A Message from Our Troops to John Kerry (and the Democrats?)

I wonder if Loretta Sanchez, the ranking woman on the prestigious House Armed Services Committee, will have anything to say to the junior senator from Mass. With Duncan Hunter announcing his intentions for the Oval Office (plus Curt Weldon's problems) and the GOP in jeopardy of losing the House, Sanchez will surely move up in seniority barring a monumental upset by Tan Nguyen. Several Democrats have already condemned Kerry. Will Loretta?

Comments

[More proof Kerry disdains the military]

Just read "Unfit for Command" and Kerry's comment won't surprise you one bit. It's an astonishing read.

Nice photo here!

[Elroy El]

The piling on Kerry is the only proof I need to know the GOP can't run on its record.

By all means keep up the good work on wasting energy in this direction.

[Bladerunner]

Stupid is as stupid does. Of course he should apologize.

And then maybe we can get an apology from the President to the troops for leading us into this mess, poor planning, inadequate protection, inadequate number of troops, lack of defined objectives, etc.

We should all encourage Kerry to keep talking. The more he opens his mouth, the more GOP votes we get. At this pace, we may even pick up seats in the House and Senate instead of losing them

"Stupid is as stupid does."

Well Bladerunner, you did get that part right. And that is the problem with the DEMS continuing to let liberal radicals like Kerry, Kennedy and Pelosi carry their water. The DEMs are either too stupid or too arrogant to recognize that regardless of political affiliation, there is something sacred about supporting our troops when on a battlefield, regardless of how they got there. These radicals do not support the troops, the American public knows it, and are sick of it.

If the DEMS were smart, they would purge themselves of this baggage and get some people in office that won't alienate the entire country every time they open their mouths.

[Comandante Agi]

It doesn't matter whether or not Kerry misspoke -- he still hates America. I mean, who wouldn't want to be in Iraq right now!

[cotoblogzz]

Geeez, why can’t people get Kerry’s jokes? Must be because they are stupid, or because the stupid media is blowing it out of proportion, such as Nguyen’s Waffles, or even the narrow mindedness of those with terrible tunnel vision!

[R. Chris]

Today Kerry apologizes and admits be botched the remarks. (Wahington Post http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/01/AR2006110102513.html)

So how long will Republicans try to make this an issue?

Here's another thing worth noting: Will our President, Cheney or Rumsfeld ever admit they made mistakes? Will they admit they botched sending our troops to Iraq too soon and not having a plan for them?

Will they ever admit they lied to us when they tried to insist a connection between Hussain and Bin Laden? Will they admit they messed up when Cheney said "last throws?" Will they apologize to the people of the gulf coast for bungling the response to Katrina?

Please tell me how sending people to war with no plan and inadequate support demonstrates a commitment to our men and women in uniform.

Please tell me how spending billions of dollars on a war that is clearly going nowhere isn't a mistake?

Kerry makes a slip of the tongue and Republicans get all fired up about his so-called disrespect for the troops; yet our President misleads us to war where people are dying.

Let the President keep talking about Iraq, the 30 or so percent of the people that still support him and the war love it.

[DanC]

Bush said on the stump today that he will retain Donald Rumsfled for the remainder of his term. That's pretty stupid!

[cotoblogzz]

Breakings News: Weapons of Mass Destruction Found States Side

Homeland security has raised the threat level to RED, from Orange, after discovery of dirty bombs - with potential for delivery to the masses - States-side, it was reported earlier today.

This new weapon when deployed strategically can demoralize the best armed services in the world, and create chaos within a democratically elected government.

Some have speculated that this is what can happen if the Russia-Iraq deal continues, and if Iraq does not return spent radioactive material to Russia for proper disposal. To prevent a disaster, Senator Kerry’s mouth has been order to be hermetically sealed under the guidance of the Atomic Energy Commission.

[Elroy El]

Well said Chris. Kerry apologized. Now let's see if the repubs let it go and get back to running on their records.

I'm thinking they keep milking this episode because even though they teach the christian value of forgiveness they aren't going to practice it if it helps them stay in power.

