Decision ‘08

When Partisanship Overcomes Decency

DarkSyde, one of the anonymous simpletons who blogs on the front page of Daily Kos, thinks of a perfect way of honoring our nation’s veterans on Memorial Day: by putting together a list of Republican ‘chicken-hawks’ who didn’t serve (or, in the case of George W. Bush, who did serve, but just not in a capacity that meets DarkSyde’s approval).

Leave aside for the moment that one could just as easily compile a list of Democrats who didn’t serve - and that the author betrays a lack of understanding of the fundamental concept of our national security, that our military is designed to be under the rule of civilians - for we recognize at a glance the childish mentality behind such a parlor game. The more important thing to note is that arguments such as this, which have a way of arising every time we have a Memorial Day or Veteran’s Day, are the cheapest form of demagoguery and reflect only on the poorly educated state of those that utter them. Christopher Hitchens put it best in this defense of ‘armchair generals’ and ‘chicken-hawks’:

My wife is not of military age, and there is little chance of a draft for mothers. Are her views on Iraq therefore disqualified from utterance? And what about older comrades who can no longer shoulder a gun? What about friends of mine who are physically disabled? Should their expertise—often considerable—be set aside because they can’t ram it home with a bayonet?

…[T]he clear suggestion is that there ought not to be civilian control of the military. What—have callow noncombatants giving brisk orders to grizzled soldiers? How could Lincoln have fired the slavery-loving Gen. George B. McClellan, or Truman dismissed the glorious Douglas MacArthur? During the defense of Washington, Lincoln became the first and last president to hear shots fired in anger. Donald Rumsfeld was at his desk in the Pentagon when the plane hit, but probably is no better and no worse a defense secretary for that.

…When a man thinks that any stick will do, said Chesterton, he is likely to pick up a boomerang. Shall we inquire into the “armchair” or otherwise sedentary lives of those who sympathized with Milosevic, or who published euphemisms about al-Qaida, or who went on fatuous hospitality trips to Baghdad and ended up echoing Baathist propaganda? You can be sure that they would yell about “the politics of personal destruction” or perhaps “McCarthyism” if such an imputation was made. Well, then, let them beware of licensing such a cheap form of ad hominem argument. Just as some of the greatest anti-war writers and poets were courageous soldiers, some of the best minds of World War II were civilian strategists and code-breakers, and some of the finest Resistance fighters were intellectuals who picked up weapons. There is no certain way of enforcing these distinctions morally, until the test actually comes.

Memorial Day is a day to honor our nation’s fallen. It is, to the lover of America the country and America the concept, a sacred day. When it is used by either side as a prop to whack other Americans over the head with, for the mere reason that they belong to another political party, then enduring shame should attach itself upon the exploiter…but then, I suppose, DarkSyde’s post is a fitting tribute despite itself.

Our soldiers died for our freedoms, after all, and the freedom to be an idiot is surely among them…

28 Responses to “When Partisanship Overcomes Decency”

1 Gwedd Says:
May 28th, 2006 at 4:39 pm
Comrades,

There are two sayings I would like to leave with you folks, regarding the military and service.

The first one is this: “They also serve, who stand and wait”.

The second is this, which any soldier will tell you is the God’s honest truth: “Amateurs discuss tactics. Professionals discuss logistics”.

I spent a number of years in Naval Aviation. I wouldn’t have been able to do the things I did without the support of dozens, even hundreds of folks who never got an ounce of glory, a headline back home, or the thanks they truly deserved. The young seaman in Disbursing who kept my pay records up to date. The Mess Cook who spent long hours in heated kitchens so I’d have a hot meal. The mechanics who kept the bird flying, whose day began before I showed up and continued until long after I went to bed. The Hospital Corpsman and Dental techs who kept me healthy, despite my best youthful efforts to ignore their advice. The Yeoman who maintained my records, so years later I could prove my accounts.

The spear has a small sharp point, but a wide and deep blade. It’s the strength of that blade that lets the point ram home. Anyone can learn to throw a grenade. It takes skill and determination to keep the grenadier fed and clothed and sheltered, and to bind up his wounds.

I would return to active duty in a heartbeat, because I believe in what we are doing overseas. Yeah, I have disagreements over some of the little things, but the big things I support. The Navy, however, seems to think that I am too old and too infirm to return to flying status. I think that’s hogwash, but they seem determined in their opinions.

Those who fling the “chicken hawk” banter about are young and foolish, and to my mind don’t have a clue. No one WANTS to go to war, at least none of those whom I served with. But we had all determined that there was something in the Nation, in it’s people and ambitions and dreams and hopes that was worth risking our lives and our youth to defend. Many of us would do it all over again, even knowing the costs we would have to pay again.

