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The Brilliant and the Uneducated
R. Alex Whitlock
As most of you probably know, John Kerry has gotten in to some hot water for saying "You know, education, if you make the most of it, you study hard, you do your homework, you make an effort to be smart, you can do well. If you don't, you get stuck in Iraq."
To which some clever GIs respond:
Hilarious!
Truth be told, I believe that John Kerry meant what he now says that he meant. He meant that George W. Bush, who has a degree from Yale and an MBA from Harvard, Dick Cheney, who has a Master's Degree, and Condo Rice, who has a PhD, screwed up and sent us in to Iraq because they didn't get an education.
Observations
I actually thought Kerry hit it right on the money, although his delivery left something to be desired. Not to impugn the members of our armed forces in any way, but it's beyond cavil that poor people without a realistic chance at college are much more likely to enlist than are the privileged. I actually tried to enlist in the Navy when I was a senior in high school, but I ended up injuring myself playing lacrosse and was unable to serve. I often wonder how my life would be different if I had been able to serve and regret that I wasn't up to snuff. Props to the soldiers in the picture. That's one of the funniest things I've seen in a long time...
Kevin,
The armed forces are, generally speaking, smarter than the average population.
Not that that's saying much when I see a bunch of dumbutt ROTC's standing at a door that has a prominently placed sign saying "Out of order, use door on other entrance" and yelling for someone to open it up!
Kevin,
I had actually considered enlisting in college, but the war in Kosovo gave me second thoughts. I considered again after 9/11, but I determined at that point that I was not military material (at 19 I might could have been molded into something military-capable, but by 25 I was too comfortably out of shape and set in my ways). I did put some serious thought into going in to Iraq in a civilian capacity to help them rebuild, but instead I met Camille.
Regarding Kerry's comment, like I said I believe that he meant it as a swipe at Bush. If he was wanted to make a point about poor and uneducated people serving in our armed forces and fighting a "rich man's war", a one-line quip would have been a very poor way to do it, in my opinion.
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