MYTH??? Conservatives= prior military service, Liberals = draft dodgers

[Pennstate]

I know I am going to get some major ammo flying at me for posting this. I was browsing thorugh deja.com looking for Paul Wofawitz's biography when I stubled across this. It seems like that there's a myth, which the GOP doesn't mind propagating, that the Military always sides with the GOP (i.e. the FL military ballots); and that Conservatives are synomonous with prior military service. This guy on deja did some research on prior military service of prominent GOP and Dems. Interestingisn't it



Prominent Democrats
House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt - Served his country in
uniform, 1965-71
House Minority Whip David Bonior - Served his country in uniform,
1968-72
Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle - Served his country in uniform,
1969-72
Former Vice President Al Gore - Served his country in uniform,
1969-71; recipient of Vietnam Service Medal
Bob Kerrey... Democrat... Congressional Medal of Honor, Vietnam
Daniel Inouye... Democrat... Congressional Medal of Honor, World War
Two
John Kerry... Democrat...Silver Star & Bronze Star, Vietnam
Charles Rangel...Democrat... Bronze Star, Korea
Max Cleland... Democrat... Silver Star & Bronze Star, Vietnam
Howell Heflin... Democrat... Silver Star
Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA) - U.S. Army, 1951-1953.
Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) - U.S. Navy, 1962-67; Naval Reserve,
1968-74.


Rep. Leonard Boswell (D-IA) - two tours in Vietnam, two Distinguished
Flying Crosses as a helicopter pilot, two Bronze Stars, and the
Soldier's Medal. http://www.afji.com/mags/1997/Jan/VietVets.html

Ambassador "Pete" Peterson, Air Force Captain, POW, Democratic
congressman, Ambassador to Viet Nam, and recipient of the Purple
Heart, the Silver Star and the Legion of Merit
http://www.af.mil/news/Apr1997/n19970414_970430.html

Rep. Mike Thompson, D-CA: served in combat with the U.S. Army as a
staff sergeant/platoon leader with the 173rd Airborne Brigade; was
wounded and received a Purple Heart.
http://www.house.gov/mthompson/bio.html


Prominent Republicans
Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert - avoided the draft, did not
serve.
Majority Leader Dick Armey- avoided the draft, did not serve.
Majority Whip Tom Delay - avoided the draft, did not serve. "So many
minority youths had volunteered ... that there was literally no room
for patriotic folks like himself."
Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott - avoided the draft, did not serve.

GW Bush - decided that a six-year Nat'l Guard commitment really means
four years. Still says that he's "been to war." Huh?
VP Cheney - several deferments, the last by marriage (in his own
words, "had other priorities than military service")
Att'y Gen. John Ashcroft - sought deferment to teach business ed at SW
Missouri State

Karl Rove - avoided the draft, did not serve, too busy being a
Republican.

Former Speaker Newt Gingrich - avoided the draft, did not serve
Former President Ronald Reagan - served in a noncombat role. He later
seems to have confused his role as an actor playing a tail gunner with
the real thing.
"B-1" Bob Dornan - avoided Korean War combat duty by enrolling in
college acting classes (Orange County Register article)
Phil Gramm - avoided the draft, did not serve, four (?) student
deferments
Senator John McCain - McCain's naval honors include the Silver Star,
Bronze Star, Legion of Merit, Purple Heart and Distinguished Flying
Cross. Why did the Bush campaign smear him so?
Former Senator Bob Dole - an honorable man.
http://www.bobdole.org/bio/wwII.html
Chuck Hagel - two Purple Hearts and a Bronze Star, Vietnam.
http://www.senate.gov/~hagel/Information/bio.htm
Duke Cunningham - nominated for the Medal of Honor, received the Navy
Cross, two Silver Stars, fifteen Air Medals, the Purple Heart, and
several other decorations
http://www.house.gov/cunningham/about_duke.htm#Biography

Here are a few more...

Democrats
Gray Davis, California Governor, served in Vietnam.
Chuck Robb, US Senator from Virginia, served in Vietnam
George McGovern, famous liberal, awarded Silver Star & DFC, dozens of
missions during WWII.

