2 November 2006

Is Kerry's statement true?

John Kerry is taking a lot of heat for this statement^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H, er "botched joke":
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.

First Kerry went on the offensive in response to wide scale backlash. Since then, he's made a formal apology.

As unpleasant and unsavory as it is, is the pronouncement true?

I bet it is. I am sure (without data; I see this feelingly) that the kids who are serving in Iraq are not nearly as well educated as, say, the kids who are getting internships at media companies that served the Koolaid on WMD, or serving as pages to closeted gay Republican congressmen.

It's an economic draft, stupid.

In days of past, I would eagerly scour the net for information and statistics to prove or disprove such assertions, but today I find myself burdened with tasks galore, and an even a "to post" list here that I need to get to ASAP, and thus I am unable to devote any attention to proper study. But I would wager that the statement is indeed true — that while there are many who eagerly volunteer to serve despite their individual economic circumstances, an equally greater lot exercise an option motivated in large part by the matter of economic livelihood.

One thing I am certain of is that Kerry's "foot in mouth" faux pas isn't anywhere near as offensive as this famous presidential indiscretion that made light of the deliberate misrepresentations fostered by the Bush administration for its illegal, immoral and unconstitutional invasion of a country that posed no threat to the United States.

And I stand by the statement that anyone who tars Kerry for this latest gaffe, yet is unwavering in loyalty to a chickenhawk president who during an age where he could have served in a war he supported, instead opted to skip out via pulling influential family strings, is a blinded partisan, impervious to reason.

Comments

My full response:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wik...

I like writing in wiki markup/language better than html. Sorry to transfer you to another site....