Kerry: I Get 'A Little Uptight When I Hear Politicians Say How Exceptional We Are'

[candycorn]

Are we the only exceptional people on the globe? I forget.

Does American exceptionalism extend to people like Kim Kardashin or Bill Engvall?

 

[C_Clayton_Jones]

This is the way liberals are in general. They would rather talk about and remind everyone about America's warts, than America's greatness.

Acknowledging the problems facing one's country is the highest expression of patriotism; seeking to hide and ignore those problems behind a facade of jingoism, as is common to most on the right, is not.

 

[rightwinger]

I get always a little uptight when I hear politicians say how exceptional we are – not because we’re not exceptional, but because it’s kind of in-your-face and a lot of other people are exceptional, a lot of other places do exceptional things.



Kerry doesn't like bragging

What do we gain as a country by telling other countries that we are exceptional?

He likes to remind people he awarded himself the Silver Star for shooting a ten year old in the back during his 'weekend' stay in VN.
Then he throws his medals away during a photo op but it turned out those medals belonged to others. Kerry still has his medals on display in his office BTW.
The 'Pickle Lady's' lap poodle is the perfect poster-boy for the LIBs.
All BS and yellow.

Such a powerful Lieutenant .....able to award himself a Silver Star

That was a Looooong weekend

Do you guys ever tire of the lies?

 

[candycorn]

October 11, 2000 The Second Gore-Bush Presidential Debate (transcript)

"....It really depends upon how our nation conducts itself in foreign policy. If we're an arrogant nation, they'll resent us. If we're a humble nation, but strong, they'll welcome us. And it's -- our nation stands alone right now in the world in terms of power, and that's why we have to be humble. And yet project strength in a way that promotes freedom. So I don't think they ought to look at us in any way other than what we are. We're a freedom-loving nation and if we're an arrogant nation they'll view us that way, but if we're a humble nation they'll respect us."

http://www.republicansforhumility.com/rhetoric.html


George W. Bush...

If Obama had said anything about how we should be humble on an international stage, the knuckle-draggers here would hate him even more if it were possible.

 

[C_Clayton_Jones]

Are we the only exceptional people on the globe? I forget.

Does American exceptionalism extend to people like Kim Kardashin or Bill Engvall?

The irony is that most on the right fail to abide by the very principles that make America 'exceptional,' as they seek to undermine the civil liberties of gay Americans, women, and minorities.

 

[mudwhistle]

Are we the only exceptional people on the globe? I forget.

Does American exceptionalism extend to people like Kim Kardashin or Bill Engvall?

The irony is that most on the right fail to abide by the very principles that make America 'exceptional,' as they seek to undermine the civil liberties of gay Americans, women, and minorities.

That is not what makes America exceptional.

 

[rightwinger]

The problem for Kerry is he must deal with claims of American exceptionalism while other countries look at us and wonder:

Why is your murder rate so high?
Why do you have more people in prison than any other nation?
Why is your educational system worse than ours?
Why do you have such crappy healthcare benefits?
Why are you one of the few nations to still execute people?

America is an exceptional country but we have no right to be condescending in dealing with other countries. In many ways, we still have alot to learn

 

[zeke]

Are we the only exceptional people on the globe? I forget.

Does American exceptionalism extend to people like Kim Kardashin or Bill Engvall?

The irony is that most on the right fail to abide by the very principles that make America 'exceptional,' as they seek to undermine the civil liberties of gay Americans, women, and minorities.

That is not what makes America exceptional.

You're rigth Muddy. For once.

What makes us exceptional is the level of hateful, ignorant, stupid people like you.

I mean what other peoples, given the chance and opportunity to live in this country, would spend so much time and effort trying to convince others how fucked up we are in this country because of Obama.

There is exceptional effort being made to convince others we are a fucked up country.
And it's people like you making that effort Muddy. Thanks a fucking lot.

 

[LeftofLeft]

As John Kerry travels from country to country on various diplomatic missions as secretary of state (almost half a million miles so far), he often addresses the staff and their families at the U.S. embassies in the countries he visits. Remarks at these informal gatherings are often more casual than the usual speeches or press appearances, and Kerry often jokes with the staff and recognizes employees of long standing with the State Department. Monday, Kerry had one such opportunity in Vienna, Austria, the last stop on his most recent trip, and towards the end of his talk he recalled his two Yale commencement speeches, forty-eight years apart, where he discussed "sort of the world we’re in" and America's place in it:

...I was privileged to speak to the graduating class of Yale this year, and it was particularly a pleasure because it happened to turn out to be, literally, I hate to say it, 48 years to the day that I was privileged to speak as a graduating senior to my own class. And I talked to them about sort of the world we’re in right now, but at the end I tried to remind them all, which I remind you of, we are – I get always a little uptight when I hear politicians say how exceptional we are – not because we’re not exceptional, but because it’s kind of in-your-face and a lot of other people are exceptional, a lot of other places do exceptional things.