Anyone, citizen or foreign-born, man or woman, who takes the oath to defend our Constitution against all enemies, foreign or domestic, has my deepest respect.

Please forgive me for the following, but I think it worth the time to post and consider, for even Shakespeare knew the value of they who would risk all when called. It’s probably familiar to you all, but for those who haven’t read it, it’s Henry V’s speech on St. Crispin’s day at Agincourt, from the play “Henery V”.

This day is called the feast of Crispian:
He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,
Will stand a tip-toe when the day is named,
And rouse him at the name of Crispian.
He that shall live this day, and see old age,
Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,
And say ‘To-morrow is Saint Crispian:’
Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars.
And say ‘These wounds I had on Crispin’s day.’
Old men forget: yet all shall be forgot,
But he’ll remember with advantages
What feats he did that day: then shall our names.
Familiar in his mouth as household words
Harry the king, Bedford and Exeter,
Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester,
Be in their flowing cups freshly remember’d.
This story shall the good man teach his son;
And Crispin Crispian shall ne’er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remember’d;
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne’er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition:
And gentlemen in England now a-bed
Shall think themselves accursed they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin’s day.

Respects to all,

Gwedd
2 Muffin the Cat Says:
May 28th, 2006 at 4:42 pm
I don’t see Bill Clinton’s name or Al Gore’s name on this list. Didn’t they take some military action while in office? Can we say Somalia?

This is Memorial Day weekend so I will again honor my first cousin (once removed).

Gerald Thomas Parmeter KIA Quang Ngai, South Vietnam, May 24, 1968.

Go here: http://www.no-quarter.org/code/details.cgi?IDNO=56821853
3 Mark Says:
May 28th, 2006 at 5:53 pm
May God bless his soul…I have many relatives who served in WWII, Korea, and Vietnam, but no KIAs, thank God…we honor his memory…
4 Right Wing Nut House Says:
May 28th, 2006 at 6:42 pm
THE COURAGE OF ONE’S CONVICTIONS AND WHERE IT’S LACKING

I must confess to having a secret admiration for those protesters who willingly get themselves arrested in order to make a statement of defiance against the war as well as standing up in a very public way for what they believe in.

Some may call them…
5 Gwedd Says:
May 28th, 2006 at 7:09 pm
Comrades,

As a veteran, I can tell you honestly that I have no truck against the true concientious objector, the Quaker , the one who stands by his or her convictions. It’s the ones who sign the dotted line, who take the government’s pay and priviledges, the benefits and support, then suddenly have a change of heart when the bullets start to fly and run off claiming to be a “C.O.” that really gall me.

Sad to say, but the ranks of the Anti-War, Anti-Bush coalitions are filled with a majority of the clueless, who find it fashionable to march and protest against their country, who rail and cry and hurl invectives, say all the right words and phrases, and be seen at all the right places, so to speak.

To those who walk the walk, I have nothing but respect for them. To those who talk, but then try and shout down opions they disagree with, I have nothing but contempt.

More and more I am led to believe that the right to vote and to hold elected office should be predicated upon some form of national service. If you aren’t willing to stand up and step forward, to sacrifice some of yourself for the betterment of your nation, of your fellow citizens, why should you be granted the same rights as those who will?

Respects,

Gwedd
6 DarkSyde Says:
May 29th, 2006 at 8:29 am
Sunday, the day that was written an posted, wasn’t Memorial Day. Monday, today as I write this, is that day. LOL: I’d be real, real careful about calling other people simpletons when you apparently have difficulty reading a date! If you make a boneheaded mistake like that on a blog with any significant traffic, and even some of your friends will drift away from defending you in the ensuing melee.
7 Dennis Says:
May 29th, 2006 at 8:47 am
Wow, you really negated his whole point by pointing out you put that up the day before Memorial Day. Now excuse me while I go collect my eyes. They rolled so much they fell right out of my head.
8 Mark Says:
May 29th, 2006 at 9:14 am
Oh, jeez, nobody was writing anything related to Memorial Day the day before, now, where they? Better to keep your mouth shut and be thought a fool than to open it and remove all doubt, DarkSyde…
9 Muffin the Cat Says:
May 29th, 2006 at 9:47 am
What did you write today, DarkSyde? I went over to the DailyKos and did not find any article. Please enlighten us with your left wing wit. Where is your article today honoring those that have given the ultimate? Please link to it and I will read.

