Have you ever had an argument with someone because they misinterpreted something you said about them. You tell a joke, and they read it the wrong way and get hurt. I'm sure this has happened to everyone. Its human.

Usually, if the person is reasonable, and you explain to them that they misinterpreted you and that you didn't mean what they thought you meant, you can work things out, and everything will be OK.

Sometimes, however, those people will insist that you did mean things the way that they chose to interpret them. They will refuse to accept your clarification and they will continue to be hurt. This sort of behavior is often associated with clinical depression. People who want to feel hurt will insist on an interpretation of events that allows them to feel that way, even if that interpretation isn't rational. Sometimes this is simply a matter of maturity.

I live in Atlanta. I listen to right wing talk radio. I don't really like right wing talk radio. I wish that I could turn on the radio while driving home from work and listen to a sane person tell me the news. I don't have that choice. Its either bad pop music, art music that I'm usually not in the mood for after work, sports, or right wing talk radio. There used to be a left wing talk radio station, but they were just as bad as the right wing talk radio stations, and they don't seem to be on the air anymore. I really ought to start downloading podcasts onto my ipod, but I've been too lazy.

I almost never agree with anything I hear on talk radio, be it right or left. Talk radio usually consists of angry people making bad arguments for bad ideas, and often they are downright hateful to boot.

Today's installment of right wing talk radio consisted of a riot over the following statement made by John 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, you can do well. If you don’t, you get stuck in Iraq.”

It seems obvious to me that this is a snipe at the Bush Administration's Iraq Policy. Kerry is calling the administration's Iraq policy stupid. I think its funny. I actually laughed out loud when I heard the soundbite, in particular because it was framed on right wing talk radio by so much vitrol.

Of course, the right wing has misinterpreted this statement to imply that service in the armed forces is what happens to people who don't go to school. This hurts their feelings.

Its obvious that Kerry did not mean that. Kerry served in Vietnam. I'm sure that as a Senator Kerry knows many well educated career military people. The idea that he would want to offend the service of hundreds of thousands of people in the military is nonsentical.

But, thats what the right wing thinks. And their feelings are hurt.

So, Kerry clarifies:

If anyone thinks a veteran would criticize the more than 140,000 heroes serving in Iraq and not the president who got us stuck there, they’re crazy.

Indeed.

Apparently, this wasn't good enough. The right wing rejects this explanation. Their feelings are still hurt. They still think he was saying that military service is what happens to you if you don't go to school. The right wing wants to feel hurt, and so they continue to misinterpret the joke even though they've been informed that they are misinterpreting it.

Now, normally, when the pundits on right wing talk radio are up to their ears in, well, you know what, the leadership of the GOP doesn't touch them with a ten foot pole, because, essentially, they know that these people are full of it. In fact, this is why I was surprised that Bush gave leading right wing pundits personal audience a few weeks ago. I don't think its presidential to associate with whacko political pundits.

In this case, however, the leadership of the Republican Party, who also happen to be the leadership of the country, joined the chorus of feeling hurt and demanding an apology:

President Bush, campaigning this afternoon in Georgia for a Republican House candidate, condemned Mr. Kerry’s remarks as “insulting and shameful.” “The men and women who serve in our all-volunteer armed forces are plenty smart and are serving because they are patriots — and Senator Kerry owes them an apology,” Mr. Bush said, according to the White House.

OK, Mr. Bush, he said thats not what he meant, so, why are you unwilling to accept his explanation? Are you clinically depressed, or are you just immature?

Earlier today, Mr. Kerry’s remarks were denounced by Senator John McCain, “Senator Kerry owes an apology to the many thousands of Americans serving in Iraq, who answered their country’s call because they are patriots and not because of any deficiencies in their education,” Mr. McCain said.

Et tu, brute? We thought you were one of the sane ones Mr. McCain. We were obviously wrong.

Whether the explanation is immaturity, clinical depression, or simple blind partisanship, this sort of behavior is not acceptable from people who are responsible for running this country. This is not how mature, healthy adults act. Its just that simple. They've crossed a line here. Its not OK anymore.

The Republican Party is mentally ill. Yes, I mean it.