Romney in 2007: "I would have longed for the chance to be serving in the military."

[HomerJS]

The bullshit never stops with this guy. Pro-war fortunate son Mitt took a convenient vacation to France during Vietnam, and now he has the balls to claim that he wanted to serve. You had the chance, Mitt... in fact, most men your age didn't have a choice at all. Mitt Romney has no loyalty to this country when it's inconvenient for him, that's the truth.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/15/us...anted=all&_r=0

[Matt1970]

Aww, what's the matter? Running out of stuff to rage about?

[ivwshane]

Originally Posted by Matt1970

Aww, what's the matter? Running out of stuff to rage about?

You always seem to have the good links, what's the faux outrage for today?

[Blackjack200]

It's good that the right wingers will have no problem voting for a guy that avoided the draft until 1970 and didn't volunteer to serve in Vietnam.

[irishScott]

Lol, are you for real?

Most of the missionaries, though, were also relieved that their service meant a draft deferment. “I am sorry, but no one was excited to go and get killed in Vietnam,” Mr. Hansen said, acknowledging, “In hindsight, it is easy to be for the war when you don’t have to worry about going to Vietnam.”

Mr. Romney, though, said that he sometimes had wished he were in Vietnam instead of France. “There were surely times on my mission when I was having a particularly difficult time accomplishing very little when I would have longed for the chance to be serving in the military,” he said in an interview, “but that was not to be.”

While many Mormons — and eventually, some of his fellow missionaries — enlisted, Mr. Romney got a student deferment after returning from France. When the draft lottery was introduced in December 1969, he drew a high enough number — 300 — that he would never be called up.

He said he had thoughts of joining the military when he was having a hard time. That's hardly an uncommon thought process. I seriously considered enlisting in the military when my life was sucking just a few years ago. But I decided to do other things instead. The only difference mentioned in that article between Mr. Romney's situation and mine was that a draft was going on, and instead of simply choosing not to serve he had to get a deferment, which he did.


So either:
1. You suck at reading comprehension or
2. You don't believe in draft deferments for students and missionaries or
3. You're bald-faced lying to get your guy in the white house.

In any case, you obviously love quoting things out of context, then have the nerve to cite a source which includes said context.

[HomerJS]

Originally Posted by irishScott

Lol, are you for real?



He said he had thoughts of joining the military when he was having a hard time. That's hardly an uncommon thought process. I seriously considered enlisting in the military when my life was sucking just a few years ago. But I decided to do other things instead. The only difference mentioned in that article between Mr. Romney's situation and mine was that a draft was going on, and instead of simply choosing not to serve he had to get a deferment, which he did.


So either:
1. You suck at reading comprehension or
2. You don't believe in draft deferments for students and missionaries or
3. You're bald-faced lying to get your guy in the white house.

In any case, you obviously love quoting things out of context, then have the nerve to cite a source which includes said context.

I would suggest the guys who actually went to vietnam were actually having the hard time.

Mitt participated in demonstrations in favor of the war yet sought out deferments?? Sounds a bit three faced to me.

Then opines in 07 wishing he had volunteered? Are you kidding me?

[irishScott]

Originally Posted by HomerJS

I would suggest the guys who actually went to vietnam were actually having the hard time.

Mitt participated in demonstrations in favor of the war yet sought out deferments?? Sounds a bit three faced to me.

Then opines in 07 wishing he had volunteered? Are you kidding me?

"Hard Time" is relative. Yes, I'm sure the life of your average GI in Vietnam sucked worse than Mitt's. So what? You're saying Mitt couldn't have a "hard time" because other people were suffering worse? I'm sure the life of your average African child is and always will be worse than yours. Well there you go, you can never have a "hard time" as long as you live. Congrats.

So anyone who supports a war has to join the military and fight in it? Please. There are many ways to support a war, military service is not mandatory to prove one's support. Sounds like he supported the concept of the war, but didn't want to/didn't see the point of trudging through the jungle for months on end getting shot at. That's a very bipartisan and very common mentality. A very valid one too, if you have some other valid capability of supporting a war; which most people do.

Way to put words in his mouth. He said there were times he longed to serve. Apparently those times were short-lived enough that he didn't. Why exactly did he decide to not enlist and get a deferment? We don't know, and neither do you. Your suspicions are not facts.

This entire thread is based on a conclusion you jumped to with zero evidence, apparently out of sheer partisanship.

[Geosurface]

Maybe what Romney meant is that he WOULD have longed to serve in the military IF he hadn't been a hypocritical coward with no balls.

After all, the quote doesn't say he DID long, but rather than he WOULD HAVE, right?

