Pensees: I like this woman

LaShawn was dead on the money with her condemnation of the hypocrite Haggard - that “alibi” of his came apart faster than a $2.00 suit.

But she’s dead wrong about Kerry. I know it sounds ‘oh so sophisticated’ to stand up for Kerry when the whole world seems to be slamming him, but she’s wrong, wrong, wrong.

Kerry has made his life out of public speaking and was esteemed as a masterful orator even back in his college days at Yale. His testimony before the congress against veterans in the Viet Nam war (of which I am one) was routinely praised by the anti-war left and the media for its eloquence - they marveled at how such a young man could speak with such alacrity.

Then he went into politics and honed his already substantial skills in speechifying to a razor’s edge. Given that history alone, it is hard to imagine that he would “botch” a speech or leave out part of what his script told him to say.

But it is much, much worse. Kerry despises the military and has since the Viet Nam war. He has consistently voted against anything that is in favor of the troops - whether it be new systems, or pay raises, or any other benefits.

He has slammed the military over and over without grounds except for his unrelenting hate. He chummed around with Jane Fonda who was pals with the North Vietnamese Communists and posed on an anti-aircraft gun used to shoot down US pilots like John McCain. He called our soldiers in Iraq terrorists.

And finally, the proof is in the pudding. He claims he misspoke. But when asked to apologize, he refused, saying he didn’t owe anyone an apology. That tells me he meant what he said. After the outrage to his remarks started to build, he backed off a little, claiming he misspoke and didn’t intend to say what he said - still no apology. Had he said, “I misspoke and I regret that fact. If I have offended anyone, I apologize and want our troops to know I admire and respect them.” But he did not.

After every national vet’s organization, most Republicans, and many Democrats demanded an apology, one was published on his web site by God knows who which basically said, “I am sorry if you misinterpreted my remarks.”

That clearly tells me several things:

1. He is NOT sorry about the insult.

2. He didn’t really misspeak at all.

3. His apology is bogus.

4. He is not man enough to apologize in person.

5. He STILL thinks people are too stupid to understand his great brilliance.

I like LaShawn but in this case she is wrong.

LaShawn sets a Christian standard we should all admire. That said, I admit to cheerfully piling onto Kerry for his statement. His apology is about as lame as it can get and given his track record he’ll get zippo sympathy from anyone even remotely connected with the military. That track record includes all the points made by Michael in the previous post. It’s one of those,”you had to have been there” things. And yep, it isn’t part of the Christian ideal but hey, life is about improvement not perfection. I’ll work on that another day.

I too have enjoyed Kerry’s foot-in-mouth issue. Like La Shawn, I’m willing to allow that Kerry may have “misspoken,” something he does often. But if it really was a joke he was attempting, he should give up ever trying them again.

Some people are born without the sense of sight. Others are born without the sense of hearing. But John Kerry’s birth defect is having been born without a sense of humor. He should just accept the fact that he’s impaired and bravely get on with his life anyway.