The point of the article written for yesterday was to criticize many Republicans for taking the US to war but never serving or serving in combat. Many Presidents’ have served their country, many have not. FDR never served, but made a pretty good war time President and lead the US quite well until his death. Jimmy Carter served in the Navy and was President during the Iran hostage crisis. If I remember correctly he was in charge of a botched rescue attempt of the hostages. My point is that both Republican and Democrat President’s have commanded during war and some have served and some have not. I don’t think it makes that much of a difference. Your article was no more than a slam to degrade George Bush and company with no real journalist value.
10 Gwedd Says:
May 29th, 2006 at 11:35 am
Comrade DarkSyde,

Just for the record, since you feel the need to “expose’ those who haven’t served their country, how about some background on yourself?

How ’bout posting what is is that YOU have done to help your country be a better place? Military Service? Volunteer at a soup kitchen? Help cut brush and mow lawns at the local cemetary? Help out at the senior citizen’s home?

Or is any of that beneath you? True… you DON’T have to justify your opions to anyone else, and you certainly don’t have to come here and explain yourself to us either. It’s just that it seems to me to be real easy to criticise and not offer actual solutions, to condemn others while reserving judgement on yourself.

Not everyone can or should serve in the military, but there are LOTS of ways to help out the nation besides hiding behind a moniker and hurling typed invectives at imagined foes.

Respects,

Gwedd
11 OLDPUPPYMAX Says:
May 29th, 2006 at 11:50 am
We have had two democrat presidents in the past 30 years. One was an officer in the US military, the other a life long civilian. Both were utterly incompetent in matters of diplomacy and warfare. Both have taken pride in treason. Although hardly an offer of proof, it would certainly seem to indicate that prior service is not a guarantee of effective leadership in military matters. But then maybe we should at least begin with presidents who favored their own nation.
12 DarkSyde Says:
May 30th, 2006 at 4:26 am
Comrades, you are defending a war based on what has turned out to be a false premise. You are defending the slaughter of almost 2500 American men and women based on a mistake. You are defending a war to disarm a Tyrant of nukes and gas and bioweapons he did not have, a war in which over 18,000 American men and women have been injured, many thousands never to be whole again.

You are not defending veterans, or honor, or truth: You are defending George Bush and Dick Cheney’s colossal lapse of judgment which has sent ten of thousands of soldiers into a meat grinder and cost the taxpayer hundreds of billions of dollars. While an enemy who already attacked us viciously and is promising to do so again remains at large and rarely mentioned. You are defending that continued course of action, with no end in sight, as the graveyards swell with US soldiers and marines. As their families struggle on, their lives shattered. You are defending those who cut taxes on billionaires and gave billions to oil companies, while cutting the benefits for veterans.

Comrades; not only did these chicken-hawks not serve, they happily impugn the record and reputation of those that did. EG: Max Cleland and John McCain just to name a couple. And yet you defend them. Your behavior is inexcusable and irresponsible.

It is beyond partisan, you are a passive accessory to massive manslaughter of the very servicemen and women you feign to care for at the great expense of this nation and for the benefit of a tiny exclusive club you will never be allowed to join. That you do it for partisan motive, out of willful ignorance, malice to your nation or democracy, is not the most shameful part; the most shameful part is that you do it at all.
13 The World According To Carl Says:
May 30th, 2006 at 6:29 am
A Footnote From The Memorial Day Weekend

Sometimes, in opposition to better judgment, I read some of the more radical liberal blogs. I usually avoid them because in many instances, they are full of nothing but unintelligent vitriol unworthy of my time. However on Memorial Day I ran into a cou…
14 Mark Says:
May 30th, 2006 at 7:46 am
Ahh, DarkSyde, I see you are familiar with the Progressive Litany™. Do you really want a reply or are you just ranting? Because I don’t want to waste my time putting up a reply that will be ignored…
15 Gwedd Says:
May 30th, 2006 at 7:47 am
Comrade DarkSyde,

Uhh…. yeah… whatever. If I had wanted to hear leftist propaganda I would have turned on NPR or CNN. I asked a simple question of you, as one citizen to another.

So again I ask, what have YOU done to help your country, to better America?

Respects,

Gwedd
16 Martin A. Knight Says:
May 30th, 2006 at 10:17 am
I’m a bit confused at Left-Wing logic …

e.g. After we helpfully and conveniently forget CodePink, MoveOn and PFAW shenanigans, the Left would have us believe they wholeheartedly and without any reservation supported the War in Afghanistan.

Why?

I mean, if we apply the same logic they’re applying to Iraq, BushLied™ about Afghanistan as well i.e. no WMDs have been found in Iraq, therefore there can be no doubt that BushLied™ and made it all up out of wholecloth that there were WMDs in Iraq. Likewise, Osama bin Laden has not yet been found in Afghanistan; is that not proof positive that BushLied™ that Osama bin Laden was/is in Afghanistan?

