I would like to apologize on behalf of all of us

[Jobber of the Week 0]

The other week I got upset at Dick Cheney for politicizing terror and implying that a Kerry presidency would give terrorists more oppertunity to kill Americans. I said it was hogwash and making loud statements in pubic that terrorists would have an easier go was counter-productive to that whole "security" idea and almost a come-on to terrorists to attack us.

 

So guess what Ted Kennedy says?

 

WASHINGTON (AP) — An arrogant rush to war in Iraq has made the country more vulnerable to nuclear attack while the Bush administration has misled the public with "happy talk" about prospects for peace, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy said Monday.

 

As Bush campaign ads hit the air criticizing Democrat John Kerry as a flip-flopper, Kennedy tried to paint the president as a reckless, stubborn leader whose Iraq war policies have only fueled the insurgency.

 

"The president's handling of the war has been a toxic mix of ignorance, arrogance and stubborn ideology," said Kennedy, D-Mass., in a speech to students at George Washington University. "The president's arrogance toward the world community has left our soldiers increasingly isolated and alone."

 

Meanwhile, he said, the administration continues to insist that the country is safer now because of the war. But Americans "deserve to hear more from our president than happy talk like that," said Kennedy. "The war in Iraq has made the mushroom cloud more likely, not less likely.

 

Gee, thanks Ted. Should I mention that this story got the attention of the Pakistani press?

 

So I would just like to apologize for Ted's behavior yesterday. Maybe someone slipped something into his Near-Beer.

[snuffbox 0]

Well, how many terrorist attacks have we been fatally hit with in Iraq? Several hundred? I dont feel safer with that huge of a terrorism increase(but I do feel safer that Cat Stevens has been fished out)...

[Guest SP-1]

Maybe I missed something along the way but how did it become a nuke fear?

 

Also: Unless it was a political rally, a speech to students isn't the place for your political soapbox. Those kids deserve better than that.

[Special K 0]

I love how Kennedy and Cheney made these blanket scare statements without backing them up with even conjecture. They just state it as a fact. That's gruesome.

[kkktookmybabyaway 0]

Now what about all the other times Uncle Ted has put his foot in his mouth?

 

The one thing that surprised me the most about this thread is that Pakistan has a press.

 

So now that both sides "do it" can we please cease with the whining regarding this subject?...

[Special K 0]

Why the hell does Kerry even associate himself with Kennedy? I don't think anyone respects him outside of Massacheusetts, and if Kerry needs to shore up support there, he's screwed.

[Downhome 0]

The real question here is this.

 

Why the hell do people vote for that moron?

[kkktookmybabyaway 0]

For the same reason ol' Strom was elected 20 times to the Senate...

[Guest MikeSC]

For the same reason ol' Strom was elected 20 times to the Senate...

Nobody with an IQ above 30 has ever run against Ted Kennedy?

-=Mike

...Seriously, folks, you need to realize just who Strom had to run against. Imagine the school janitor who looked at the girls in a creepy way WITH severe head trauma...

[Rob E Dangerously 0]

It seems competant competition was a bit of a problem..

 

via the 1998 Almanac of American Politics:

 

Thurmond's popularity remained high in South Carolina as he sought reelection in 1996 at age 93, but polls also showed that a majority thought it was time for him to retire. His last tough challenge was from businessman Charles Ravenel in 1978, when he got 56%; Thurmond won with 67% and 64% in 1984 and 1990. In the 1996 primary he had opposition from Harold Worley, a state legislator and developer from the Grand Stand along Myrtle Beach. Worley spent $600,000 of his own money and said that Thurmond was "simply too old." Thurmond won 61%-30%, carrying everything but Worley's home base of Horry County. In the general, Thurmond faced Elliott Close, 43-year-old scion of the Springs Mills textile family. Thurmond campaigned actively, shaking hands and speaking from note cards; he has refused to debate since 1950. He got a bit tough with Close. "It might have been more in order for him to run for the town council of Fort Mill," he said. "It would take my opponent 60 years to catch up with what I can do in the next six years." And "I'm a conservative and he's a liberal, from all I hear about him. He's got the money, but I've got the experience." Close spent $944,000 of his own money on a stumbling campaign that had three different managers. He boasted that his family's mill never laid off workers during the Depression, just one week before it closed three mills and laid off 850 workers. Close focused on Thurmond's age and alleged infirmness: "Is Strom Thurmond still up to the job? . . . Vote for our future, not for our past." Thurmond supporters like Carroll Campbell bellowed in rage, but the attacks on age didn't seem to have a huge impact. During the fall Thurmond was running in the low 50s in polls, and on election day he won 53%-44%. He carried all the bigger metropolitan areas and lost mainly low-income rural counties.

 

yeah.. running on "My opponent is too old" is around the "My opponent will die and leave his VP to run the nation" tactic in the number of times it's worked.

 

And the 1984 Almanac of American Politics did speculate that Thurmond would retire.. but they figured he was able to keep living.