[ivwshane]

Originally Posted by irishScott

"Hard Time" is relative. Yes, I'm sure the life of your average GI in Vietnam sucked worse than Mitt's. So what? You're saying Mitt couldn't have a "hard time" because other people were suffering worse? I'm sure the life of your average African child is and always will be worse than yours. Well there you go, you can never have a "hard time" as long as you live. Congrats.

So anyone who supports a war has to join the military and fight in it? Please. There are many ways to support a war, military service is not mandatory to prove one's support. Sounds like he supported the concept of the war, but didn't want to/didn't see the point of trudging through the jungle for months on end getting shot at. That's a very bipartisan and very common mentality. A very valid one too, if you have some other valid capability of supporting a war; which most people do.

Way to put words in his mouth. He said there were times he longed to serve. Apparently those times were short-lived enough that he didn't. Why exactly did he decide to not enlist and get a deferment? We don't know, and neither do you. Your suspicions are not facts.

This entire thread is based on a conclusion you jumped to with zero evidence, apparently out of sheer partisanship.

Lol, that's one helluva excuse if I've ever heard one.

[HomerJS]

Originally Posted by irishScott

"Hard Time" is relative. Yes, I'm sure the life of your average GI in Vietnam sucked worse than Mitt's. So what? You're saying Mitt couldn't have a "hard time" because other people were suffering worse? I'm sure the life of your average African child is and always will be worse than yours. Well there you go, you can never have a "hard time" as long as you live. Congrats.

So anyone who supports a war has to join the military and fight in it? Please. There are many ways to support a war, military service is not mandatory to prove one's support. Sounds like he supported the concept of the war, but didn't want to/didn't see the point of trudging through the jungle for months on end getting shot at. That's a very bipartisan and very common mentality. A very valid one too, if you have some superior capability of supporting a war.

Way to put words in his mouth. He said there were times he longed to serve. Apparently those times were short-lived enough that he didn't. Why exactly did he decide to not enlist and get a deferment? We don't know, and neither do you. Your suspicions are not facts.

This entire thread is based on a conclusion you jumped to with zero evidence, apparently out of sheer partisanship.

How much of an asshole would I be taking out an op-ed saying how much my life sucked because my power went out for 4 hours after Sandy?

Wiki - chickenhawk

Perhapes Romney should have been more honest about why he didn't want to go and take his lumps like Muhammed Ali.

Every see clips of a guy jumping up and down threatening someone because he knows a group of people in front of him are preventing a fight? That's Mitt

The is no justification for protesting in favor of a war and at the same using a religious deferment to get out of serving. Too bad ordinary people didn't have this option

[Phokus]

LMAO, Romney lived in a Mansion in France being a Mormon "missionary", what a load of horse shit. He was also a VERY big supporter of the Vietnam war.

He's just another chickenhawk piece of shit.

[irishScott]

Originally Posted by HomerJS

How much of an asshole would I be taking out an op-ed saying how much my life sucked because my power went out for 4 hours after Sandy?

Wiki - chickenhawk

Perhapes Romney should have been more honest about why he didn't want to go and take his lumps like Muhammed Ali.

Every see clips of a guy jumping up and down threatening someone because he knows a group of people in front of him are preventing a fight? That's Mitt

By general societal standards you'd be considered a weakling. That doesn't mean you weren't sincerely going through a hard time, just that your standards for a hard time are lower than most, and there could be any number of causes for that. I'd like to point out that aside from the fact that he was frustrated with the progress of his mission, we don't know the details of what was making him frustrated.

For example: Maybe he had a false idea of what the military was like, and the romanticized notion of military service made it seem more attractive than it realistically would have been. That's a very common situation with military recruits to this day, hell it's how recruiters meet their quotas.

That term means nothing by itself. By its own definition it's usually an implication. The only time it would be logically valid would be if applied to someone who claimed to support a war and then illegally avoided the draft or deserted. Used in any other context it implicitly marginalizes homefront support, with is both naive and stupid.

The homefront is the reason we have deferments in the first place. Romney chose to use a student-based one. By all legal definitions he "did his duty" as it was assigned; unless you believe that the criteria for deferments should discount people who have vocalized support of a war.

Once again, you jump to a conclusion based on nothing more than your own suspicions. Never mind the fact that you're judging him by decisions he made over 40 years ago. Come back when you have some solid evidence.

[MixMasterTang]

Originally Posted by irishScott

By general societal standards you'd be considered a weakling. That doesn't mean you weren't sincerely going through a hard time, just that your standards for a hard time are lower than most, and there could be any number of causes for that. I'd like to point out that aside from the fact that he was frustrated with the progress of his mission, we don't know the details of what was making him frustrated.

