Voting for the Party of Patriotism

The military vote may not be the largest voting bloc in America, but its coveted by politicians across the country because "Supporting the Troops" is about as non-controversial and gratifying a statement to a voting public as "America Rocks". But, the military is a fairly diverse cross-section of people, therefore the opinions on politics are going to be all over the spectrum. That's why Peter Kauffman's article at Politico about the military lurching way to the left is rather bizarre:

For decades, Republicans have worked to perfect the art of lapel pin patriotism – creating and exploiting iconic imagery for political gain while neglecting the substantive needs of our veterans. We see the devastating effect of this focus on rhetoric over reality in the dismal treatment of our wounded heroes at Walter Reed, attempts to block the new GI Bill, and the Bush Administration’s failure to adequately fund mental health care.

For all the GOP’s patriotic imagery and testosterone-infused rhetoric, the sad truth is that most of the current crop of Republican leaders – Rudy Giuliani; Mitt Romney; Newt Gingrich; Mitch McConnell; John Boehner; etc. – were all of age at the time of Vietnam but avoided serving in the military.

Whether or not a politician tries to win the majority of military votes with something as chintzy as a lapel pin isn't saying much for the troops. The "not being a chickenhawk" issue may sway some votes as well, but it doesn't always apply. Robert Gates (SECDEF) only served a couple years in the Air Force during Vietnam and he is well respected, while a war hero like Rep. Murtha frequently gets called an asshole by veterans.

I'm a pretty big NoBama guy, and there are others in the military that have similar concerns, but trying to lay a claim to a voting bloc from all generations and all parts of the country just ain't gonna happen. Give it up, pundits.

McCain on Service

McCain just ripped Colombia at the 9/11 forum on service for not allowing ROTC on campus, which is due to a ban they've had since 1969 over opposition to the Vietnam war. Brit Hume on Fox went in for the assist saying Colombia was the university that allowed madman Ahmadinejad to speak on campus. Haha, why do you Ivy League kids hate America, because the monocle is no longer fashionable.

Faux Patriotism At the Conventions

Patriotism is too abstract a concept to be put into a catchy jingle for public consumption at a massively choreographed political convention. Sure, the delegates can chant "U-S-A" and rock the lapel pins until the cows come home, but only the actions of one's existence can speak to a calling greater than themselves. Being part of the political process at these wingdings in Denver and Minnesota certainly demonstrates that the individuals involved have some interest in making America a better place, and therefore signifies a patriotic spirit (yes, even the Paultards). After all, we would still be paying taxes to the Queen of England if it wasn't for the Continental Congress (aka the Old Skool convention). But when these muckity-mucks try to make a point about how much they love their country to swindle a vote or two, since they assume the rubes in fly-over country can't grapple with the real issues, they come off like a bunch of creeps. Take a look at these two examples:

Apparently, the Republicans were trying to use the infamous Walter Reed Medical Center in their green-screen backdrop during McCain's acceptance speech. The problem is that it was Walter Reed Middle School in Los Angeles, not the place to rehabilitate our wounded vets. Brian McGough, someone who spent some time there after he was WIA in Iraq, has the details at VetVoice. The principal of the school even posted that the RNC had not asked them to use pics, and seeing how she is from LA Unfied School District, she probably is an ardent leftista. Whoops. This was probably the error of some overzealous intern that isn't skilled in the ways of Teh Google Image Search. Pisspoor editing like this in the future could mean that the POW tribute is just a bunch of clips of Hogan's Heros, and the tribute to active-duty Armed forces is screen shots from Halo 3. What a boneheaded mistake.

Moving on to the other side of the aisle, the Denver Post has the scoop on flags from the DNC left in garbage bags like a bunch of unwanted babies on prom night. Look at the Denver Post updates for denial from the punidilicious operatives, but the picture speaks for itself. The American flags that they were handing out to Obamamaniacs to prove to America that the Dems have boner over patriotic values too didn't get much respect off-camera.

So do the two big political parties hate America and have no respect for veterans? I really doubt it. But the methodology they employ to showcase these values comes off as awkward and phony. They should uphold the true standard of American patriotism, and that would be the antics of Missile Command record-holder, Mr. Awesome.

Patriotism at its finest!