Republicans/Conservatives
Political

Don Nickles, Senate Minority Whip - Did not serve
JC Watts - did not serve
Jack Kemp, did not serve
Dan Quayle, did not serve
Eliot Abrams, did not serve
Vin Weber, did not serve
Richard Perle, did not serve (is the current bloodshed in the Middle
East a direct result of his treasonous meddling in Clinton
Administrstion foreign policy?)
Rudy Giuliani, did not serve
John Engler, did not serve

Punditocracy and Preacher-types (See also Media Whores Online)

George Will, did not serve
Chris Matthews, Mediawhore, did not serve.
Bill O'Reilly, did not serve
Paul Gigot, did not serve.
Bill Bennett, Did not serve
Pat Buchanan, did not serve
Rush Limbaugh, did not serve
John Wayne, did not serve
Pat Robertson - did not serve, apparently used Daddy's connections to
get off the ship in Tokyo while his buddies went on to Korea.
Bill Kristol, did not serve
Independents
Gov. Jesse Ventura, served as a Navy Seal

 

[Squisher]

I never thought that Conservatives= prior military service, Liberals = draft dodgers.

Where did you hear this myth?

 

[XMan]

I can't really place any judgement on anybody not wanting to go to Vietnam. It was a f*cked up situation with a muddled and unclear agenda on our side. We never should have been there in the first place. Kennedy let civilians like McNamara call the shots, then by the time LBJ was sworn in, the war was a quagmire he couldn't just back out of.

I would be more than willing to bet, however, that you'd find zero politicians of any party who didn't serve during WWII - given the opportunity, of course.

 

[Nefrodite]

yup, conservatives tend to try painting liberals as unpatriotic because they won't serve most of the time its hipocisy or plain bull


just as when prominent conservatives rag on dems on sexual matters. their own closets are ussually filled with far worse

 

[Nemesis77]

Originally posted by: Pennstate
Gov. Jesse Ventura, served as a Navy Seal

He did :Q?! Whoa, he kicks ass!

 

[Zugzwang152]

Go Dan Inouye, my hometown Senator money-bringing hero! woot!

 

[XZeroII]

If I remember correctly, Gore was a reporter in vietnam and stayed away from any type of action. He just stayed on the outskirts. He did this because his family was wealthy and they could afford such a position and Gore needed some military experiance to make it in politics. Those statistics are biased toward Democrats anyway. For example:
Ambassador "Pete" Peterson, Air Force Captain, POW, Democratic
congressman, Ambassador to Viet Nam, and recipient of the Purple
Heart, the Silver Star and the Legion of Merit
http://www.af.mil/news/Apr1997/n19970414_970430.html

On the other hand, look at a republican:
Former Senator Bob Dole - an honorable man.
http://www.bobdole.org/bio/wwII.html

I think that Bob Dole's credits should have been shown, don't you think? Also, don't you think that it's odd that not one of the democrats listed did not serve, yet there is a whole list of republicans? I guess that there isn't a single democrat who did not serve or avoided the draft!!! Oh wait! They conveniently forgot Bill Clinton! How many others did they forget? Your statistics mean nothing because they are so obviously biased that they are irrelevent.

 

[tm37]

Originally posted by: Nemesis77

Originally posted by: Pennstate
Gov. Jesse Ventura, served as a Navy Seal

He did :Q?! Whoa, he kicks ass!

He accually wasn't a seal although he did go through BUDS training. HE wasn't in a seal team.

 

[StattlichPassat]

LOL! Love the sig ^

 

[ThePresence]

I think that Bob Dole's credits should have been shown, don't you think? Also, don't you think that it's odd that not one of the democrats listed did not serve, yet there is a whole list of republicans? I guess that there isn't a single democrat who did not serve or avoided the draft!!! Oh wait! They conveniently forgot Bill Clinton! How many others did they forget? Your statistics mean nothing because they are so obviously biased that they are irrelevent.

 

[Moonbeam]

The people who run the Republican party run the country. They and their children are too important to fight wars. They have the genes, the talent, the education, the money, and the requisite brainwashing to rule. Patriotism, and fignting wars is for the poor and middle class. The real purpose of wars is strategic advantage and wealth. We just can't call it that and expect others to fight for us willingly. Hence the drug inducement of patriotism. Don't forget, if you aren't patriotic, you're no good or part of the manipulative class that rules.

