"You know, education, if you make the most of it, if you study hard and 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." 

"You know, education, if you make the most of it, if you study hard and 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." 

~Senator John Kerry (D – Massachusetts), October 30, 2006. 

"If a young fellow has an option of having a decent career or joining the Army to fight in Iraq, you can bet your life that he would not be in Iraq.  Those who have the least opportunities at this age find themselves in the military, as I did when I was 18 years old...  If there's anyone who believes that these youngsters want to fight, as the Pentagon and some generals have said, you can just forget about it.  No young, bright individual wants to fight just because of a bonus and just because of educational benefits.  And most all of them come from communities of very, very high unemployment.  " 

~Congressman Charles Rangel (D – New York), November 26, 2006. 

Thus, with a successful Democratic election season safely behind him, Congressman Rangel unveiled his best John Kerry imitation. 

Although leading Democrats have so far refrained from defending Congressman Rangel, it is very telling that neither have they rejected his comments or apologized for them. 

Do Congressman Rangel's comments, as well as liberals' deafening silence regarding them, expose a shameful antipathy toward our military forces?  It is increasingly difficult to conclude otherwise. 

After all, Congressman Rangel uttered them with full awareness of Senator Kerry's recent humiliation.  Kerry's comments were widely ridiculed, and the Senator himself retreated to bizarre rhetorical rationalizations in an attempt to minimize potential electoral damage.  Senator Kerry didn't have the fortitude to either defend his comments or apologize for them, instead claiming that it was some sort of "botched joke" aimed at President Bush. 

Sure.  And in related news, Senator Kerry announced that he is entering the bridge-selling business in Brooklyn. 

Despite the controversy following Senator Kerry's remarks, however, Congressman Rangel took the Massachusetts Senator even further merely three weeks later, apparently feeling safe enough to second Senator Kerry's opinion and reveal his true feelings. 

It simply defies credulity to suggest that their comments don't reflect a smoldering contempt toward our military, as well as the men and women who make it the greatest force in world history. 

Even worse, Senator Kerry's and Congressman Rangel's comments are demonstrably incorrect.  In fact, military statistics show just the opposite of their insults. 

According to a Heritage Foundation analysis of military data released October 27, 2006 (http://www.heritage.org/Research/NationalSecurity/cda06-09.cfm), the average serviceman reads at an entire grade level above civilian counterparts.  Further, military recruits' high school graduation rates are 17% higher than Americans aged 18 to 24. 

Just as remarkably, American troops actually come from wealthier backgrounds than their civilian peers, and the only statistically underrepresented backgrounds in the military are those with the lowest incomes. 

Finally, and directly contradicting Congressman Rangel's absurd remarks, Montana has the highest military enlistment population ratio despite its very low unemployment rate. 

The simple fact is that our volunteer military is better-educated and from more privileged backgrounds than the general population.  Furthermore, it is probably the most effective, colorblind and merit-based organization in America. 

Our men and women in uniform enlist because they wish to serve a cause larger than themselves, not because they have nowhere else to go.  In the words of young naval officer Ben Kohlmann, "our educational and academic accomplishments make us more duty-bound to serve the country that enabled us, better than any other, to realize our full potential." 

Congressman Rangel and Senator Kerry should be ashamed of themselves for looking down upon our military, and apologize unequivocally.  Additionally, the new Democratic leadership must either immediately repudiate these insults, or suffer the growing consensus that they hold contempt for the men and women who sacrifice so much for our freedom and prosperity.