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Screw not being political.....

GIS DROP SMART BOMB ON KERRY
HILARIOUS HEROES FIRE BACK OVER DEM AND DUMBER CRACK ABOUT IRAQ

By TODD VENEZIA in N.Y. and IAN BISHOP in Washington

WACKY IN KHAKI:

A group of sharp-witted soldiers gives Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry a Memorable rebuke for his so-called "joke" advice to students to study or else end up "stuck in Iraq." The devastating photo raced around the Internet yesterday after being posted ona Milwaukee talk-radio host's blog.

NOVEMBER 2, 2006 -- WASHINGTON - A group of GIs showed they are smart enough to take on condescending Sen. John Kerry - by deploying a hilariously misspelled sign mocking the failed presidential candidate's comments about their education.

"Halp us Jon Carry - We R stuck hear n Irak," read the sign, which was apparently the brainchild of a group of service members from the Minnesota National Guard.

The picture was first revealed yesterday on the blog Web site of Milwaukee talk radio host Charlie Sykes, who said he got it from a listener who had a buddy in the unit.

The picture soon raced around the Internet, and it got much of the nation chuckling when it went up on Drudge Report later in the day.

Staff Sgt. Erik Holtan, a member of the Minnesota National Guard, says he saw the picture and recognized the insignia as that of his fellow Minnesota guardsmen - and he immediately put it up on his own blog site.

"It's awesome," he told The Post. "The troops over there have to be livid because of what [Kerry] said. I don't know why he would say that."

Holtan, who works at Guard headquarters, said he believes the troops behind the Kerry sign are in Iraq, since all the members of the unit in the shot - the 1/34 Brigade Troops Battalion - have been deployed.

He said he can see a unit insignia on one of the vehicles in the background and those vehicles have also gone to Iraq.

Fox News Channel quoted Army officials saying that the picture looked authentic and appeared to be taken in Iraq.

"We are always amazed at the creativity of our troops," one Army official told Fox.

Without citing sources, ABC News in Washington said the photograph was taken in Talil, several hundred miles south of Baghdad, where members of the unit are located.

By the end of the day, the shot was burning up the Internet - and was the most stinging rebuke to Kerry's knuckleheaded flub.

The Minnesota Guard and the Pentagon said they could not comment on the picture.

Meanwhile, Kerry surrendered yesterday to a barrage of criticism from Republicans and Democrats over his troop-trashing gaffe and apologized "to any service member, family member, or American who was offended.

Kerry's belated mea culpa, issued at 4:24 p.m., came after Democratic candidates in Iowa, Minnesota and Pennsylvania refused to campaign with him - and Republicans made him the centerpiece of their stump speeches.

"As a combat veteran, I want to make it clear to anyone in uniform and to their loved ones: My poorly stated joke at a rally was not about, and never intended to refer to, any troop," Kerry said in the statement.

"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," he added.

Republicans pounced on the miscue by the Democrats' 2004 presidential nominee and thrust the divisive Kerry onto center stage to fire up the party's conservative base.

"You remember John Kerry, the senator who voted for the $87 billion before he voted against it - the guy that was always lecturing us about nuances," Vice President Dick Cheney said to a Montana GOP rally in remarks prepared for delivery.

Added Cheney, "Of course, now Sen. Kerry says he was just making a joke, and he botched it up. I guess we didn't get the nuance. He was for the joke before he was against it" - a reprise of the flip-flopper stigma Republicans tied to Kerry in 2004.

The war of words comes as Republicans and Democrats scramble for the upper hand less than a week before the crucial congressional elections.

Democrats need to pick up 15 seats in the House and six in the Senate to win back control.

Before issuing the statement, Kerry insisted he meant no offense to the troops and was trying to insult President Bush and his Cabinet for failing to do their homework before invading Iraq when he told students in California they'd "get stuck in Iraq" if they didn't study hard.

After the initial criticism Tuesday, Kerry had defiantly defended his remarks, saying he "apologized to no one" and ripping he Bush White House.

Kerry told nationally syndicated radio host Don Imus yesterday morning that he was only "sorry about a botched joke. You think I love botched jokes? I mean, you know, it's pretty stupid."

Imus, echoing may Democratic strategists, begged him: "Please stop it. Stop talking. Go home, get on the bike, go windsurfing, anything. Stop it. You're going to ruin this."

Montana Democratic Senate candidate Jon Tester concurred: "Sen. Kerry's remarks were poorly worded and just plain stupid. He owes our troops and their families an apology."

Before going to ground and issuing his apology on the Internet, Kerry, a Vietnam vet, accused the White House of trying to "distort something completely out of its context" for political gain.

White House press secretary Tony Snow shot back: "Kerry's words were pretty straightforward, and if you listen to the tone of voice in which he said them, it's hard to construe them as a joke. He didn't sound like he was trying to make funnies."

"Do the following words malign the troops? 'You know, education, if you make the most of it, you study hard, you do your homework, and you make the effort to be smart, you can do well, and if you don't, you get stuck in Iraq,'" Snow added.

"Those are the words. That's not the intention. We're sitting here trying to do mind-reading. We're not playing the 'what if' game. Do those words insult the troops? Apparently, troops believe so," he said.

The Republican National Committee cut a Web ad - e-mailed to supporters - that features a video clip of Kerry's original comment.

"John Kerry should apologize. Our soldiers are waiting," the closing caption says.

President Bush, appearing on Rush Limbaugh's national radio show, said, "Anybody who is in a position to serve this country ought to have the consequences of words, and our troops deserve the full support of people in government."

"We've got incredible people in our military, and they deserve full praise and full support."

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Only in MN....

After a reporter for the Rochester (Minn.) Post-Bulletin noticed similarities in expression between mayoral candidate Pat Carr and an pseudonymous supporter who posted message after message of praise of Carr on the newspaper's website, Carr admitted that he was the "supporter." Said Carr, "I stand by what I" wrote.

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No Wait, Only in WV.....

West Virginia State Sen. Randy White decided in October to remain in the race for reelection despite the surfacing of photographs taken two years earlier of White nude except for body paint in a group of similarly decorated men. White said he had had a "personal identification situation."


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