Country Terry And The Fish Story
By Michael P. Tremoglie (02/20/04)
When one considers that the only thing Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe ever registered for was fishy financial transactions, and that he owes his job to the second draft dodger ever elected president (Grover Cleveland is the first) the fact that McAuliffe is chiding President Bush about not serving in Viet Nam is hilarious.
Think about it. McAuliffe, who never served the public in any uniformed or non-uniformed capacity, and who is the lackey of a draft-dodging ex-president, is extolling the virtues of a war hero, John Kerry. However, this same war hero, who was once decorated for killing a Viet Cong, subsequently joined with Viet Cong and North Vietnamese sympathizers. These are the people who are criticizing President Bush – because he served in Texas Air National Guard (TANG).
Bush has sterling military credentials when compared to McAuliffe and especially when compared to Clinton who has none at all. Bush has more consistency than Kerry whose postwar activities have something of a Manchurian candidate aura about them.
McAuliffe recently promoted a bogus claim that Bush was AWOL during his service with the TANG. The very bizarre Michael Moore - who actually said Bush was a deserter, recently reiterated this allegation, which apparently has been made by partisan Democrats since Bush entered politics. Ironically, despite Moore and McAuliffe’s professed love for the Vietnam era military (unlike Clinton who loathed it) neither served in Vietnam, although both could have volunteered as some who were their age did.
In fact, Moore or McAuliffe never joined any uniformed or nonuniformed public service - ever. What McAuliffe and Moore have done is make gobs of cash. They are both very wealthy demagogues. Their wealth is what makes them important players in the Democratic Party not their military service or love of the military.
Not only are Moore and McAuliffe hypocrites, they are fools and/or liars as well. The Bush AWOL/desertion claim has been disproved, despite the Washington Press Corps’ most ingenious efforts to discredit the medical records, the payroll records, the testimony of a “band of brothers,” and the testimony of a girlfriend that Bush did serve when he said he did. The press should excoriate McAuliffe, Moore and others for their slander of the National Guard.
The facts of Vietnam era military service, the reserves and the National Guard are very different from what McAuliffe, Moore and the media myrmidons are stating. They are merely relating some old myths, which is nothing more than a rephrasing of Marxist mantra.
There are a few things that need to be mentioned about the draft, the National Guard and reserve, volunteering, and military service in general during the Viet Nam era. All too often the scenario is portrayed as poor young guys (usually black) were drafted, sent to Vietnam and were killed in action; rich white guys went into the National Guard or received a draft deferment; educated and courageous middle class college students went to Canada.
While there is truth to some of that some of that was not true at all.
First is the idea that the Air National Guard (ANG) was somehow draft dodging. There are two things that need to be said about this. While it is true that a pilot in the ANG was infinitely much safer then an infantryman, Marine, Riverine, or pilot in Vietnam, he had more hazardous duty than a supply officer in Guam or Subic Bay, or a journalist at NATO headquarters in Antwerp. Draftees performed all of these relatively secure assignments. SIX OF TEN DRAFTEES WERE NOT ASSIGNED TO VIETNAM!
Second, contrary to popular belief draftees did not constitute the majority of those in killed in action (KIA’s) in Vietnam. Only 25% (648,500) of total forces in Vietnam were draftees and draftees accounted for 30% of the combat deaths. So getting drafted was not the automatic death sentence that some will have you believe.
Also, contrary to popular belief, there were approximately 100 National Guard and 6000 reservists killed in Vietnam. A member of a National Guard unit from Indiana (Indiana Rangers) posthumously received the Bronze Star for his action while serving in Vietnam. When one considers the National Guard had been activated during Korea and could have been activated for Vietnam the National Guard was not an automatic dispensation. Other units of the Air National Guard and the Army National Guard served in Vietnam. The fact that
all NG units were not mobilized for Vietnam is a function of politics and should not be considered a comment about the integrity of those who were in the National Guard. This is particularly true about journalists like the New York Times Rick Lyman who displayed his ignorance when he wrote that Al Sharpton, “ Born in October 1954, he was also eligible in the 1972 lottery, when his number was 103, a relatively safe number since even in the previous year, the draft reached only as high as 95.” There was no possibility of being drafted for men born in October 1954.
The phony righteous indignation by the non-serving hustlers like McAuliffe and Moore is nothing more than amusement for anyone who is not a partisan Democrat. Anyone who does not have the IQ of house dust realizes what these allegations are.
Of course, this requirement of not having the IQ of house dust would exclude most liberals and most of the Washington Press Corps.
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