Republican vs Democrats - Military Records

[IamSpartacus]

Just found this gem while trawling the 'net ....

Posted on http://hipforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=130026; article by Andy Ostroy on www.opednews.com

There's this myth that's been perpetuated for years in conservative Washington and among the right wing press that the Republican Party is the party of strong, courageous, heroic defenders of America, while the Democrats are namby-pamby sissy-boys that cannot and should not be entrusted with the nation's security. How and when this started--although I'll give much of the credit to Karl Rove--I'm not exactly sure. But a simple look into the military service, or lack thereof, of prominent politicians and spin monkeys offers a not so surprising revelation into who the real tough guys are in Washington:

Democrats

* Richard Gephardt: Air National Guard, 1965-71.
* David Bonior: Staff Sgt., Air Force 1968-72.
* Tom Daschle: 1st Lt., Air Force SAC 1969-72.
* Al Gore: enlisted Aug. 1969; sent to Vietnam Jan. 1971 as an army journalist in 20th Engineer Brigade.
* Bob Kerrey: Lt. J.G. Navy 1966-69; Medal of Honor, Vietnam.
* Daniel Inouye: Army 1943-47; Medal of Honor, WWII.
* John Kerry: Lt., Navy 1966-70; Silver Star, Bronze Star with Combat V, Purple Hearts.
* Charles Rangel: Staff Sgt., Army 1948-52; Bronze Star, Korea.
* Max Cleland: Captain, Army 1965-68; Silver Star & Bronze Star, Vietnam.
* Ted Kennedy: Army, 1951-53.
* Tom Harkin: Lt., Navy, 1962-67; Naval Reserve, 1968-74.
* Jack Reed: Army Ranger, 1971-1979; Captain, Army Reserve 1979-91.
* Fritz Hollings: Army officer in WWII; Bronze Star and seven campaign ribbons.
* Leonard Boswell: Lt. Col., Army 1956-76; Vietnam, DFCs, Bronze Stars, and Soldier's Medal.
* Pete Peterson: Air Force Captain, POW. Purple Heart, Silver Star and Legion of Merit.
* Mike Thompson: Staff sergeant, 173rd Airborne, and Purple Heart.
* Bill McBride: Candidate for Fla. Governor. Marine in Vietnam; Bronze Star with Combat V.
* Gray Davis: Army Captain in Vietnam, Bronze Star.
* Pete Stark: Air Force 1955-57
* Chuck Robb: Vietnam
* Howell Heflin: Silver Star
* George McGovern: Silver Star & DFC during WWII.
* Bill Clinton: Did not serve. Student deferments. Entered draft but received #311.
* Jimmy Carter: Seven years in the Navy.
* Walter Mondale: Army 1951-1953
* John Glenn: WWII and Korea; six DFCs and AirMedal with 18 Clusters.
* Tom Lantos: Served in Hungarian underground in WWII. Saved by Raoul Wallenberg.

Republicans

* Dick Cheney: did not serve. Several deferments, the last by marriage.
* Dennis Hastert: did not serve.
* Tom Delay: did not serve.
* Roy Blunt: did not serve.
* Bill Frist: did not serve.
* Mitch McConnell: did not serve.
* Rick Santorum: did not serve.
* Trent Lott: did not serve.
* John Ashcroft: did not serve. Seven deferments to teach business.
* Jeb Bush: did not serve.
* Karl Rove: did not serve.
* Saxby Chambliss: did not serve. "Bad knee." The man who attacked Max Cleland's patriotism.
* Paul Wolfowitz: did not serve.
* Vin Weber: did not serve.
* Richard Perle: did not serve.
* Douglas Feith: did not serve.
* Eliot Abrams: did not serve.
* Richard Shelby: did not serve.
* Jon Kyl: did not serve.
* Tim Hutchison: did not serve.
* Christopher Cox: did not serve.
* Newt Gingrich: did not serve.
* Don Rumsfeld: served in Navy (1954-57) as flight instructor.
* George W. Bush: failed to complete his six-year National Guard; got assigned to Alabama so he could campaign for family friend running for U.S. Senate; failed to show up for required medical exam, disappeared from duty.
* Ronald Reagan: due to poor eyesight, served in a non-combat role making movies.
* B-1 Bob Dornan: Consciously enlisted after fighting was over in Korea.
* Phil Gramm: did not serve.
* John McCain: Vietnam POW, Silver Star, Bronze Star, Legion of Merit, Purple Heart and Distinguished Flying Cross.
* Dana Rohrabacher: did not serve.
* John M. McHugh: did not serve.
* JC Watts: did not serve.
* Jack Kemp: did not serve. "Knee problem, " although continued in NFL for 8 years.
* Dan Quayle: Journalism unit of the Indiana National Guard.
* Rudy Giuliani: did not serve.
* George Pataki: did not serve.
* Spencer Abraham: did not serve.
* John Engler: did not serve.
* Lindsey Graham: National Guard lawyer.
* Arnold Schwarzenegger: AWOL from Austrian army base.
* Sean Hannity: did not serve.
* Rush Limbaugh: did not serve (4-F with a 'pilonidal cyst.')
* Bill O'Reilly: did not serve.
* Michael Savage: did not serve.
* George Will: did not serve.
* Chris Matthews: did not serve.
* Paul Gigot: did not serve.
* Bill Bennett: did not serve.
* Pat Buchanan: did not serve.
* John Wayne: did not serve.
* Bill Kristol: did not serve.
* Kenneth Starr: did not serve.
* Antonin Scalia: did not serve.
* Clarence Thomas: did not serve.
* Ralph Reed: did not serve.

