.

Read on.

In an election season when national security is still at the forefront of the people's minds, many Democrats have been running as conservatives -- especially on military issues. The reaction of these self-described "pro-military" Democrats to this absolute slap in the face will be (and has already been) extremely telling. As Hugh Hewitt puts it, this story has become "a bonfire throwing a light on every Democrat who says nothing about Kerry's slander."

So far it appears that only one candidate has actually taken the initiative in cancelling Kerry's campaign stop on his behalf -- Bruce Braley of Iowa's 1st CD, who called the comments "inappropriate." The silence is deafening from the rest of the Democrat world, as their refusal to comment on the issue -- and their allowing of Kerry's handlers to take the initiative in cancelling his campaigning on their behalf, rather than taking this opportunity to repudiate his comments themselves -- speaks volumes about their own opinion of America's military, as to say nothing is to grant at the very least passive, tacit approval to the Senator and his comments.

As far as has been reported, though, Kerry is still planning to appear with PA Senate hopeful Bob Casey, Jr. this morning -- something which will speak far louder even than the deafening silence coming from the rest of the Democrat candidates. The AP is reporting this morning that he still plans to be there, saying:

Just two days after a controversial comment about troops in Iraq, U.S. Sen. John Kerry is scheduled to appear in Philadelphia this afternoon for a rally in support of Pennsylvania U.S. Senate candidate Bob Casey.

The rest of the on-the-record criticism has come from the Right side of the aisle -- the side aready known for being pro-security and pro-military, and the side which does not have to conduct election-year makeovers to seem to be so. John McCain called Kerry's statement "an insult to every soldier serving in combat," and said that it "should deeply offend any American with an ounce of appreciation for what they suffer and risk so that the rest of us can sleep more comfortably at night." He had a great appearance on FNC's H&C last night, rebuking Alan Colmes's attempt to spin the comment as a "joke," reminding those who might be convinced by Kerry's claim that he's "always been pro-military" of the winter soldier testimony (video of H&C), and repeating what every sane American has now been saying for nearly 24 hours: that a simple, one-sentence apology would have nipped this entire controversy in the bud. However, the ability to admit that he is wrong has never been one of the junior Senator from Massachusetts's strong suits.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist said:

Senator Kerry clearly owes an apology to our soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines serving in Iraq. But Mr. Kerry has refused to do so. Instead, he’s claiming that Republicans are “desperately distorting” his comments. Watch the video yourself … it is perfectly clear what Mr. Kerry said … what’s unclear is whether Mr. Kerry ever means what he says. Perhaps he was against his comments before he actually made them.

House Majority Leader John Boehner rightly said, "If he's not going to apologize, then we're going to beat him to death until he does."

Twenty-eight House Republicans signed a letter calling on Kerry to "offer a clear and simple apology, without caveat or explanation, to America’s finest."

And President Bush, leading from the front on this issue, said (from a campaign stop in Georgia): "The Senator's statement . . . is insulting and it is shameful. The members of the United States military are plenty smart and they are plenty brave and the Senator from Massachusetts owes them an apology."

These are just tip-of-the-iceberg examples of the GOP backing the troops agaist the Democrats once again. The best that can be heard from across the aisle? Crickets...and an anonymous Democrat Congressman grousing, "I guess Kerry wasn't content blowing 2004, now he wants to blow 2006, too" -- a comment whch shows where the Democrats' priorities really are this fall: not with the troops, or with America's security, but on their impending return to the majority -- and on measuring the drapes in preparation for the move to bigger offices, which it is their self-appointed birthright to inhabit.

Once again, the silence from across the aisle is deafening -- and every minute that goes by without statements and rebuttals by the Democrat candidates and officeholders across the nation just reinforces even more greatly that which we already knew: That in this case, Senator Kerry speaks for them all.