Despite his profession of uptightness on the topic of America's exceptionalism, Kerry went on to close out his remarks explaining what he believes makes America uniquely exceptional:

But we are exceptional in a certain way that no other nation is. We are not defined by thousands of years (inaudible) of history. We are not defined by ethnicity. We are not defined by bloodline or by anything except an idea. And that idea was expressed in the Declaration of Independence and in our Constitution, the idea that people are created equal and that all people have a chance to aspire for greatness, for anything they want. Pretty amazing, right? So think about that. It’s the only country that is literally united and formed around and whose rule of law is based on that idea, one idea, and it’s pretty special. So thank you for representing it. Thank you. (Applause.)

Kerry: I Get 'A Little Uptight When I Hear Politicians Say How Exceptional We Are' | The Weekly Standard
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So according to Kerry America isn't all that great. Even though we can do things here nobody can. Our options are greater in America than anywhere else.......but that doesn't make us exceptional. *rolling eyes*

I guess if Kerry is surrounded by a group of smug, self-important foreigners he might feel downright apologetic.

Forget uptight..... I get outright pissed off when I see a wealthy elite politician wag his finger at The Middle Class about paying taxes while docking his yacht in the neighboring state so he can avoid luxury taxes. Who was acting exceptional and "in your face" in that instance? It was the former Senator Kerry.

 

[mudwhistle]

The irony is that most on the right fail to abide by the very principles that make America 'exceptional,' as they seek to undermine the civil liberties of gay Americans, women, and minorities.

That is not what makes America exceptional.

You're rigth Muddy. For once.

What makes us exceptional is the level of hateful, ignorant, stupid people like you.

I mean what other peoples, given the chance and opportunity to live in this country, would spend so much time and effort trying to convince others how fucked up we are in this country because of Obama.

There is exceptional effort being made to convince others we are a fucked up country.
And it's people like you making that effort Muddy. Thanks a fucking lot.

I guess you'be never lived very long in a foreign country if you believe that rubbish.

Obama is simply using class-warfare to stir up hatred. Liberals want America to be like other countries but few of them ever lived there. Many of them learned how to hate America in college. Many of them can only see the bad and never the good here and most haven't seen first-hand what real racism is in other countries nor have they any experience with real poverty. People who lived through the Great Depression know it well.

 

[candycorn]

The irony is that most on the right fail to abide by the very principles that make America 'exceptional,' as they seek to undermine the civil liberties of gay Americans, women, and minorities.

That is not what makes America exceptional.

You're rigth Muddy. For once.

What makes us exceptional is the level of hateful, ignorant, stupid people like you.

I mean what other peoples, given the chance and opportunity to live in this country, would spend so much time and effort trying to convince others how fucked up we are in this country because of Obama.

There is exceptional effort being made to convince others we are a fucked up country.
And it's people like you making that effort Muddy. Thanks a fucking lot.

 

[Soggy in NOLA]

Are we the only exceptional people on the globe? I forget.

Does American exceptionalism extend to people like Kim Kardashin or Bill Engvall?

You obviously don't understand the term.... go back to sleep.

 

[Soggy in NOLA]

The irony is that most on the right fail to abide by the very principles that make America 'exceptional,' as they seek to undermine the civil liberties of gay Americans, women, and minorities.

That is not what makes America exceptional.

You're rigth Muddy. For once.

What makes us exceptional is the level of hateful, ignorant, stupid people like you.

I mean what other peoples, given the chance and opportunity to live in this country, would spend so much time and effort trying to convince others how fucked up we are in this country because of Obama.

There is exceptional effort being made to convince others we are a fucked up country.
And it's people like you making that effort Muddy. Thanks a fucking lot.

We're fucked up because of people like Obama... and his minions.. like you.

You and your fellow "free-shit-for-everybody" crowd will be the ruination of this once fine country.