Whaddayasay, DarkSyde?
17 Tongueboy Says:
May 30th, 2006 at 10:43 am
If morality were a mirror, Darksyde would be in love with his own reflection.
18 Cheryl Says:
May 30th, 2006 at 11:48 am
A simpleton might not get the true definition of chicken hawk. And thereby his listees are indeed heroic chicken hawks -

def:
A Hawk (ie: one who takes a militant attitude and advocates immediate vigorous action; especially : a supporter of a war or warlike policy)

that preys (ie:to have an injurious, destructive, or wasting effect)

on Chickens (ie: Cowards)

Leave it to a leftwing nutball to parse it as Cowardly Hawk. Which by true definition is a non-existent animal.

Oh wait - I forgot, the left thrives on that which is non-existent. Carry on Darksyde. Your minions await with bated breath your next fact free diatribe.
19 True Hawk Says:
May 30th, 2006 at 12:58 pm
DarkSyde,

I am a soldier who fought in OIF(Feb 03 through June 03). I might go back. I support the cause.

What does this make me?
20 Mark Says:
May 30th, 2006 at 3:23 pm
Well, I don’t know about DarkSyde, but it makes you a hero to me. Way to go, soldier…
21 Muffin the Cat Says:
May 30th, 2006 at 5:43 pm
DarkSyde, I still have not seen your article for Memorial Day honoring a soldier or similar appropriate topic. I looked last night but did not find it. Since you just can not come up with a name, let me suggest one to you. Does the name Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr. ring a bell? Yes, I have gone back to WWII since many on the left feel this is the last justifiable war. If you guessed he was Teddy’s older brother, you win a Kewpie Doll. From Wikipedia:

In July 1944, he volunteered for a special mission under the auspices of Operation Aphrodite, piloting a modified version of the PBY4-1 (a Naval B-24 Liberator) intended to counter the German Vergeltungswaffe (”vengeance weapon”) attacks on England - specifically, the newly developed V-3 Cannon, which unbeknownst to the Allies had been rendered inoperable in a prior raid. The plane was to be loaded with 21,170 pounds (9600 kg) of Torpex, flown across the English Channel, where the pilot and co-pilot would parachute out, and then crash into the hardened bunker containing the V-3 which was located near Mimoyecques, France. The final leg of the flight was to be guided remotely by an escort fighter through radio-control. The cause of the accidental detonation of the payload is unknown, but the Torpex detonated before the plane reached the bail out point, and both Kennedy and his crewmate [Lt.Wilford J. Willy] were killed instantly. Kennedy’s body was never recovered, and he was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross.

Yes, he is a Kennedy but putting all political feeling aside, he deserves to be honored for his actions. He was aware of how dangerous the mission was and he did volunteered for it. I will also honor John F. Kennedy for his actions in the South Pacific. Even though I am not a fan of Jimmy Carter’s, he did serve as a Navel officer for which he deserves the proper respect. I still feel he is the worst President in my lifetime but I still admire his service to his country.

For whatever reason you can not give credit to someone who serves their country. This is sad. Still waiting for the article.
22 DarkSyde Says:
May 30th, 2006 at 9:30 pm
I see we have a few veterans jumping in to apologize for Bush’s screw up. If you are a veteran, then your actions defending the continued slaughter of veterans and weight on our armed forces is even more inexcusable. It smacks of an abused spouse on COPS who pleads with police to leave her drunken, idiot husband alone, so that he can beat her further. If your definition of ‘defending’ is to argue passionately for sending more of your brothers and sisters in arm to their graves based on an erroneous premise, to wheel chairs, into the depths of despair and depression, while a known enemy enjoys sanctuary to plot the deaths of more innocent Americans, and all to avoid having to admit Bush-Cheney are incompetent to a degree few would have believed possible: I thank my lucky stars you are not ‘defending’ me and I urge you to cease ‘defending’ my country.

We, you and I, in our form of government, have one and only one way to support out troops; through electing and/or firing those who fail in their task. Our troops are being shot at, blown up, burned, and that’s in between the 20 hour days and shi**y rations gulped down in a ditch or an APC. Our civilian leaders are back in DC, in luxury offices, earning big bucks and riding around in lush jets. To hear you talk I’d think that Rumsfeld and Bush were competing in the special Olympics: No, he tried really he tried his gosh darned best, so if we criticize that effort, golly, we’ll hurt his feelings. This isn’t the special olympics, this is the major leagues where mistakes cost lives and only results matter.