 

[Amused]

Originally posted by: XZeroII
If I remember correctly, Gore was a reporter in vietnam and stayed away from any type of action. He just stayed on the outskirts. He did this because his family was wealthy and they could afford such a position and Gore needed some military experiance to make it in politics. Those statistics are biased toward Democrats anyway. For example:
Ambassador "Pete" Peterson, Air Force Captain, POW, Democratic
congressman, Ambassador to Viet Nam, and recipient of the Purple
Heart, the Silver Star and the Legion of Merit
http://www.af.mil/news/Apr1997/n19970414_970430.html

On the other hand, look at a republican:
Former Senator Bob Dole - an honorable man.
http://www.bobdole.org/bio/wwII.html

I think that Bob Dole's credits should have been shown, don't you think? Also, don't you think that it's odd that not one of the democrats listed did not serve, yet there is a whole list of republicans? I guess that there isn't a single democrat who did not serve or avoided the draft!!! Oh wait! They conveniently forgot Bill Clinton! How many others did they forget? Your statistics mean nothing because they are so obviously biased that they are irrelevent.

Yep. That pretty much sums it up.

 

[Brutuskend]

I'm a Liberal and I did 4 years in the USMC.

Although I wouldn't have gone to NAM..........

 

[Dudd]

Everyone saying, oh, it's biased, of course it's biased. It's point is not to detail the military service of our congressmen, but to try and disprove the writer's contention that all liberals are viewed as wimps who run at the first sign of trouble versus republicans who would do anything for their country. He wouldn't have made his point as well if he had given equal opportunity to both sides.

 

[outriding]

Oh wait! They conveniently forgot Bill Clinton!

Actully Clinton got out of the service by legislation / bill / what ever by congress.

he didn't goto canada or anything like that.

 

[aphex]

My dad is retired army. He served 12 years and is a liberal.

 

[ShotgunSteven]

Got a complete list, or just this one which has been tailored to convey the ideas you want it to?

 

[Red Dawn]

Got a complete list, or just this one which has been tailored to convey the ideas you want it to?

The list correctly pointed out that Republicans were no more patriotic than Democrats.

 

[Pennstate]

THe point of the list was not to be complete. The point was that if you look at the mouth pieces of either party, the Dems have veterans that don't go around accusing everybody unpatriotic while the GOPs play the patriotism card far too irresponsibly.

 

[T2T III]

Based on my experience in the military, there does seem to be a lot of conservative backing among the ranks. There's usually a couple of reasons for this basis: 1) Conservative parties tend to "budget" more money for military spending. And, 2) Usually, the raises we received each year were a little better if control fell under the conservative party. So, naturally, a majority of those involved in the services supported the Conservative party.

 

[Red Dawn]

the Dems have veterans that don't go around accusing everybody unpatriotic while the GOPs play the patriotism card far too irresponsibly.

Also, neither McCain nor Dole played that Patriotic BS yet they are both decorated veterans and men that America can be proud of (also the two men I voted for in the last two Presidential Elections)

 

[ElFenix]

Originally posted by: outriding

Oh wait! They conveniently forgot Bill Clinton!

Actully Clinton got out of the service by legislation / bill / what ever by congress.

he didn't goto canada or anything like that.

he went to england.

 

[Pennstate]

he went to england.


As a Rhode Scholar.

 

[Mill]

Originally posted by: Red Dawn

the Dems have veterans that don't go around accusing everybody unpatriotic while the GOPs play the patriotism card far too irresponsibly.

Also, neither McCain nor Dole played that Patriotic BS yet they are both decorated veterans and men that America can be proud of (also the two men I voted for in the last two Presidential Elections)

Yes but Max Cleland plays the card rather heavily and he is a Dem.

 

[Pennstate]

If Cleland used it during his election campaigns, I don't really care. But to use it whenever someone disagrees with you, that is just plain wrong. Patriotism, to me,means protecting not only the physical boundries of America, but also the freedom that goes along with it; and free speech is one of them.