[cotoblogzz]

RE" Bush said on the stump today that he will retain Donald Rumsfled for the remainder of his term. That's pretty stupid!"

And consistent with Kerry's Dirty Bomb - his mouth!

[Elroy El]

Upon further examination of this photo, I'm sure I went to high school with all those guys. I wondered what happened to a lot of them.

[ZZMike]

The other unfortunate chap in this debacle is Phil Angelides, for whom Kerry was campaigning at the time. Phil has been haing a run of bad luck recently - including being found out raiding the Governor's computer files.

[Quang]

OK, he has apologized.

"Kerry Sorry for 'Stuck in Iraq' Remarks"
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20061102/D8L4JFKO0.html

It's time to move on. Gotta love the good sense of humor by those guys serving overseas.

"OK, he has apologized"

That is not enough - how many times has he apologized for trashing his country?

Kerry is radioactive - and only those with terrible tunnel vision would disagree.

He needs to be handled like any other radio-active material used to manufacture dirty bombs!

Foley me once, shame on you.....

[Al]

Don't blame the GOP. Blame your own John Kerry for being stupid.

[No SI Puede.]

"Now let's see if the repubs let it go and get back to running on their record"

Who are you kidding?

Frank and Jose are still standing on the steps over at the Old Courthouse holding that tattered old letter just hoping that it carries them until Tuesday.

"No Si Puede," let me get this straight... you just wrote:

Frank and Jose are still standing on the steps over at the Old Courthouse holding that tattered old letter just hoping that it carries them until Tuesday.

You must be on crack. Tan Nguyen sent a letter to 14,000 American citizens trying to disenfranchise them. This is about protecting the right to vote.

Not everyone is a cynical hack like yourself. Get a grip and get a clue. It's thinking like yours that gives Democrats a fighting chance.

[Elroy El]

An Interesting Op Ed.

NY DailyNews

They're all AWOL

Furor over Kerry distracts us from the real class divide: Children of the elite are almost never on the front lines

By FRANK A. SCHAEFFER

Now that John Kerry has apologized, the uproar over his stupid comment that doing well in school can keep people from getting "stuck in Iraq" may or may not die down.

But it will be a tragedy if, after days of political push-and-pull over questions of elitism and military service, we fail to see the creeping class crisis that's been lurking just beneath the surface of this debate: The rich and powerful - Democrats and Republicans alike - just don't send their children to war anymore. And the price we pay for them sitting on the sidelines is far greater than either party is willing to admit.

Look around. Yes, John McCain and Virginia senatorial candidate James Webb have sons in uniform - but almost nobody else leading the debate on Iraq has skin in the game. That includes Hillary Clinton, Joe Lieberman, Ned Lamont and Dick Cheney.

As someone who writes about the military family and as the father of a Marine who served in Afghanistan and Iraq, I've heard from countless families these past five years. And nearly to a person, they are sick of it. It's not that they resent shouldering the bulk of the burden - they know that comes with the territory - but they are tired of leaders who fail even to ask for others to step up.

Just how deep is the divide? The number of congressmen and congresswomen who are veterans themselves is about one-third of what it was a generation ago, and almost none have children in uniform. In the 1950s, about half the graduating classes of the Ivy Leagues served - while today less than one-third of 1% do. Military recruitment programs are virtually invisible on elite college campuses.

As a result, to military families, our upper classes look more and more like Persian potentates commanding slaves, not democratic leaders sharing the fate of those they lead.

It doesn't have to be this way. During World War II, both British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt had sons in uniform. In her diary, Eleanor Roosevelt wrote that FDR "would have liked to have taken [his] sons' places."

Do we need to reinstitute the draft? Perhaps, though the mere suggestion is politically radioactive - and that ought to tell us something. At the very least, we need a new form of mandatory national service in which everyone, rich or poor, educated or not, takes part.

Nobody is suggesting we should defer to the opinions of politicians just because they have children overseas - or because, in very rare cases, they have served in Iraq themselves. Nor would I perpetuate the myth that leaders can "send" their children into war against their will.

The point is that, just as we cannot expect our public schools to magically improve when everyone in power has an escape hatch, we cannot expect our military strategy to be smart, effective and responsive when men and women in uniform are always political pawns - and almost never members of the family.