And to cover your partisan imbeciles, you go on to conflate criticism of the Bush’s special Olympic retarded war cabinet with criticism of the poor SOBs who are getting blasted to kingdom come, in order to preserve in office the retards who are getting them blasted to kingdom come. Good Lord, you are incomprehensibly foul, sick in the head, to do that to your fellow veterans.

I leave you with a few choice quotes from those who are counting on your willful ignorance, the retards you supports, to maintain their reign unrestricted:

Nice company you keep:

Intelligence gathered by this and other governments leaves no doubt that the Iraq regime continues to possess and conceal some of the most lethal weapons ever devised.”– President Bush 17 March 2003

“We know where they are. They’re in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad and east, west, south and north somewhat.” -Rumsfeld on Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction, 30 March 03

“Simply stated, there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction. There is no doubt he is amassing them to use against our friends, against our allies, and against us.”–Dick Cheney, August 2002

“…and on a rough recollection, the oil revenues of that country could bring between $50 and $100 billion over the course of the next two or three years…We’re dealing with a country that can really finance its own reconstruction, and relatively soon.”–Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, House Committee on Appropriations Hearing on a Supplemental War Regulation, 3/27/03

They were dead wrong, tragically, fatally, utterly wrong. So far that incompetence has cost 2468 KIA, 18,203 WIA, and taxpayers are in for $284,601,000,000. The tolls rise further everyday.
23 Mark Says:
May 30th, 2006 at 9:43 pm
DarkSyde, you can say what you want about me, but if you come here to insult veterans, well, I’ll break my own rule on profanity here - you can kiss my ass.

I note, as Christopher Hitchens recently has, how you ‘progressives’ are still fighting the war over mistaken intelligence as if that somehow wiped the slate clean - you have no words to say about the moral equation on the Saddam side of the ledger, about the mass graves (not massacres of 24, as horrible as that is, and as bad a stain as it is on the honor of our military, but of thousands), about his continued desire to reconstitute his weapons of mass destruction, about his 12-year period of breaking the terms of the Gulf War ceasefire (and yes, it was only a ceasefire, and by that right alone, we are totally justified being in Iraq)…Do you want to hear Republicans say the WMDs were a screw-up? Well, of course they were…no one doubts that, but it was three years ago, and men and women are not dying for that, as you would discover if you listened to the soldiers - they are dying trying to bring freedom and democracy to Iraq.

The situation three years ago is in the realm of the historians - the job for our troops is to face the reality today.

Fortunately, this nation is ruled by people, both Democratic and Republican, who understand that you never, never, never take the side of anyone against our troops, as you have so publicly done here.

And then you insult the President, and mentally and phsically handicapped people with your tasteless Special Olympics taunt…

Well, I’ve no more breath to waste on you…God bless our troops, to the last man and woman, and God have mercy on your pathetic little soul…
24 Mark Says:
May 30th, 2006 at 9:48 pm
And to any veterans who commented here, I sincerely hope you will have the decency to overlook the obviously small intellect that takes pot shots at you on the days BEFORE and AFTER Memorial Day - but not on the day itself, as he so weakly defended himself…
25 Muffin the Cat Says:
May 31st, 2006 at 5:50 pm
Mark,

This man obviously can not put his bitter hated for George Bush aside for one day a year and honor the memories and the courage of our fallen soldiers. This is very very sad. Memorial Day is not about George Bush. It is to honor and remember soldiers who gave the ultimate in fighting for their country.

I can not begin to imagine the thoughts that went through many of our soldiers minds as their landing craft approached Omaha Beach on June 6, 1944 during the first wave. You watch the old films of Ike saying good-by to the paratroopers knowing that 90% of them would be killed. Courage that is unimaginable to jump out of that landing craft and run ashore. I have never been in combat so I have no ideal of the fear that would go through your mind as you fight for your life. I truly do not know if I could fire back with the intensions of killing or be killed. You can not have anything but admiration for these soldiers.

This person does not realize that one of the main reasons he can write what he wishes today is because these soldiers did go ashore or jump as directed knowing that this might be their last day alive. It is sad that he can not realize what he has in this country and what it took so he can live a comfortable and safe life far from what is happening overseas.

Sorry but I had to make one last comment.
26 The Commissar Says:
June 2nd, 2006 at 5:16 pm
Be careful Mark, or you will find yourself accused of being on Rove’s payroll.

OT, check out the ‘Comment Quicktags’ plug-in I’m using. Like any good WP plug-in, it was a snap to install, and lets commenters insert link tags and other HTML tags.
27 Mark Says:
June 2nd, 2006 at 8:07 pm
Thanks for the tips, sir! Have a great one…
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