What next?
What next? I'll tell you what next! How any Republican can support this is beyond me! How any Republican can think this is in the least bit funny makes me want to puke! Folks, these are the people asking YOUR sons and daughters to fight their War For Corporate Profits in Iraq! Is this what they think of the almost 7,000 Americans wounded in Iraq? Yeah, I guess so.
It's time to get rid of this bunch of hypocritical chickenhawks!
The following post is copied directly from Any Which Way in it's entirety, including the intro by Ruthalla. She has summed it up better than I could. (For more posts like this, visit Any Which Way). Now, excuse me while I puke.
deuddersun
Sunday, September 05 2004 @ 01:16 AM EDT
Contributed by: ruthalla
The Republican Convention is finally over, but the disrespect they showed towards Veterans is lasting.
In a disgusting mockery of wounded Veterans, the delegates donned band-aids adorned with a purple heart.
This attitude is reflective of the entire Bush administration's treatment of Veterans today.
Can current Purple Heart winners from Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom expect the same disregard should they ever oppose the Bush Doctrine?
While the delegates may have claimed to be mocking Kerry, a statement of political impotence in itself, by minimizing any Purple Heart, they minimize them all.
After all, were the Democrats to attempt such theatrical foolishness, they would all have to paint white powder under their noses
...ruth
from the article:
When did it become acceptable in America for our Purple Hearts to be used as political stunt to garner votes? When did veterans wounded in war become fair game for ridicule? When did slight wounds become props for political advantage? And this from Republicans (few of whom served in our military, and fewer who were wounded in war) who support a president who never went to a war that he strongly supported but took actions to avoid. This reeks of hypocrisy, and I am outraged.
Republicans Insult Wounded Veterans
A wounded combat veteran awarded the Purple Heart is outraged that Republicans have mocked his Purple Heart medal and dishonored all Americans wounded in war.
By Stewart Nusbaumer
New York, New York--The Purple Heart medal was established by George Washington in 1782 to honor soldiers wounded in the Revolutionary War. The sole criterion for being awarded this decoration is being wounded in war by the enemy. The Purple Heart honors not heroism, then, but personal sacrifice. It is the “grunts” badge recognizing sacrifice of body for your country, the democratic award that honors all troops equally for their combat wounds. That is the way George Washington wanted it.
Yet, on the floor of the Republican National Convention, Republican delegates proudly sported band-aids with little purple hearts in an attempt to diminish the significance of John Kerry’s military record and his three Purple Hearts--which stand in stark, embarrassing contrast to George Bush’s avoidance of the Vietnam War and his “yellow heart.”
The Associated Press reported: “The bandages were handed out by Morton Blackwell, a longtime GOP activist from Virginia, with the message: ‘It was just a self-inflicted scratch, but you see I got a Purple Heart for it.’”
These Republicans want Americans to believe John Kerry’s wounds were not serious enough to be taken seriously. Many military veterans resent their mocking of a Purple Heart recipitant and his decorations, charging the Republicans' behavior is reprehensible.
“This symbol [Purple Heart] is a very moving one,” said Korean War veteran and Congressman Charles Rangel. “In many of the homes of the survivors that’s all they have to remember their loved ones. Some survivors can’t see and some can’t walk. All they ask is a little dignity.”
According to retired Gen. Merrill McPeak, former Chief of Staff of the U.S. Air Force, 3,700 Purple Hearts have been awarded in Iraq. Are Republicans mocking all 3,700 of our servicemen and women wounded in Iraq? Or only those they determine were not sufficiently wounded?
According to this former Marine grunt, how dare they laugh at my Purple Heart?
George Washington was correct: a wound is a wound, and that entitles one to the award. The Purple Heart is not about the depth of the wound, not about the wound’s length, not about the quantity of blood that came from the wound. This decoration recognizes the personal sacrifice of our troops without regard to the severity or the nature of the wound. This has been the official position of the U.S. military since the days of George Washington, and this is the correct position today.
When did it become acceptable in America for our Purple Hearts to be used as political stunt to garner votes? When did veterans wounded in war become fair game for ridicule? When did slight wounds become props for political advantage? And this from Republicans (few of whom served in our military, and fewer who were wounded in war) who support a president who never went to a war that he strongly supported but took actions to avoid. This reeks of hypocrisy, and I am outraged.
The fact is, the Republican Party is out of control. Vicious and hateful, it is disrespectful and desperate, a political party that is now attacking America’s wounded veterans. And the leadership of this Party remains quiet, behind the scenes it actively works to trash our veterans. First they attacked John McCain, claiming the former POW was unfit to be President because he had been a prisoner in Vietnam; then they insisted that Max Cleland, who lost three limbs on the battlefield in Vietnam, did not sacrifice for his country; then they smeared John Kerry’s military service and dismissed his sacrifices for America. Now, Republicans are insulting all veterans who are Purple Heart recipients, every American wounded in a war.
Never could I have imagined this happening in America. Never have I witnessed antiwar demonstrators insulting military veterans as these so-called patriotic Republicans are insulting our wounded veterans. Never could I have imagined.
Stewart Nusbaumer is editor of Intervention Magazine.
You can email him at Stewart@interventionmag.com
(Emphasis added by me - d.)
Posted Thursday, September 2, 2004 from Intervention Magazine
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