Observations

John Kerry Finally Apologizes. Sort of.

After insulting every man and woman wearing their country’s uniform, and those who have died defending the freedom Massachusetts Senator John Kerry so frequently abuses, and after outrage from both Republicans and some of his fellow Democrats who requested or demanded an apology, Sen. Kerry finally stopped blaming George Bush for his ham-handed “botched joke,” and apologized.

I frankly believe Sen. Kerry had no intention of demeaning and insulting our military personnel when he said, essentially, that the only choice for people who don’t do well in school is to enter the military and “get stuck in Iraq.” The data strongly dispute that foolish assertion, showing that something like 97 percent of all military personnel have at least a high school diploma, and a fair number of them have a college degree.

One of two things happened: Either he “botched” the joke, a possibility that doesn’t surprise me, given the Senator’s aloofness and general awkwardness with things familiar to the “common people,” or, he just “misunderestimated” the reaction of the “common people” who don’t view the world from Mr. Kerry’s elitist heights. Either way, it was a gaff of significant proportions that any normal person should have recognized immediately, and offered a sincere apology.

So, yesterday Sen. Kerry issued a statement that said: "I sincerely regret that my words were misinterpreted to wrongly imply anything negative about those in uniform, and I personally apologize to any service member, family member, or American who was offended."

That’s an apology, right? Well, not exactly. Let’s parse Sen. Kerry’s “statement.” The first thing is that while his insult was delivered in a public appearance, the apology was issued in writing. But more important, he doesn’t say, “I misspoke. I said something I didn’t mean to say and should not have said. I know my word were hurtful and for that I sincerely apologize,” or something along those lines. Instead, he once again tries to shift the blame for his screw-up to someone else: He blames the listener for having “misinterpreted” his words, and said that he apologized for their having misinterpreted his words.

That’s not an apology in my book; it is a further insult.

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