The War party
In De Moines today, Sen. Tom Harkin called Vice President Dick Cheney a "coward" for not serving in Vietnam.

Harkin said that it angered him to hear tough talk from Cheney.

"When I hear this coming from Dick Cheney, who was a coward, who would not serve during the Vietnam War, it makes my blood boil," said Harkin.

FoxNews reports that Harkin also said that President Bush and Cheney are "running scared because John Kerry has a war record and they don't."

And, as countless bloggers and other commentati have observed, John Kerry is running for president based almost solely on his Vietnam service.

When it comes to lying about his service, Kerry's whoppers about infiltrating Special Ops guys into Cambodia don't hold a candle to what Harkin said, though. Harkin himself claimed to have battled Mig fighters over North Vietnam while a Navy pilot. He was a pilot, but never went to Vietnam.

How did a political party that last held the White House with a man who admitted he dodged the draft and said he loathed the military, who demonstrated against his own country while living overseas, come to be the party that now trumpets more militarism than any other?

When I was a kid I learned that the only kids who always talked tough were either bullies or were in reality just chicken. The real war heroes I have known hardly ever talked about it and certainly didn't want to be heroic again.

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The Arizona Republic has a summary of the military service of "of prominent politicians and their military service histories" and also " the military service records of some of the more vocal journalists, pundits and bloggers. It's rather enlightening."

Update: The AzRep article says that Dan Rather never served. Incorrect, he was a US Marine. Fred Jacobsen also points out that William F. Buckley is also incorrecly characterized as not having served. Buckley in fact served in the Army in World War 2.

Update: Let credit be given where credit is due. John Cole beat me by a couple of hours in pointing out that Harkin had a truth deficiency about his Navy service.

See another, related post here.

by Donald Sensing, 8/17/2004 07:40:49 PM. Permalink |