is now outdoing Al Gore when it comes to loser derangement syndrome. And Kerry doesn't even have the excuse of having almost won the presidency.

Here's what Kerry said yesterday to a group of college students:

You know, education, if you make the most of it, if you study hard and you do your homework, and you make an effort to be smart, uh, you, you can do well. If you don't, you get stuck in Iraq.

When Tony Snow objected to what appears to be an insult to our troops in Iraq (though Kerry apparently claims the insult was directed at President Bush), Kerry responded as follows:

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're crazy. This is the classic G.O.P. playbook. I’m sick and tired of these despicable Republican attacks that always seem to come from those who never can be found to serve in war, but love to attack those who did.

I’m not going to be lectured by a stuffed suit White House mouthpiece standing behind a podium, or doughy Rush Limbaugh, who no doubt today will take a break from belittling Michael J. Fox’s Parkinson’s disease to start lying about me just as they have lied about Iraq. It disgusts me that these Republican hacks, who have never worn the uniform of our country lie and distort so blatantly and carelessly about those who have.

The people who owe our troops an apology are George W. Bush and Dick Cheney who misled America into war and have given us a Katrina foreign policy that has betrayed our ideals, killed and maimed our soldiers, and widened the terrorist threat instead of defeating it. These Republicans are afraid to debate veterans who live and breathe the concerns of our troops, not the empty slogans of an Administration that sent our brave troops to war without body armor.

Bottom line, these Republicans want to debate straw men because they’re afraid to debate real men. And this time it won’t work because we’re going to stay in their face with the truth and deny them even a sliver of light for their distortions. No Democrat will be bullied by an administration that has a cut and run policy in Afghanistan and a stand still and lose strategy in Iraq.

I am truly grateful that John Kerry will never be president of the United States.

JOHN adds: Here is the audio of Kerry:

Kerry's over-the-top defense of his faux pas makes no sense, of course: whatever he may think of President Bush's policies, he clearly identified those who are "stuck in Iraq" as people who didn't "study hard...and make an effort to be smart." Further, a reader points out the vapidity of Kerry's opening sentence, "If anyone thinks a veteran would criticize the more than 140,000 heroes serving in Iraq ... they're crazy":

This is the same guy who came home from Vietnam and accused our troops of being war criminals, using Ghengis Khan tactics, and cutting off ears.

You bet your *** we think you'd slur the military because you've done it before.

One of the many problems with the "chickenhawk" argument is that it only takes one veteran to reveal how stupid it is. John McCain said today:

Senator Kerry owes an apology to the many thousands of Americans serving in Iraq, who answered their country's call because they are patriots and not because of any deficiencies in their education. Americans from all backgrounds, well off and less fortunate, with high school diplomas and graduate degrees, take seriously their duty to our country, and risk their lives today to defend the rest of us in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere. They all deserve our respect and deepest gratitude for their service. The suggestion that only the least educated Americans would agree to serve in the military and fight in Iraq, is an insult to every soldier serving in combat, and 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. Without them, we wouldn't live in a country where people securely possess all their God-given rights, including the right to express insensitive, ill-considered and uninformed remarks.

What's the over/under on how many hours before Kerry apologizes? I say four.

PAUL adds: Kerry hasn't just slandered Vietnam vets. Here's what he said on "Face The Nation" about our forces in Iraq, the ones he says you'd have to "be crazy" to think he'd ever disparage: "there is no reason, Bob, that young American soldiers need to be going into the homes of Iraqis in the dead of night, terrorizing kids and children, you know, women, breaking sort of the customs of the--of--the historical customs, religious customs."

Posted by Paul at 12:54 PM  |    |