Sunday, August 22, 2004

http://www.bobdole.org/contact.html

That's how you contact former Senator Robert Dole in response to his abysmal statements today on CNN.

"And here's, you know, a good guy, a good friend. I respect his record. But three Purple Hearts and never bled that I know of. I mean, they're all superficial wounds. Three Purple Hearts and you're out."


With friends like Dole, who needs the Swift Boat Liars?

As Josh Marshall points out, Dole knows full-well the nature of Purple Hearts, and that you needn't just lose the use of a limb to receive one. As Dole himself said in his 1988 campaign biography:

In a 1988 campaign-trail autobiography, here's how Dole described the incident that earned him his first Purple Heart: "As we approached the enemy, there was a brief exchange of gunfire. I took a grenade in hand, pulled the pin, and tossed it in the direction of the farmhouse. It wasn't a very good pitch (remember, I was used to catching passes, not throwing them). In the darkness, the grenade must have struck a tree and bounced off. It exploded nearby, sending a sliver of metal into my leg--the sort of injury the Army patched up with Mercurochrome and a Purple Heart."


Once again, write a polite, but firm note here and inform Mr. Dole that he owes his fellow veteran, and all such veterans an explicit public apology for his statements minimizing his service by trivializing the Purple Heart.

Again, be polite...polite but firm.

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