On 8 Nov 2006 17:56:10 GMT, Scott Seidman
wrote:

wrote in news:ba54l25vj1bq6gb1b0elvaph3r5p1u84b3@
4ax.com:

but there's no sensible person who could
honestly and seriously claim his "stupid" remarks were an intentional
slap at troops (I'll leave the Freudian aspects alone) rather than a
screwed-up attempt at a lame joke.


Ya know, if anyone has a right to comment on the troops, its him. I think
Kerry is a asshole with less charisma than your average little brown ring,
but I haven't seen anyone actually challenge his statement based upon
facts, like the education level of the troops, or anything like that.

Er, did you read, see, or accidentally overhear anything in the days
after his remark?

So, asking you now, what percentage of those serving in Iraq right now are
college grads?

Roughly extrapolating, I'd say something like 1 in about 7.something.

If its low, why is it forbidden to point this out?

It isn't. Generally speaking as above, there are something on the order
of about 7 enlisted men for each commissioned officer. It's not hard to
figure out, and as such, it would be impossible to "forbid" anyone from
pointing it out.

How is
this any more demoralizing for our troops than, say, promising a Rumsfeld
reign over the Pentagon until the day Bush leaves office.

Saying that there are, by definition, not as many college grads as
non-grads isn't demoralizing. Calling those who choose to serve
"stupid" or similar is, well, stupid. That said, I don't think Kerry
intentionally called anyone stupid - I think he screwed up a stupid,
politically-dangerous joke (and again, I'll leave any possible Freudian
aspects out of the discussion as they'd not be material to the
discussion at hand).

Not to say that the troops aren't selfless heros, but I'd wager that the
super-educated shy away from the military.

Your connecting "intelligence" with "education level" and moreso,
"college grad" is telling. FWIW, many use the military as a way to get
a college degree, and IAC, given the structure of the military (18-21
y.o. initial enlistment, officers with degrees, etc.), the majority of
the military wouldn't have college degrees. That doesn't make them
"stupid," or even of low intelligence.

As to the "super-educated" shying away from the military, it'd be a
small minority that _could_ get "super-educated" prior to joining the
military (depending on the definition of "super-educated"), limited to
educations one can get by about 26-27 years old or MDs, JDs, etc., so
"shying away" really isn't an applicable term. But there are a fair
share of generally well-educated people in the military, and an even
larger share of smart, well-trained technical people proudly serving.

"I support the troops" is a statement that is very easy to make, and push
comes to shove, means little.

I'm not sure what you intend to convey.

TC,
R