Many of these conservatives did everything in their power--including using their family's wealth and political connections--to avoid military service. No wonder then that they over-compensate for this lack of bravery by attempting to tear down the real heroes at every turn.

Entrust our security to these jokers? Puhleeeeze. I'll jump in a trench with Kerry, Cleland, Kennedy, Daschle and Gore any day of the week over Bush, Cheney, DeLay, Frist and Limbaugh. At least our guys don't have to play dress up.

[Grumblefish]

* Arnold Schwarzenegger: AWOL from Austrian army base.


If you're going to try and clear up misconceptions, then please don't go making new ones. Arnold snuck out of his army camp to compete in a body-building event, and was caught when he returned to the base after winning first place. He was ordered to continue body-building, and everyone applauded him for winning. His punishment for going AWOL to compete was 7 days lock-up or something.

Just saying "AWOL from army base" is highly misleading at best. I don't see any real reason to fault Arnie for his service in the armed forces.

[Javaxcx]

The problem with this (obviously) left-baised report is the selective nature of the names. Reading a few of the names of the democrat side you see predominantly politicans. ACTUAL politians. Where as we have people who shouldn't be given the publicity, ie. Rush Limbaugh, slapped into the republican list to make it look bigger and more impressive.

Now I'm not one to go around supporting the hypocrits of the right (especially with our resident moron lurking around and not actually joining the army), but this comparison is really not very informative as an unbiased whole.

[kleph]

sorry. i can't find former president george bush and former senator bob dole in that list.

[Nodbugger]

There are tons of names missing from both lists.

[coreageek]

I think that something more direct would work better than a list. For example:

"So many minority youths had volunteered…that there was literally no room for patriotic folks like myself." --Tom DeLay, explaining at the 1988 GOP convention why he and vice presidential nominee Dan Quayle did not fight in the Vietnam War

[IamSpartacus]

Page 2 of the (source) link has a counter-post

there are 153 members in the 108 congress who have had some form of military service, some 14 fewer than in the 107 congress. The house has 117 veterans: 69 republicans, 48 democrats. In the senate, 35 are veterans: 19 republicans, 16 democrats. They have served in World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Persian Gulf, and Kosovo and during times of peace, as well as in the reserves and in the national guard

www.senate.gov/reference/resources/pdf/RS21379.pdf




On a 'similar' topic, any idea how many Aussie politicians served in Vietnam, etc ?. We seem to be running pretty short of politicians with a military background here in the UK.

[coreageek]

money talks.

It says "I don't need to fight" and "vote for me" at the same time.

[kleph]

yeah. i guess those kennedys couldn't scrape up enough cash to keep teddy out of the army.

[coreageek]

teddy was a tool of the left

[Grumblefish]

Here is the rebuttal from page 2:

""there are 153 members in the 108 congress who have had some form of military service, some 14 fewer than in the 107 congress. The house has 117 veterans: 69 republicans, 48 democrats. In the senate, 35 are veterans: 19 republicans, 16 democrats. They have served in World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Persian Gulf, and Kosovo and during times of peace, as well as in the reserves and in the national guard"

http://www.senate.gov/reference/res...pdf/RS21379.pdf

looks like skip was wrong, again. What a shocker."

Posted by some guy called "Megara".