"Stephen King has fired back at conservative critics who attacked him over
a
remark he made a month ago at a writers symposium for high school
students,"
the Associated Press re****ts from Bangor, Maine:
''I don't want to sound like an ad, a public service ad on
TV, but the fact is if you can read, you can walk into a job
later on. If you don't, then you've got the Army, Iraq, I
don't know, something like that. It's not as bright,'' King
said at the April 4 event in which he was accompanied by his
wife Tabitha and son Owen.
Blogger Noel Sheppard likened the comment to former Democratic
presidential candidate John Kerry's remarks that if you don't
get a good education, ''you get stuck in Iraq.''
''Nice sentiment when the nation is at war, Stephen,'' Sheppard
wrote.
King fired back Monday.
''That a right-wing-blog would impugn my patriotism because
I said children should learn to read, and could get better
jobs by doing so, is beneath contempt,'' he said in a statement
posted on his Web site.
King said he sup****ts the troops . . .
Did you hear that, he sup****ts the troops! That means if he called them
stupid, he must have a good excuse. If he doesn't, we have one for him:
It's
John Kerry's fault.
Most people don't remember this, but when the haughty, French-looking
Massachusetts Democrat ran for president in the early part of this
century, he
tried to present himself as an intellectual, a man of depth and nuance.
Toward
that end, he mentioned at every op****tunity that he had served in Vietnam.
Back in those days, that was understood as a sign of intellect and
refinement.
But it turned out that Kerry was--how do we put this kindly?--not actually
the
sharpest knife in the block. In the Vietnam era, the military's standards
were
lower than they are today, which means that someone like Kerry was able to
get
in. So identified is he with military service in the public mind that even
someone as prominent as Stephen King now accepts the stereotype that
servicemen are dumb--and he _sup****ts_ the troops!
Nice job, Kerry.
--
"You know, education--if you make the most of it, you study hard, you
do your homework, and you make an effort to be smart, uh, you can do
well. If you don't, you get stuck in Iraq."
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