There has been a great deal of what I’d deem as stunning TV lately. Obama addressing House Republicans in Baltimore comes to mind. More on that later. Yesterday, Admiral Mike Mullen addressed the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy on gays and lesbians serving in the military. His testimony was stunning:
Rachel Maddow had a great segment exposing John McCain’s hypocrisy in saying that he’d change the policy if military leaders said we should. Well, the current Chairman of the Joint Chiefs just said it. Now what, John?
The nation’s top two military officials just called for the end of DADT. The President of the United States has made it clear what direction he wants to go in. These are different times we are living in. If you need to ask where the change is in the Obama administration you aren’t looking hard enough.
This is a good thing. This is a step forward. Kudos to President Obama, Admiral Mullen, and Defense Secretary Gates. Former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Colin Powell, who originally argued in favor of DADT, has signed on with his support of Mullen and Gates:
In the almost seventeen years since the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” legislation was passed, attitudes and circumstances have changed. The principal issue has always been the effectiveness of the Armed Forces and order and discipline in the ranks. I strongly believe that this is a judgment to be made by the current military leadership and the Commander in Chief. It is also a judgment Congress must make. For the past two years, I have expressed the view that it was time for the law to be reviewed by Congress. I fully support the new approach presented to the Senate Armed Services Committee this week by Secretary of Defense Gates and Admiral Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. I will be closely following future hearings, the views of the Service Chiefs and the implementation work being done by the Department of Defense.
These are the kinds of things that make me smile. Progress.
Live by the sword, you die by it I guess. The next time you hear a conservative blowhard talk about supporting the troops, remind them that at midnight last night the GOP delayed a vote on “funding the troops” in order to delay health care reform. Only 3 (count ‘em 3) Republicans voted with Democrats to end debate and vote on the measure. 33 actually voted against the troops. You’ll note the silence on this among the wingnut blogosphere.
What was in it?
- More than $100 billion operations and maintenance, and military personnel requirements for ongoing military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, and to support preparations to continue withdrawal from Iraq.
- More than $23 billion for equipment used by our service members in Iraq and Afghanistan – including critical funds to accelerate the deployment of new mine-resistant vehicles
- More than $150 billion to increase readiness and training of our troops.
- Nearly $30 billion for health care for service members and their families.
- A 3.4% pay increase for our brave service men and women.
Holding the troops hostage because they don’t want health care reform and wish to harm this President and Congress in any way possible to win back some measure of power in 2010. Pathetic. Absolutely, positively pathetic!
As a former member of our military, this revelation concerning Walmart pisses me off. Remember that snow-in-Iraq TV ad Walmart ran recently? Well the real story is that Walmart is sticking it to service members and their families if a holiday gift is shipped to an Army Post Office address.
He links to a piece in Stars and Stripes that talks about retailers gouging customers by tacking on inflated shipping costs to ship to an APO (Army Post Office), or overseas military address. Curiously enough, Walmart was the most egregious offender. They tacked on $8 to a $120 purchase that would cost $2 to ship stateside. Amazon did not tack on the extra cost, and Target was even less than shipping stateside.
Walmart uses the excuse that there is additional transportation costs associated with shipping around the world. That would wash but for the fact that things shipped APO get shipped to one of 3 addresses within the United States where the Department of Defense picks up the tab to get it the rest of the way. There is no additional transportation cost to retailers to get stuff to those stationed overseas. They only need to ship it as far as New York, Miami, or San Francisco.
The military mail system is designed to be subsidized so troops can easily get and send mail that is not prohibitively expensive. We pay for this service as taxpayers and Walmart is abusing it for their own ill gotten gains.
I’m assuming most with yellow support the troops magnets on their vehicles will continue to be oblivious to this and shop at Walmart thinking they are doing a patriotic duty. Sigh…
Add to the base pandering list one Jennifer Brunner. Jennifer decided to go the route of the panderers even before Obama’s speech, which she spent being featured at a women’s forum. We call that pot shots from the cheap seats. If you have a strong principled stand against the President’s plans in Afghanistan you might want to have a forum on that during an important speech.
Hell, if you had a principled stand against escalation in Afghanistan you might campaign against the candidate who said in the campaign that he’d do just that. Jennifer, if I remember correctly, didn’t do that. My recollection is she was a supporter of the candidate, now President, who said he’d send more troops to Afghanistan.
Where was the wringing of hands back then? Why the wringing of hands now? You want attention. I get it. Anti-war libs are jumping with joy. The GOP is attacking YOU and not Lee. I get all that. I also get that you are now one of the crowd who seems to have conveniently forgotten what this President specifically campaigned to do. A campaign you so vigorously defended at one point.
You need to take a broader look at this. There’s no real long term gain in staking out this position and hanging on to it. For every anti-war lib you gain you lose a moderate or pragmatic progressive.
Brunner’s latest release reads like a staffer got peanut butter in the chocolate. A release about using bailout money for infrastructure jobs (not a new idea) gets confusing when the campaign again takes a shot at Obama:
President Obama informed the American public the next day that he plans to deploy 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan with a definite timetable to begin withdrawal, starting in July of 2011. Despite the future promise of relief, I would rather have our soldiers building bridges and schools right here in Ohio than in Afghanistan.
