Dems backing away from Kerry

WASHINGTON (Map, News) - One day after vowing he would “apologize to no one,” embattled Sen. John Kerry apologized Wednesday to U.S. soldiers for suggesting they were uneducated.

“I personally apologize to any service member, family member, or American who was offended,” the Massachusetts Democrat said in a written statement issued late in the afternoon. “I sincerely regret that my words were misinterpreted to wrongly imply anything negative about those in uniform.”

The apology came after two days of withering criticism from Democrats and Republicans. Some U.S. troops in Iraq even mocked Kerry by purposely misspelling a banner that was photographed and posted on various Web sites, including the Drudge Report.

“HALP US JON CARRY,” read the banner, which was held up by eight camouflaged soldiers in front of an armored vehicle. “WE R STUCK HEAR IN IRAK.”

It was a reference to Kerry’s remarks Monday at a rally in California.

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

The remarks touched off a firestorm of controversy, with Republicans demanding an apology on Tuesday and Democrats echoing those demands on Wednesday. Democrats also began canceling campaign events with Kerry.

“Whatever the intent, Senator Kerry was wrong to say what he said,” said Rep. Harold Ford, a Democrat seeking the U.S. Senate seat in Tennessee, early Wednesday. “He needs to apologize to our troops.”

A similar demand came earlier from Democrat Jon Tester, who is trying to unseat Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont.

“Senator Kerry’s remarks were poorly worded and just plain stupid,” Tester said. “He owes our troops and their families an apology.”

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-NY., called Kerry’s remarks “inappropriate,” while Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., said Kerry made “a serious miscalculation."

Yet Kerry spent two days digging in his heels and refusing to apologize, saying his remarks were an attempt to poke fun at President Bush. The furthest he would go was to acknowledge to radio host Don Imus early Wednesday that he made a “small gaffe.”

“It was a botched joke,” he said. “Of course I’m sorry about a botched joke. You think I love botched jokes? I mean, it’s pretty stupid.”

Vice President Dick Cheney ridiculed the “botched joke” explanation.

“I guess we didn’t get the nuance,” he told an audience in Montana. “He was for the joke before he was against it.”

Imus, a self-described supporter of Democrats, suggested Kerry was hurting Democrats less than a week before the midterm elections.

“Stop talking,” Imus said. “Go home, get on the bike, go windsurfing, anything. Stop it. You’re going to ruin this.”

Kerry replied: “Don, I’m going to heed your advice. I have no intention of screwing it up.”

“I'm coming back to Washington today so that I’m not a distraction, because I don't want to be a distraction to these campaigns,” he added. “I’m not going to go to some place that a Congressman’s going to get embroiled in this, because I want them to win.”

In September, Kerry told The Examiner that his loss to President Bush in the 2004 campaign had made him eager to shed his image as an overly cautious politician.

“I learned a lot of lessons in the campaign,” he said. “And one of them is to keep it simple. Direct.”

For example, Kerry said that if he runs for president again in 2008, he would relish another fight against Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, who in 2004 questioned Kerry’s military service and anti-war activities.

“I’m prepared to kick their ass from one end of America to the other,” he told The Examiner.

On Wednesday, Kerry said the firestorm over his recent remarks “is Swift Boat stuff all over again.”

bsammon@dcexaminer.com

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