Young Republicans And Their Image Problem

It's gotta be tough being a young Republican these days. The approval rating for the President has reached epic lows and McCain has been branded as a more geezerly, senile embodiment of our current administration. Savvy Democratic operatives have even stated that voting Republican will ensure you won't get laid, and attempts by the McCain campaign to do outreach on this new-fangled internet thing have been ridiculed mercilessly by the netroots.

Therefore, it is admirable that The Next Right is trying to jump on the political bandwagon by drawing attention to the hipness of being a young conservative. But they should have picked a better project to highlight than the "Where is the Red" campaign, which promises to travel through Republican strongholds in middle America with pictures and videos along the way. I've been through our country's bible belt on many occasions, and while the folks are most friendly, a location where every radio station and billboard is about Jesus dying for your sins, the Monster truck rally at the state fairgrounds, or the all-you-can-eat buffet at the Cracker Barrel isn't conventionally viewed as "cool".

One of the bloggers at Where is the Red is Jeremy, who writes about the "Red Army" in Florida. I would've picked a different choice of words not affiliated with the tyranny of communism, and I also would have shied away from throwing the term "Army" around when the U.S. Army is strapped for recruits from Jeremy's demographic, but that's just me (sign up today, Jeremy, and get a bonus!). Anyhoo, he writes about the hip, young stylings of Congressman Putnam (R-FL):

Right now, the Putnam campaign is preparing for an assortment of events for the 4^th of July: a parade and the big barbecue. Apparently, the Congressman recently acquired a fire truck and will be using it in the parade. The congressman loves the fire truck, mainly for its redness. It used to be former Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert’s truck and when he retired he offered to sell it to Congressman Putnam. Now it’s a campaign staple and rightfully so. What kid’s dream isn’t to ride on a fire truck? Picture a “Where is the Red?” fire truck…

BBQs and Firetrucks...the new urban chic! There's also young Christie, who makes it incredibly difficult to tell if she is writing for a political-themed site or one of the forums in Hustler with a post rife with double entrendes, "Hey, You Have Something on your Shirt":

I chose mine (Bono's own "Sweet and Tangy" sauce) and attempted to pour some out onto my sandwich but nothing was coming out of the bottle. I squeezed a little harder and of course more sauce than I ever needed splattered/exploded all over my sandwich, the table, my lap, my shirt, and a few drops even made it to my hair. In case I wasn't already aware, Chris was kind enough to point out that I had something on my shirt.

The only explanation for this is that she suffered a censored childhood where she wasn't allowed to watch R-rated movies. Good luck to you youngsters, and for a lesson on "being cool" please view Ninja Rap below, the Vanilla Ice scene from TMNT II where the turtles break it down. Quite possibly the coolest cinematic sequence of our lifetime.

Keyboard Commando Schlussel To Win War in a Fortnight

While some bloggers are warning that the bullet-riddled Qu'ran found in Iraq may be the next Abu Ghraib (unlikely), perennial wingnut Debbie Schlussel says military commanders engaged in the complex counter-insurgency campaign are shameless ass-kissers:

Instead, there's a giant sound of American lips smooching Muslim butt; this giant line-up of high-ranking American military men waiting for their chance to get something brown put on the tip of their noses. The groveling is simply sickening.

Debbie Schlussel will hopefully strap on her Team America gear and start kicking Islamofascist ass in the streets of Baghdad! I'm hoping she carries the big Gatling gun ala Jesse Ventura in Predator. I'm sure Maj. Gen. Hammond's people could use the R&R.

Freedom Cost a Buck-Oh-Five!

The Problem With Civilian Control of Policy

I already know that people are going to take this post the wrong way and think that I want some Musharraf-style "President for Life" military dude with a sash and a bunch of made up medals running the show in America. Nothing could be further from the truth. This is merely a rant designed to rail against the current people in charge of influencing policy decisions.

City Journal recently had an article (h/t Reason) about a bunch of iconoclasts reminiscing on their radical days from the most important time on earth since Jesus was resurrected: the 1960s. Honestly, I don't think we are ever going to not hear about 60s nostalgia from these aging boomers, even after they have long since retired to old folks homes that offer yoga and an organic garden. The people featured in this article are now quite influential in their own right, and speak with much self-appraisal about the heady days of their youth. While a lot of them talk about the horrors of the Vietnam war, I was surprised that no one mentioned in the article actually served in Vietnam. Perhaps that's why we have to listen to this treasonous douche talk about hanging out with the enemy:

The Americans who showed up in Bratislava were a motley combination of long-haired hippie types from the counterculture and the emerging underground press, earnest community and antiwar organizers, and a handful of New Left journalists and academics. Most were in their mid- to late twenties. Our Vietnamese counterparts were older, hardened revolutionaries, dressed in almost identical black pants and jackets, and they seemed to be under strict Communist Party discipline.