Earth to Jennifer Brunner. Soldiers are trained to fire weapons at targets, not pour concrete. You can argue all you want about bailout money, stimulus funds, and infrastructure improvements. All good stuff and it’s hard to disagree with your call to focus on main street instead of wall street (hmmm, where have I heard that before!?). What you should stop doing is trying to get more mileage out of your break with the President on Afghanistan. It’s starting to look pathetic.
Embarrassed. That’s how you’d feel if you were a wingnut blogger and had any sense of self awareness whatsoever. Those who have written vile, racist tinged posts about President Obama’s Veteran’s Day activities and visit to Fort Hood have absolutely no idea what they are talking about. Their hatred so blinds them that a clear sense of reality is simply out of reach.
They want to portray this President as uncaring, insensitive, and without compassion. No matter what the truth may be. It’s nice to get an unfettered view into the real President Obama to counter these sycophant wingnut lunatics. James Meek gives us just that. During a visit to friends graves in Arlington National Cemetery, James had a chance meeting with our President:
What I got was an unexpected look into the eyes of a man who intertwined his roles as commander in chief and consoler in chief on a solemn day filled with remembrance and respect for sacrifices made – and sacrifices yet to be made.
I’m sure the cynics will assume this was just another Obama photo-op.
If they’d been standing in my boots looking him in the eye, they would have surely choked on their bile.
His presence in Section 60 convinced me that he now carries the heavy burden of command.
Choked on their own bile indeed.
President Obama earlier this evening addressed troops in Alaska on his way to Asia. He continues to embody everything a Commander in Chief is supposed to be. His strong, but measured words are precisely the temperament we need in the Oval Office. He told the troops he would not hesitate to deploy force to protect the nation, but that he would not risk their lives without a clear mission and exit plan. Such words must be some comfort to even those Republican supporting service members in the ranks. They now have a leader who both appreciates their service and treads lightly on decisions that will put them in harms way.
Attempts to portray President Obama as uncaring and without compassion should be met with mocking laughter. Those would would make such arguments have no grip on reality.
Veterans Day always sits heavy on me. Growing up a military brat, I’ve seen first hand the sacrifices that are made daily by those who serve. The big and the little sacrifices that provides for the common defense. I witnessed mostly the little things. I’ve only heard stories about the big ones. One of those stories is the experience of my wife’s grandpa.
Bob landed in Normandy 3 weeks after the invasion. One of the first things he witnessed was an American GI who had been run over by a tank and killed. A quick introduction to the atrocities of war and a stark reminder of what he was in for.
As a member of the infantry, Bob was tasked with a group to scout different areas for headquarters. Out on a mission, the group came under heavy fire to the front of their formation. A soldier in the lead was injured and there was a mad scramble to get him to safety. The group in back set up cover fire for the others and an order to retreat was given. While laying down covering fire and yelling “Drop back! DROP BACK!”, the group began to retreat while trying to fend off the enemy. Bob began to drop back, continuing to yell and lay down cover fire. He did so until he was the only one left firing and the injured soldier and the rest of the squad retreated to safety.
For this he received the Silver Star, the third highest military decoration. He was able to return to Ohio in one piece and became a teacher. He recently turned 97 and shows no signs of slowing down. He looks as though he’ll blast through the century mark like an M1A1. He lives alone and only stopped driving in the past few years. He is incredibly fun to be around and you need only do so for a very short period of time to realize why his is called the “Greatest Generation“.
I feel a great deal of appreciation and pride for Bob and those like him who were called into service and did so with great selflessness, valor, and honor. Thank you, Grandpa! We honor you today and will not soon forget what you’ve done. Today is the day we set aside to remember.
PFAW’s Right Wing Watch does just that, which is why they caught American Family Association’s latest descent into lunacy in response to the Fort Hood tragedy. Bryan Fischer, AFA Director of Issues Analysis, begins his screed:
It became evidently almost immediately that the mass murderer in yesterday’s killing spree at Fort Hood was a Muslim who was motivated by jihadist impulses.
It became evidently almost immediately? He’s obviously not the direct of communications or Engrish at the AFA. Sorry. Distracted by the ignorance that we all sort of knew was already there. Let’s continue:
It it is time, I suggest, to stop the practice of allowing Muslims to serve in the U.S. military. The reason is simple: the more devout a Muslim is, the more of a threat he is to national security. Devout Muslims, who accept the teachings of the Prophet as divinely inspired, believe it is their duty to kill infidels. Yesterday’s massacre is living proof. And yesterday’s incident is not the first fragging incident involving a Muslim taking out his fellow U.S. soldiers.
Of course, most U.S. Muslims don’t shoot up their fellow soldiers. Fine. As soon as Muslims give us a foolproof way to identify their jihadis from their moderates, we’ll go back to allowing them to serve. You tell us who the ones are that we have to worry about, prove you’re right, and Muslims can once again serve. Until that day comes, we simply cannot afford the risk. You invent a jihadi-detector that works every time it’s used, and we’ll welcome you back with open arms.