For example: Maybe he had a false idea of what the military was like, and the romanticized notion of military service made it seem more attractive than it realistically would have been. That's a very common situation with military recruits to this day, hell it's how recruiters meet their quotas.

That term means nothing by itself. By its own definition it's usually an implication. The only time it would be logically valid would be if applied to someone who claimed to support a war and then illegally avoided the draft or deserted. Used in any other context it implicitly marginalizes homefront support, with is both naive and stupid.

The homefront is the reason we have deferments in the first place. Romney chose to use a student-based one. By all legal definitions he "did his duty" as it was assigned; unless you believe that the criteria for deferments should discount people who have vocalized support of a war.

Once again, you jump to a conclusion based on nothing more than your own suspicions. Never mind the fact that you're judging him by decisions he made over 40 years ago. Come back when you have some solid evidence.

It really sounds like you are doing the fantasizing here, so where is your solid evidence?

[Brigandier]

This sounds exactly like something a politician would say, about any number of things they didn't do, but in hindsight, might help them.

Mittens is just playing the game, y'all.

[irishScott]

Originally Posted by MixMasterTang

It really sounds like you are doing the fantasizing here, so where is your solid evidence?

I'm not making any arguments that require it, the burden of proof is on HomerJS. I'm simply pointing out likely alternatives that the OP didn't account for when drawing his conclusion.

Cliffs:
HomerJS: Mitt Romeny is a coward and a chickenhawk because I say so.
irishScott: You have no proof of that and your arguments are weak.
HomerJS: ...

[AyashiKaibutsu]

Originally Posted by irishScott

I'm not making any arguments that require it, the burden of proof is on HomerJS. I'm simply pointing out likely alternatives that the OP didn't account for when drawing his conclusion.

Cliffs:
HomerJS: Mitt Romeny is a coward and a chickenhawk because I say so.
irishScott: You have no proof of that and your arguments are weak.
HomerJS: ...

Your arguments are long and drawn out to attempt to hide what simple evidence suggests. It doesn't take them a lot to point out theirs because theirs is what is supported by the reality of someone who ran away to a mansion in France while supporting the Vietnam War.

[Phokus]

Originally Posted by irishScott

I'm not making any arguments that require it, the burden of proof is on HomerJS. I'm simply pointing out likely alternatives that the OP didn't account for when drawing his conclusion.

Cliffs:
HomerJS: Mitt Romeny is a coward and a chickenhawk because I say so.
irishScott: You have no proof of that and your arguments are weak.
HomerJS: ...

Actually we have proof:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/12/us...pagewanted=all

He counterprotested the vietnam war protestors. That's how much he supported the war.

Yet, he got out of fighting by being a 'missionary' in FRANCE living in a MANSION there.

He's a chickenhawk plain and simple.

[Sinsear]

I voted for Clinton, so what bearing should this have on me voting for Romney?

[AyashiKaibutsu]

Originally Posted by Sinsear

I voted for Clinton, so what bearing should this have on me voting for Romney?

His hypocrisy goes beyond simply dodging the draft. Did Clinton counter-protest protesters at some point, run away to a mansion, and then claim he "wished" he had done it? Personally, I'm a lot more forgiving of someone without such a degree of hypocrisy around their attempts to dodge. Ultimately, it's up to you to decide what bearing it has, but it's certainly yet another black spot in his campaign.

[a777pilot]

Originally Posted by HomerJS

The bullshit never stops with this guy. Pro-war fortunate son Mitt took a convenient vacation to France during Vietnam, and now he has the balls to claim that he wanted to serve. You had the chance, Mitt... in fact, most men your age didn't have a choice at all. Mitt Romney has no loyalty to this country when it's inconvenient for him, that's the truth.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/15/us...anted=all&_r=0

Ya mean like Clinton and obama served?

[AyashiKaibutsu]

Originally Posted by a777pilot

Ya mean like Clinton and obama served?

There's a difference between dodging a draft for a war you oppose vs one you support. Obama never had to dodge the draft. No one here is upset that Romney didn't serve.

[Throckmorton]

It takes a special type of person to have a pro war rally while enjoying a deferment... a conservative

[Blackjack200]

Originally Posted by a777pilot

Ya mean like Clinton and obama served?

You're right, Clinton never took any shit for being a draft dodger

Why doesn't Romney get the same criticism Clinton got from the right on this issue? Oh yeah, because they're a bunch of cynical pricks.

[Fanatical Meat]

Personally I'd give him more credit if he simply said "yes I was at rallies supporting Vietnam but I was a young man & it was a poor way to show support of our troops."

[loki8481]

wow, after 5 years on the public spotlight, this singular quote 3 days before the election completely changes the way I feel about Romney.

thanks for bringing this vital information to light.