Posted by
Steve on Wednesday, November 01, 2006 8:09:46 PM
John Kerry did for the Republican party something it was afraid to do for itself, win the election. With his foot in the mouth comment that students should study hard or they would end up stuck in Iraq, he showed remarkable bad taste. John Kerry has never been known for tact. He out did himself this time.
With the comments, the military is outraged. They should be outraged. It takes an education to get into the military. An officer is required to have a college degree, or have at least sixty hours of college credits and OCS. To become an enlisted person, you are required to be a high school graduate or have a GED. As a result, the military is more highly educated than the general population.
The Democrats still think of the military the way it was in Vietnam and WWII. That military was primarily drafted. There were enlistments, but the bulk of people joining the military were there because of being drafted. Drafted soldiers tended to have a slightly lower academic standing than the general public. This is because deferments were given for people attending college. I took advantage of this during the Vietnam war, until I flunked the physical during an enlistment attempt.
Kerry's comments have changed the dynamics of the election. People that were blase about the election are now fired up at keeping Democrats out of power. I believe that the turnout from people in the military and their families, will be close to 100%. Those votes will now go almost exclusively to Republicans. People who support the military, even in a small way, will also vote now and vote Republican. The Democrats lose big time on this one. They energize the Republican base and bring in people that were not going to vote. Republican turnout will be much greater than anyone in any polling company is predicting. Republicans may even pick up a couple of Senate seats and 5-10 House seats. That would send the Democrats into a big funk. It would be a wonderful thing to behold.