Did this asshat advocate a wingnut-separatist-militia detector for everyone in the military who looks like this back in 1995?
Of course he didn’t. How can anyone take people – and organizations – like this seriously?
…and the right is silent. You can’t cry socialism when you also have to cry support the troops! Heh. If that’s not enough to chap the ass of your average wingnut then get this:
“The stimulus package will fund Ohio National Guard renewable energy projects, installing solar panels at locations in Columbus, Toledo and at the Camp Ravenna Joint Military Training Center in Newton Falls,” said Maj. Gen Gregory L. Wayt, the adjutant general. “These projects will save the National Guard about $78,000 in utility costs within the first year of operation, and will generate about 375,000 Kilowatt hours of electricity per year.”
You hear that? We’re installing solar panels on National Guard buildings!
Today, a study by the Center for Responsive Politics reported that members of the military are giving more donations to Senator Obama than Senator McCain, and when you just examine those troops who are deployed, Obama attracts more donations by a 6 to 1 factor.
I’ve argued forever that the wingnut claim that they support troops more and that they are the party of the military was pure fiction. It looks like the troops have spoken.
They’re probably tired of the long war already. Hold on fellas! McCain says only another 100 years! Help is on the way! Hold onnnnnnnnn!
As Soltz asks: Maybe it’s the troops that hate the troops?
What the McCain campaign doesn’t want people to know, according to one GOP strategist I spoke with over the weekend, is that they had an ad script ready to go if Obama had visited the wounded troops saying that Obama was…wait for it…using wounded troops as campaign props. So, no matter which way Obama turned, McCain had an Obama bashing ad ready to launch. I guess that’s political hardball. But another word for it is the one word that most politicians are loathe to use about their opponents—a lie.
So John McCain’s new “Truth Squad” has a swiftboater on board. Nice. I wonder why Bud Day doesn’t demand that John McCain sign an SF-180 and release his military records. I’m sure that was his opinion of John Kerry back when his non-swiftboat ass was smearing the presidential candidate all over with his ads.
Also, if the McCain camp is so concerned about someone questioning the military record of a veteran and supposed wartime hero, then why are they openly associating with someone who did this very thing to John Kerry?
Because to Republicans, hypocrisy knows no bounds. That’s why.
John McCain is a supposed “straight talker”. He even has a “Straight Talk Express” (bus and plane). When it comes to his military record, he’s neither straight talker or straight shooter it seems. The questions that his campaign doesn’t want to answer, let alone be asked, could easily be dismissed.
All it would take is for the Senator to sign Standard Form 180. I will provide a link below to this form in blank format so the campaign can easily find it upon reading this post.
Everyone on the right should be familiar with this form. It’s the one they bombarded John Kerry with requests to sign so they could dig into his military record. It was important back in 2005, I figure it just as important now. Or am I missing a rule of engagement here?
Hell, we may as well put up a clock to count the days, hours, and minutes until he signs. Just like they did.
-
I trust those on the right will follow me in my quest given their penchant to do so in 2004 and 2005.
Like both Barack Obama and Wesley Clark, we think you served your country honorably. But like John Kerry in 2004, we’d really rather you prove it. Thanks very much.
“I certainly honor his service as a prisoner of war. He was a hero to me and to hundreds of thousands and millions of others in the armed forces, as a prisoner of war. And he has traveled all over the world. But he hasn’t held executive responsibility,” said Clark, a former NATO commander who campaigned for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2004.
“He hasn’t been there and ordered the bombs to fall. He hasn’t seen what it’s like when diplomats come in and say, I don’t know whether we’re going to be able to get this point through or not,” Clark said.
Schieffer noted that Obama did not have any of those experiences, nor had he “ridden in a fighter plane and gotten shot down.”
“Well, I don’t think riding in a fighter plane and getting shot down is a qualification to be president,” Clark said.
So. About the same level of executive leadership when it comes to the armed forces, then? Is that about right? I think General Clark might want to look into the number of planes he’s crashed too. It’s not just one!
I wouldn’t apologize or backtrack on this at all. Maybe people will dig deeper and realize there are very good reasons McCain never made admiral.
John McCain’s Military Record: Where’s the Straight Talk?
by Eric on June 30, 2008 · Comments
John McCain is a supposed “straight talker”. He even has a “Straight Talk Express” (bus and plane). When it comes to his military record, he’s neither straight talker or straight shooter it seems. The questions that his campaign doesn’t want to answer, let alone be asked, could easily be dismissed.
All it would take is for the Senator to sign Standard Form 180. I will provide a link below to this form in blank format so the campaign can easily find it upon reading this post.
Standard Form 180 (372 KB pdf)
Everyone on the right should be familiar with this form. It’s the one they bombarded John Kerry with requests to sign so they could dig into his military record. It was important back in 2005, I figure it just as important now. Or am I missing a rule of engagement here?
Hell, we may as well put up a clock to count the days, hours, and minutes until he signs. Just like they did.
-
I trust those on the right will follow me in my quest given their penchant to do so in 2004 and 2005.
Like both Barack Obama and Wesley Clark, we think you served your country honorably. But like John Kerry in 2004, we’d really rather you prove it. Thanks very much.
{ 2 comments }