Support the Troops

Mayor Everett D. Noble: This problem is not local, it's national. In a few years, if the war goes on - heaven forbid - you won't be able to swing a cat without knocking down a couple of heroes. Now... are we going to be governed by young men - very young men - however well-meaning or patriotic they may be - whose principal talent consists of hopping in and out of wolfholes...
Political Boss: Foxholes.
Mayor Everett D. Noble: Huh?
Political Boss: They're called foxholes.
Mayor Everett D. Noble: ...talent consists of hopping in and out of foxholes and killing hundreds of enemies with one swoop of the sword. Or... are we going to be governed by respectable civic leaders of mature age who do not seek the appointment, but accept it as a civic duty. I refer to men like... uh, well... myself.
--Hail the Conquering Hero

How many is it now? There's Kerry, of course. There was Cleland in 2002, a Vietnam vet who lost three limbs in the war, smeared by Saxby Chambliss in the Georgia senate race. There was McCain in 2000 (and it continues, as is obvious if you google the blogs for mccain "manchurian candidate"). There was Hackett earlier this year. They'd have done it to Pat Tillman if he had lived; instead they simply pretend he agreed with them. And these are just the prominent ones; there are probably plenty of others we haven't heard of, soldiers punished for daring to disagree with the Steely-Eyed Rocket Man.

And now Murtha, a 37-year veteran of the Marines, a longtime hawk who supported the war in Iraq, likened to Michael Moore by a president who did everything he could to avoid serving, called a coward by the creature who said military service was not useful for a Representative, and worst of all (Republicans are hinting) possible target of a retaliatory ethics investigation. I would be very interested to see how they try to spin that.

They'll do it to anyone. There is no service they will not disparage, no sacrifice they will not mock, in the pursuit of partisan gain. Support the troops? Don't make me laugh.

I'd like to think that people are on to them--that what they could get away with when Bush was 'popular' will only work against them now that he's a political leper. We live in hope.