Schaeffer is author of "Baby Jack" and co-author of "AWOL: The Unexcused Absence of America's Upper Classes From Military Service - and How It Hurts Our Country."

Originally published on November 1, 2006

[Quang]

I reviewed this guy's AWOL book a few months ago. He sent me a draft of this piece the day before it was picked up by NY Daily News. He's been banking on his kid's Marine service since 9/11, with three books and dozens of op-eds on the same subject. Of course he, the father, also managed to skip his duty during the '60s. He talks the talk but he didn't walk the walk...

[Elroy El]

Of course he, the father, also managed to skip his duty during the '60s. He talks the talk but he didn't walk the walk...

Quang. Do you even want to go down that road of the company Schaeffer keeps? Despite his motivations, do you have any quarrels with the assertions he makes regarding who is on the front lines and who isn't?

Consider the message. Not the messenger.

[Quang]

Elroy, that's a fair statement but I've read the same message from the same messenger since 2002. What do you mean the same company that he keeps? Since the abolition of the draft in 1973 the makeup of veterans in Congress has been declining. Make no mistake that the draft is not coming back. Even if it did the elites will dodge it. Draft dodging is an art mastered by elite members of every society and not just ours. I have a cousin who left Saigon in the 1960s to attend Harvard Business School while 250,000 of his fellow countrymen died. He was among many South Vietnamese who skipped that war. For Americans like Bill Clinton, Oxford was ther ticket. For others it was Canada. For South Vietnamese draft dodgers, it was the American university system.

[Elroy El]

What do you mean the same company that he keeps?

I am referring to those who champion the cause of supporting the troops or denigrating the service of dems who served while never serving.

Cheney, Limbaugh, O'Reilly, Hannity, etc, etc, etc.

And I agree with your comments about draft dodging. Although I would hardly put Clinton's background as being an elitist. He did manage to find a way to avoid military service, no argument there.

And I am old enough to remember the Vietnam War although I was too young to be drafted. But it did trouble me back then that young Americans were being drafted to fight a war when Vietnamese youth weren't carrying the load.

Not that I see any parallels to that circumstance. As Dana Rohrbacher said, "Did he volunteer?"

[Quang]

I agree about the Chickenhawks especially Bill O'Reilly for these remarks on 9/27/04.
link

O'REILLY: The South Vietnamese didn't fight for their freedom, which is why they don't have it today.
BUSH: Yes.
O'REILLY: Do you think the Iraqis are going to fight for their freedom?
BUSH: Absolutely.
O'REILLY: You do.

The South Vietnamese carried their load. Of all the articles written about my book, this is the one I most treasure.

Book reminds us of price they paid by Gordon Dillow, OC Register, 4/3/05.
link

[Elroy El]

Quang.

One thing I will agree with wholeheartedly. Kerry is a moron when it comes to extemporaneous speaking. Given Bush's malapropisms it wouldn't have been a high bar for either of them to jump over in order to be considered equals.

[cotoblogzz]

Of course there are significant differences between the President’s blunders and Kerry’s. The president speaks from a high threshold of belief and his often-inability to articulate these are transparent. On the other hand, Kerry is simply opportunistic, elitist and demagogic, and his inability to focus, simply leads to his wallowing in the never never nebulosities of open ended possibilities.

You know, like Katrhyn DeYoung standing on principle, refusing to support a welfare system endorsed by the unions.

[Elroy El]

If you're going to go down that road Lets not forget Bushies "no WMDs here" skit a few years back.

Real freak'n funny. HAR HAR HAR. The idiot starts a war based on the premise that saddam had WMDs, and then after about 1500 kids are killed hunting for WMDs that he damn well knew didn't exist, he thinks its funny.

The "outrage" over Kerry's "joke" far exceeds that of the outrage that should have occurred with Bushies little gaff.

If there is a lesson to be learned, it is that Yale-educated Washington elites should not make attempts at humor.

[cotoblogzz]

"If there is a lesson to be learned, it is that Yale-educated Washington elites should not make attempts at humor"

If that is the only lesson-learned, then Kerry is right!