Holy shit! And they let these "Americans" back into the country, who were hanging out with and even idolizing the enemy. I suppose we have our useful idiots in America snapping smileytime photos with Hugo Chavez, but at least Venezuela isn't a government actively at war with the United States. The author goes on about SDS guy, Tom Hayden, who was married to traitor Jane Fonda shown below:








But from day one, it was clear that Hayden and some of his acolytes were trying to move our group toward a more “advanced” position than the one still maintained by the mainstream U.S. peace movement. Hayden wasn’t interested in ending the war so much as making an alliance with the other side. At one of the final plenary sessions, he gave a long speech summarizing the conference’s accomplishments and emphasizing our need to work together for the common objective: a Vietnam liberated and unified—by the Communists.

I'm not going to opine on the justification of the Vietnam war, but if a country goes to war with other nation, and you support the other side, you should probably renounce your citizenship. Instead Tom Hayden is living the dream in America, now focusing on the Iraq war or the "dirty war" as he calls it. His influence on foreign policy is still inherent as he is featured at The Huffington Post on a regular basis, despite the fact that he supported a regime that was killing Americans who got drafted (unlike him).

There seems to be a theme of a relentless quest for power running through these people's diatribes, and if American troops are willing to die at the hands of a "morally superior" enemy in their mind, then clearly the end state will always justify the means in their schemes for the world. That's why I am skeptical when prominent leftists publications, like the NY Times, run articles about the veterans of our generation. This series of articles a few months ago portrayed vets as homicidal maniacs. The end result of this is to marginalize veterans from the current mainstream society as a nuisance and the purpose is clearly overt. The seemingly compassionate pieces about veterans issues such as PTSD, GI suicide, are often merely disguised as such to discredit the current administration's strategy in Iraq and a ploy to further ostracize the veteran community from society. Sure they raise awareness about mental health issues for veterans, but what is really the intent? Most likely to use the politically correct "support the troops" tagline as a political cover. In all fairness, on the other side of the political sphere, you've got guys like Cheney with multiple deferments from the draft, who are now beating the drums for war with Iran. A conflict that could probably be resolved through diplomatic engagement (or at least should be attempted).

So we have people in power seeking to make us look pathetic, while at the same time making horrendous policy decisions (the right got us into the Iraq war, and the left wants to pull us out precipitously, and in Hillary's case, she is of both schools of thought). I'm not saying I have the answers to all of our problems, but the machine is already in motion to make us look like pathetic imbeciles. I give props to civilians who want to see us get good benefits and be taken care of, but you have to question the motivation of those in power. A clever ruse indeed, they almost tricked me. Best to fight it appropriately.

Your future in their eyes?

Rush and Roseanne, BFF!

What do Rush "Phony Troops" Limbaugh and Roseanne "Obama's Jewish Problem" Barr have in common? Besides being loudmouth fatsos, they both are seeking to incite political violence at the DNC in Denver. Disaffected has a good post on Rush's idiocy when he's "dreaming of riots", while Roseanne's boneheaded remarks can be found at Equalizer:

But you know, we have a lot of power and there is a Democratic Convention in Denver in just a short time and we should a bunch of us go there and repeat the Democratic Convention from Chicago. Like, let’s just cause a bunch of trouble. Let's wrest back our government from what, six or seven you know guys like McCain and Romney and Bush from the top. Let’s just go take it.

I actually was present at the Los Angeles DNC protests in 2000, but merely as an interested observer (that and my boss gave me a couple of days off work). You've never seen so many yahoos congregated in one place with a hodge-podge of causes. The people who wanted to free cop killer Mumia, union thugs wanting more free handouts from the government, black block kids with upside-down flags (I bet their parents didn't approve, hardcore!), some crazy dude named Vermin Supreme who asked me to come by the downtown Kinko's to help him photocopy leaflets about why he should be emperor (I politely declined), and other various maoist/ anti-abortionists/ anti-frankefoodists/ etc. It all ended quite badly when people began throwing rocks at the LAPD, which in turn resulted in a huge crowd of people getting teargassed and whipped in the head by sticks from police on horseback. A total bad scene, and it didn't contribute one bit to advancing any causes besides these people looking like imbeciles. With the DNC protests coming up in 2008, there isn't any reason to expect different.

