They "LOVE" Veterans?

Love using them for their own purposes of course.

Bush is, at heart, a coward.

Many of us are, of course.

Is Attaturk a coward? Well, he writes under a pseudonym doesn't he? Oh sure, it is mostly for practical reasons, but there is something to be said for anonymity making you a "tougher guy" than you are otherwise.

I don't know what those of you who read this blog picture me as when you read it, but I guess perceptions are something like this:

My vain hope, I want you to think I look like: this guy, or this guy, or this guy.

What you more likely picture: This guy, or this guy, or god forbid, this guy!

But that, of course, is neither here nor there.

Our appointed leader is a First Class Coward.

-- He used Daddy's Connections to get out of having to go to Vietnam and into the THEN safe haven of the national guard. But by his own admission he wasn't just too much of a coward to go to a war -- while supposedly supporting it ["hey, it's great you a-holes want to die, but I got too much beer and blow to consume"], he was too big of a coward to even look like a coward. This quote, used before here, and again in other locations, demonstrates it.

“I was not prepared to shoot my eardrum out with a shotgun in order to get a deferment. Nor was I willing to go to Canada. So I chose to better myself by learning how to fly airplanes." George W. Bush on why he joined the Texas Air National Guard during the Vietnam War, 1990.

And, as we know, his flying of airplanes was pretty dubious -- he certainly did not do it as much as he was supposed to. Hell, getting Bush to guard the Gulf Coast from Charlie was not exactly an ever vigilent shield of protection to say the least.

And, of course, we have other, far more recent, examples of Bush's Cowardice...


Bush is surrounded in his inner circle by a variety of cut-throats and chest beaters whose love of country was overcome by their own self-interest thanks to their high draft numbers or frequent deferment requests.

We have been informed about "Magic Dick" and his well-timed wedding. And we also know that he and Lynne had the "second most miraculous conception of all time", and it is certainly the leader amongst the non-immaculate ones.

On Oct. 6, 1965, the Selective Service lifted its ban against drafting married men who had no children. Nine months and two days later, Mr. Cheney's first daughter, Elizabeth, was born.

I'm guessing that Dick's sexual activity on the days of October 6 through 10, 1965, was the peak aerobic activity of his life -- and inspired Lynne to write quality romances.

" Let us go away together, away from the anger and imperatives of men. There will be only the two of us, and we shall linger through long afternoons of sweet retirement. In the evenings I shall read to you while you work your cross-stitch in the firelight. And then we shall go to bed, our bed, my dearest girl."

Wow, that's really...um...disturbing.

And, there are many other lit'ler Chickenhawks: Paul Wolfowitz, Elliot Abrams, Richard Perle, Andy Card, John Ashcroft...those are just in the Administration, of course, there is the media-bleaters who never served and yet suckle on the teat of the idea that "supporting the troops, means supporting the cause that leads to their deaths...no matter what -- as long as it is a Republican ordering them to do so", Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly, Michael Weiner, Dennis Miller (cha, cha, cha), Roger Ailes, Brit Hume, Tony Snow...etc.

And let's not even talk about Congress, okay Tom Delay ("cutting taxes during war is patriotic") and Denny Hastert ("John McCain could know nothing of veterans who suffer")?

But the real point of this snarky diatribe is that Bush's chief political chickenhawk Karl Rove avoided service through college deferments...he never graduated, though lord knows he attended enough colleges.

Bush & Rove hug the mantle of "soldier lover" to the greatest extent possible. And to some degree they get away with it, even from many of the soldiers, and certainly many veterans. In large part this is because in staged events Bush is good at strutting. But cowards have long been good at that. And, of course, the Bush Administration seized the mantle of "war leader" as quickly as it could and held it as long as it could.

But the plain fact is that Bush doesn't actually perform as one who loves Vets, in fact, his actions, after appearances, are of one who holds veterans in contempt.

We're not just stating this because of the overextension of American forces, the complete lack of plan in Iraq, or the failure to focus adequately on the capture of Bin Laden. Sure, all those things are indicative of such contempt -- the view of soldiers, not as heros, but as tools, like playing "Risk" with people's actual lives. There is certainly ample evidence of that.

No there are other areas where the contempt of the Bush Administration for soldiers and Veterans comes through quite plainly.

One is obvious. Bush has not exactly been giving to Veterans in terms of benefits or care. These facts have been reported, but not enough or prominantly enough.

The second, is even more disturbing. Bush & Rove have consistently bashed and belittled those Veterans with distinguished service records -- when those Veterans have dared to oppose "God & Scalia's Annointed One".

John McCain in 2000, accused of miscegenation (of all fucking things in 2000) and for having been brainwashed, or driven crazy by being held prisoner by the Vietcong for several years.

When McCain became justifiably upset by these lies, the Bushies called him "unstable" and said he had "lost his cool".

Here is a summary of one of the lovelier attacks on McCain via Rove:

Karl Rove is criticized in the book Bush’s Brain: How Karl Rove Made George Bush Presidential and by former John McCain campaign manager Rick Davis, as the head organizer behind the infamous South Carolina push-polls that accused McCain of fathering an illegitimate African-American child and derailing the Republican Arizona senator’s possible upset of George W. Bush’s trek to the Republican primary in 2000. A push poll is a bogus poll, fabricated by political opponents under the guise of independent pollsters, which intentionally alludes to character flaws in the polls’ subject matter. Some poll queries in the 2000 South Carolina Republican primaries, which helped topple McCain’s ascent, included: would you vote for Sen. John McCain if you knew that he had fathered a black child—yes or no?

Max Cleland in 2002, Running against Chickenhawk Saxby Chamblis, Cleland was morphed into a supporter of terrorism and a virtual coward. Cleland, of course, is a decorated Vietnam Vet who left three limbs in Southeast Asia. The folks who did this advertisement were tied to Karl Rove, having been given their marching orders and the same groups that went after McCain.

And now, John Kerry in 2004. Same financial ties, same connections to Rove (they even dug out Merrie Spaeth again), same case of a decorated Vietnam Vet being attacked with lies financed by the many of the same assholes. When Kerry finally has enough and denounces the measure the Bush Administration calls him "unhinged" and "loss his cool".

Three decorated Veterans, three men who served, when Bush ducked out and didn't even fulfill even his minimal requirements. Three consecutive elections when these destructivists have polluted the public discourse by undermining the value and integrity of military service.

Saying it is dishonest and dishonorable gives it too much esteem.

It is cowardice full-on, and too often repeated. It is not only anti-military, it is anti-Democratic, and yes, I'll say it, anti-American.

It's all shameful, but how pathetic is it to see John McCain trapsing about hugging Bush on the Campaign Trail?

Obviously, the man desperately wants to run for President and is kissing the ass of Bush to shore up the far right.

Fat chance John.

Three straight campaigns where decorated veterans have had their service...service where they laid their asses on the line for their country...slimed by these cowards.

They don't love Veterans, they love only themselves and their power.

If they are not taken down in November, think how "wonderful" the future of politics will be.

The Right-Wing Screamers and the incredibly lazy media are set up to allow the Republic to go down the tubes, but we citizens still have some power -- should we wish to think rather than have our nation die via apathy -- to prevent it.

So let us do so.