Courtesy of Austin Bay:

No kidding. John Kerry is now claiming his insult at the expense of American soldiers was “a botched joke” aimed at the President.

Sheesh. Kerry is stuck on Vietnam, almost as stuck on Vietnam as he is stuck on his own self-absorbed, narcissistic bio-mass.

Instapundit has the background.

Kerry insulted America’s defenders. When I heard the statement on the radio this morning I thought “Yeah, that’s right, run through the damn Winter Soldier put-downs once again.” (That was his movement in 1971-72, when he accused US troops of war crimes.) No, this insult wasn’t at the level of the Winter Soldier accusations, but Kerry’s “joke” plays into the Left’s view of US troops– we’re all stupid, comparatively uneducated, and in need of rescue by…by John Kerry. He’s nuanced, see?

I’m listening to his latest statement (1:30 or so CST) and it is a re-hash of The Great Litany of leftish accusations. Reaction as I listen– this guy knows he made a mistake and he’s pedaling fast. Wait– now he says he is a real man. Yeah, he basically said he’s a real man. (Get a transcript!) If he’s a real man, he has the chance to prove it. Senator Kerry needs to debate his Swift Boat veteran critics. Man to man. Now. Not later.

In the spare space of 24 hours Kerry has resurrected the Vietnam Syndrome –at least his and the left wing of the Democratic Party’s Vietnam (loser’s) Syndrome. This is stupid but particularly stupid in the last week of a national election. Doubly stupid in the midst of a long, grinding war. Kerry is trapped, in an odd sort of amber. He’s stuck on stupid and stuck in the past simultaneously. John Kerry, the stegosaurus of American politics. (Okay, I’m unfair to stegosaurs, they had backbones and spikes on their tails– but the drawing at the link is cute.)

Why didn’t Senator Kerry just apologize? “I’m sorry for what I said. I meant to crack a joke and it came out sounding like an insult to US troops. Forgive me. We owe our defenders so much.”

But we know why.

Still, an apology like that would have been politically savvy.

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