So the only reason I can see why people like Rush and Roseanne would want to incite violence for the upcoming convention is strictly for shenanigans and to toot their own horns on the public airwaves. Perhaps they should swing by Iraq, where criticism of politics is often met, not with attack ads, but rather mortars raining down on the Green Zone or the assassination of Iraqi officials. The rule of law and proper political discourse is a good thing. You come to appreciate it after spending 11 months in this place, while having to scramble like an asshole for cover during your afternoon smoke break, because some group didn't like the pension law that just got passed in Parliament. To summarize this rambling post, political violence is no bueno.

The glory of political violence, the Green Zone gets mortared again (photo from WSJ)

Mission Accomplished +5!

5 years ago, Bush landed on the carrier USS Lincoln to give the infamous "Mission Accomplished" speech about Iraq. Ironically, the USS Lincoln (CVN 72) is now back in the Persian Gulf conducting operations as a diplomatic lever against Iran, in which tensions have increased due to our presence in Iraq. A lot can be said about the boldly ignorant proclamation of "Mission Accomplished" when the war still goes on in Iraq 5 years later. Conventional wisdom views it as an incredibly arrogant, chest-pounding statement, since the Bush administration had bunk intelligence on WMD, little to no plans to deal with the insurgency of Iraq, and plans for reconstruction under Paul Bremer were horrendous. I tend to view the 2003 occasion the same way, but I support the implementation of COIN and hope for an expeditious stabilization of Iraq (what else can I do...we are already in this war).

However, White House spokeswoman Dana Perino views "Mission Accomplished" as just another way to hurt the neo-con PR machine. Ever self-centered, she is only focused on ramifications in American media and how it might make her boss look bad. This cuts to the heart of the problem of this administration: they are in charge of the biggest military ever and only wish to utilize it for their own narrow, short-sighted agenda. May we never elect people like this again...

Moral Authority, Chickenhawks, Liberals, and Douchebags

Spencer Ackerman (that dude who got in trouble at The New Republic) has a new blog over at ThinkProgress dealing with foreign policy issues and other miscellaneous items. My views certainly don't jive with ThinkProgress, but I'm open to new ideas (I mean what the hell else am I going to do). He's got a funny post with a mock letter from one of The Kagans' kid from Iraq (note: The Kagans don't have a son in Iraq), which is a snide critique of fobbit culture. It's funny, but who is this clown, right, he's never been in the military. There was some discussion of this over at Abu Muqawama if you are interested in who is allowed to make the "chickenhawk" argument. But who is to judge "moral authority" on who gets to say what...Jesus maybe? The whole "policing" the blogosphere thing seems a little too much like some Brown Shirt campaign in Munich updated for the 21st century. Being a staunch advocate of getting and being offended on a frequent basis, I don't like the whole concept. Especially, since much more hatred should be directed at terrorist goons using the internets to create a legion of easily-influenced suicide bombers. So I say let the information and insults flow freely like Syphilis in a Reno jacuzzi.

But lefty bloggers can really annoy me sometimes. Primarily, because they like to twist your comments around to make you like 1) a dumbass, 2) some racist/ facist/ misogynist/ angrywhiteguyist, or 3) your comment being the problem with every injustice in the world...ever. So it's really difficult to engage in any sort of intelligible discussion where you might benefit from the exchange of ideas, since they're way up high on their ivory tower of self-righteousness and I'm getting wasted off Schlitz in the proverbial gutter. These people are sipping lattes and cruising around to their pilates in Volvos proclaiming to comprehend everything wrong with the world. The only problem in their life is feeling guilty as they roll up the window when the scary homeless man ask for change at the freeway exit. C'mon.

Of course not all lefties are like this, and I'm making extremely crass stereotypes. Having lived on the "Left Coast" for a large part of my meager existence, most of my friends have had left-of-center politics. And, I think Spencer Ackerman seems cool, since he has a sense of humor and doesn't fall into the douchebag category.

Well-to-do Liberal Bloggers (note: they're gonna eskimo kiss after the post is done, awwww)