Another Proud Bush Supporter Speaks Out

Can somebody translate this into plain English for me, please?

(snip)

"Of course liberals never need a rationale for cowardice. Few leaders have ever been called to task for showing their yellow streak in the face of terror and tyranny. "

Really? I guess all those stories about Clinton avoiding the draft by winning a prestigious scholarship to study in England were examples of "liberal media bias." then, eh? Well, the writer did say "few."

Let us refresh our memories regarding those who have served in their country's proud military forces:

Prominent Democrats

* Representative Richard Gephardt, former House Minority Leader - Missouri Air National Guard, 1965-71. (1, 2)
* Representative David Bonior - Staff Sgt., United States Air Force 1968-72 (1, 2)
* Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle - 1st Lt., U.S. Air Force SAC 1969-72 (1, 2)
* Former Vice President Al Gore - enlisted August 1969; sent to Vietnam January 1971 as an army journalist, assigned to the 20th Engineer Brigade headquartered at Bien Hoa, an airbase twenty miles northeast of Saigon. More facts about Gore's Service

* Former Senator Bob Kerrey... Democrat... Lt. j.g., U.S. Navy 1966-69; Medal of Honor, Vietnam (1, 2)
* Senator Daniel Inouye, US Army 1943-'47; Medal of Honor, World War Two (1, 2)
* Senator John Kerry, Lt., U.S. Navy 1966-70; Silver Star, Bronze Star with Combat V, and three awards of the Purple Heart for his service in combat (1)
* Representative Charles Rangel, Staff Sgt., U.S. Army 1948-52; Bronze Star, Korea (1, 2)
* Former Senator Max Cleland, Captain, U.S. Army 1965-68; Silver Star & Bronze Star, Vietnam (1, 2)

* Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA) - U.S. Army, 1951-1953. (1)
* Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) - Lt., U.S. Navy, 1962-67; Naval Reserve, 1968-74. (1, 2)
* Senator Jack Reed (D-RI) - U.S. Army Ranger, 1971-1979; Captain, Army Reserve 1979-91 (1)
* Senator Fritz Hollings (D-SC) - served as a U.S. Army officer in World War II, receiving the Bronze Star and seven campaign ribbons. (1)

To cite just a few.

In interest of fairness, let us also name some from the other side of the aisle:

Prominent Republicans


* Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert - avoided the draft, did not serve.
* Former House Majority Leader Dick Armey - avoided the draft, did not serve.
* House Majority Leader Tom Delay - avoided the draft, did not serve (1). "So many minority youths had volunteered ... that there was literally no room for patriotic folks like himself."
* House Majority Whip Roy Blunt - did not serve
* Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist - did not serve. (An impressive medical resume, but not such a friend to cats in Boston.)
* Majority Whip Mitch McConnell, R-KY - did not serve (1)
* Rick Santorum, R-PA, third ranking Republican in the Senate - did not serve. (1)
* Former Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott - avoided the draft, did not serve.

Secretary of Defense Don Rumsfeld - served in the U.S. Navy (1954-57) as an aviator and flight instructor. (1) Served as President Reagan's Special Envoy to the Middle East and met with Saddam Hussein twice in 1983 and 1984.


* 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 (1, 2), the last by marriage (in his own words, "had other priorities than military service") (1)
* Att'y Gen. John Ashcroft - did not serve (1, 2); received seven deferment to teach business ed at SW Missouri State
* Jeb Bush, Florida Governor - did not serve. (1)

* Karl Rove - avoided the draft, did not serve (1), too busy being a Republican.

There's this and a lot more over at that real blog, AWOLBush.com. Required reading, which I guess explains why the guy who wrote the LTTE to the Arizona Republic which I snipped above is so bloody unfamiliar with the simple facts of the matter.

He said another little thing, too:

(snip)

"I love how the liberal media turn everything, including Scooter Libby's lying, into a convoluted attack on our president's "rationale for war."

Somehow having every intelligence agency in the world reporting exactly the same condemning information is not rationale enough."

Apparently he has never heard of Hans Blix nor Scott Ritter. You know, a couple people who were actually there on the ground in Iraq looking around for themselves, instead of home listening to hate radio and drinking cheap fizzy urine-colored watery plonk, which some devout Republicans call "beer."

The letter-writer flatly concedes that Libby has lied, though. Funny, that.