Kerry botched his joke, doesn't need to apologize

Editor,

Let me get this straight - President Bush is demanding an apology from Sen. John Kerry? If anyone deserves an apology, it's the innocent Iraqi citizens, families of brave military personnel and journalists who have sacrificed their lives in an ill-advised crusade to advance the agenda of greedy oppressive profiteers who are in control of the Republican money machine and orchestrated the Iraq debacle in the first place.

Kerry said, "If you make the most of it, you study hard and you do your homework, and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well. If you don't, you get stuck in Iraq."

What did Kerry mean when he uttered those words? Was he, as Republicans claim, insulting American soldiers on the battlefield? Was he, as Kerry claims, making fun of Bush, a barely average college student now chiefly responsible for the Iraq quagmire? The lines are ambiguous, constituting a Rorschach test for how American voters view the Democratic Party.

The Republican Party is clever to omit the statistics which show that the overwhelming majority of our military personnel are low-income individuals, minorities and inexperienced youth. Is it such a coincidence why military recruitment is so aggressive in high school and college campuses? With the ridiculous amount of bonuses being baited to these gullible suckers, it's a no-brainer they decide to bypass a legitimate college education. It is, however, by no means their fault. The blame lies solely on the desk of the Oval Office.

Yes, Kerry botched the joke, and he botched the response. But let's be honest, he didn't botch the war in Iraq. American troops are not stuck in a deteriorating situation there because a Massachusetts senator tripped over his tongue and his ego.

The real issue is not what Kerry says about our soldiers in Iraq; rather, it is what all of our elected officials in Washington, D.C., intend to do about our soldiers in Iraq. That's the key question for voters as they go to the polls.

Daniel Martinez

UNM student