 

[jillian]

October 11, 2000 The Second Gore-Bush Presidential Debate (transcript)

"....It really depends upon how our nation conducts itself in foreign policy. If we're an arrogant nation, they'll resent us. If we're a humble nation, but strong, they'll welcome us. And it's -- our nation stands alone right now in the world in terms of power, and that's why we have to be humble. And yet project strength in a way that promotes freedom. So I don't think they ought to look at us in any way other than what we are. We're a freedom-loving nation and if we're an arrogant nation they'll view us that way, but if we're a humble nation they'll respect us."

Rhetoric and Reality - Origins and Goals of the Bush National Security Strategy


George W. Bush...

If Obama had said anything about how we should be humble on an international stage, the knuckle-draggers here would hate him even more if it were possible.

pity it was a lie, actually.

 

[jillian]

That is not what makes America exceptional.

You're rigth Muddy. For once.

What makes us exceptional is the level of hateful, ignorant, stupid people like you.

I mean what other peoples, given the chance and opportunity to live in this country, would spend so much time and effort trying to convince others how fucked up we are in this country because of Obama.

There is exceptional effort being made to convince others we are a fucked up country.
And it's people like you making that effort Muddy. Thanks a fucking lot.

We're fucked up because of people like Obama... and his minions.. like you.

You and your fellow "free-shit-for-everybody" crowd will be the ruination of this once fine country.

you mean when baby bush was ousting saddam and destabilizing the mid east and crashing our economy, things were hunky dory?



I suppose that's the case if you're delusional

 

[candycorn]

Are we the only exceptional people on the globe? I forget.

Does American exceptionalism extend to people like Kim Kardashin or Bill Engvall?

You obviously don't understand the term.... go back to sleep.

You can't answer the question honestly? Nobody is surprised but I was under the impression that the GOP were the "grown ups". Doesn't look too good for you.

 

[candycorn]

That is not what makes America exceptional.

You're rigth Muddy. For once.

What makes us exceptional is the level of hateful, ignorant, stupid people like you.

I mean what other peoples, given the chance and opportunity to live in this country, would spend so much time and effort trying to convince others how fucked up we are in this country because of Obama.

There is exceptional effort being made to convince others we are a fucked up country.
And it's people like you making that effort Muddy. Thanks a fucking lot.

We're fucked up because of people like Obama... and his minions.. like you.

You and your fellow "free-shit-for-everybody" crowd will be the ruination of this once fine country.

Where is my "free shit"?

Oh yeah, it's just something you made up.

 

[candycorn]

October 11, 2000 The Second Gore-Bush Presidential Debate (transcript)

"....It really depends upon how our nation conducts itself in foreign policy. If we're an arrogant nation, they'll resent us. If we're a humble nation, but strong, they'll welcome us. And it's -- our nation stands alone right now in the world in terms of power, and that's why we have to be humble. And yet project strength in a way that promotes freedom. So I don't think they ought to look at us in any way other than what we are. We're a freedom-loving nation and if we're an arrogant nation they'll view us that way, but if we're a humble nation they'll respect us."

Rhetoric and Reality - Origins and Goals of the Bush National Security Strategy


George W. Bush...

If Obama had said anything about how we should be humble on an international stage, the knuckle-draggers here would hate him even more if it were possible.

pity it was a lie, actually.

Well, it just goes to show that if you have a D or an R next to your name on the general election ballot...you're going to get 40-45% of the vote. This is the true and enduring tragedy of the two-party system.

 

[mudwhistle]

October 11, 2000 The Second Gore-Bush Presidential Debate (transcript)


Rhetoric and Reality - Origins and Goals of the Bush National Security Strategy


George W. Bush...

If Obama had said anything about how we should be humble on an international stage, the knuckle-draggers here would hate him even more if it were possible.

pity it was a lie, actually.

Well, it just goes to show that if you have a D or an R next to your name on the general election ballot...you're going to get 40-45% of the vote. This is the true and enduring tragedy of the two-party system.

Well, what do you expect 2 parties to get?

Both get over 50%?

Then there's the Iraqi elections, where there are dozens of parties and nobody is happy.

The only purpose for a third party is to split the conservative vote. Liberals will always vote Democrat because winning is more important than good government.

 

[Pogo]

pity it was a lie, actually.

Well, it just goes to show that if you have a D or an R next to your name on the general election ballot...you're going to get 40-45% of the vote. This is the true and enduring tragedy of the two-party system.

Well, what do you expect 2 parties to get?

Both get over 50%?

Then there's the Iraqi elections, where there are dozens of parties and nobody is happy.

The only purpose for a third party is to split the conservative vote. Liberals will always vote Democrat because winning is more important than good government.

Ralph Nader called. He didn't say anything, he just laughed hysterically.