'Get Stuck in Iraq,' Kerry Tells Students

Bush on Kerry remark: troops are ‘plenty smart’ President Bush will join GOP Lawmakers Tuesday in blasting Sen. John Kerry for telling students they could either work hard in school or 'get stuck in Iraq.’

White House Spokesman Slams Kerry Remark
White House Spokesman Lashes Out at Kerry's Remark on Education and Iraq

By JENNIFER LOVEN

WASHINGTON Oct 31, 2006 (AP)— The White House accused Sen. John Kerry on Tuesday of troop-bashing, seizing on a comment the Democrat made to California students that those unable to navigate the country's education system "get stuck in Iraq."

"Senator Kerry not only owes an apology to those who are serving, but also to the families of those who've given their lives in this," White House press secretary Tony Snow said. "This is an absolute insult."

Kerry, a decorated Vietnam veteran and President Bush's 2004 rival, fired back.

He said he had been criticizing Bush, not the "heroes serving in Iraq," and said the president and his administration are the ones who owe U.S. troops an apology because they "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."

"This is the classic GOP playbook," Kerry said in a harshly worded statement. "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."

One week before the midterm elections, the two parties are searching for any edge amid indications Democrats could take back the House and possibly win control of the Senate.

Snow was asked about the comment which Kerry made during a campaign rally Monday for California Democratic gubernatorial candidate Phil Angelides. The White House spokesman was clearly ready, consulting his notes to read a fuller account of Kerry's statement and unleashing a sharp attack.

Separately, the White House issued President Bush's Veterans' Day proclamation praising those who have served in the armed forces a week and a half before the holiday.


"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, and if you don’t you get stuck in Iraq.”

Sen. John Kerry

(Tony Snow Reads Kerry Quote Into the Official Record)

Update:

Kerry has since apologized for the remark, saying it was actually aimed at Bush not those serving in Iraq.

A group of soldiers from the Minnesota National Guard stationed in Iraq, hold up a sign mocking recent comments by Sen. John Kerry about people who didn't study in school being 'stuck in Iraq.' (AP Photo/WTMJ-AM)