Tom DeLay: The New Chickenhawk Poster Child
Many of you fellow political junkies have seen Tom DeLay plugging his new book, No Retreat, No Surrender on the TV circuit. The former House Majority Leader and currently indicted money laundering suspect, is lecturing those who oppose the war in Iraq and accusing us of treason, even those of us who actually served in this misguided war. This pattern continued on a recent Meet the Press appearance. When called on this by Rep. Joe Sestak (R-PA), a retired Navy Vice Admiral (three-star) and the first veteran of the Afghanistan War elected to Congress, DeLay and Richard Perle accused Congressman Sestak of ignorance about the miltary, and Former Congressman Tom Andrews (D-ME) said that he would rather take military advice "from Admiral Sestak than Tom DeLay." When questioned by Tim Russert about his insistence that war critics have committed treason, DeLay said the following:
Let's look at some of the things that are totally hypocritical about this quote. First of all, DeLay is equating mentioning impeachment with treason. While I want to make it clear that I oppose impeachment because I see no way that it will be successful, and even if it would be, I do not want to see President Cheney either, I think that this is an interesting turn of events from DeLay. As noted in the book The Hammer:Tom DeLay: God, Money, and the Rise of the Republican Congress by Lou Dubose and Jan Reid, Hot Tub Tom (This was his nickname in his days in the Texas Legislature because of his eagerness to be schmoozed by lobbyists and party.) blocked any and all efforts at censure against President Clinton because he knew that such efforts would derail impeachment. In other words, not only did he mention impeachment, he strong-armed Congress into actually impeaching a President.
For someone who was so against opposing a war once it started as treason, it is interesting to note that Hot Tub Tom was a vociferous opponent of the war in Kosovo even after it started. I found the following quotes while looking up Hot Tub Tom's remarks on Kosovo:
All but the last of these statements was made by Hot Tub Tom during the operations in Kosovo. (Thanks to blogger Justin Logan for cataloguing these statements.) If Tom DeLay were held to his own standards on treason, he would already be executed.
However, the fact that he told a 31-year Navy veteran that he was a traitor really bugs me the most. After all, Hot Tub Tom came of age during the Vietnam era and was 26 when the draft ended in 1973. You would think that he would have served proubly in the Vietnam War. However, when asked in 1988 about his military service, Hot Tub Tom said the following:
Hey, Hot Tub. Here's a newsflash: There was a draft! Of course, there was room for people like you, although I would argue that the "patriotic" part does not apply. After all, Al Gore, who was and is a patriotic person, enlisted in the Army in 1969 and served as a journalist in Vietnam. If you want to question his service because it was not a combat role, the second Vietnam veteran to win a major party's Preisdential nomination was John Kerry, who received a commission in the Navy in 1966, and then went on to win a Silver Star, a Bronze Star, and three Purple Hearts as a swift boater. Hot Tub also had praise for President Bush for the aricraft carrier landing, complete with codpiece, telling a group of College Repbulicans:
Well, admittedly, I would wonder if Senator Kennedy could land a plane. However, I could imagine the senior Senator from Massachusetts in uniform. You see, unlike Hot Tub Tom, Edward Kennedy did serve his country, with a two-year stint in the US Army (1951-53) when he served in Europe. If one wanted to quibble, they could point out that he served in Europe during the Korean War, but this was the height of the Cold War, so I see no reason to question Senator Kennedy's willingness to serve his country. His brother, John, also showed the difference between himself and chickenhawks by getting waivers so he could serve in the Navy during World War II, despite health concerns.
The thing that is shocking is just how many Republican hawks managed to avoid military service and war in particular during their own youths. As Al Franken pointed out in Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot and Other Observations and Lies and Lying Liars: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right, this list is quite extensive. Here is a partial offering:
Newt Gingrich (Former House Speaker, 1995-98 and Congressman, 1979-98, possible 2008 Presidential candidate): Received student and teaching deferrments during the Vietnam War. Later wondered aloud if he "missed something" by avoiding military service.
Pat Buchanan (Presidential candidate, 1992, 1996, 2000. Political commentator, Nixon official): 4-F due to a football injury in high school, still manages to run on a treadmill almost daily.
Dick Armey (Former House majority leader, 1995-2003, Congressman 1985-2003): received student deferments
George Will (Washington Post columnist, contributor to Newsweek and This Week with George Stephanopholous): student deferments
Bill O'Reilly (conservative commentator, host of The O'Reilly Factor and The Radio Factor): avoided service, no one is really sure how
Rush Limbaugh (conservative commentator and radio talk show host): claimed to have a pilonidal cyst, went to draft board with a doctor's note, despite the fact that pilonidal cysts are an operable condition
Paul Wolfowitz (former Deputy Defense Secretary): student deferments
Richard Perle (former Reagan defense official) and Bill Kristol (editor, The Weekly Standard): student deferments
Dick Cheney (Vice President, 2001-present; Defense Secretary, 1989-93; Congressman, 1979-89; Chief of Staff, President Gerald Ford, 1975-77): five deferments, said he had "other priorities at the time," first daughter born nine months and two days after President Johnson announced that deferments for married men with no children would be lifted
John Wayne (starred in numerous war movies, released America, Why I Love Her, a patriotic spoken-word album in 1973; major donor to George Wallace in 1968, supporter of conservative causes, icon of "tough guy" and "American hero"): Sought, and received, draft deferment to take care of his kids during WWII. Stayed home despite the fact that many (at the time) bigger actors served in WWII, including Clark Gable and Henry Fonda, who were older than the Duke. Re-classified as 1-A (fit for service and eligible for draft) in 1944, but studio appealed and had his draft status changed back to 2-A. Apocryphal stories tell of a time when John Ford, who did serve as a film-maker during several key air missions in the Pacific, would criticize Wayne for his salute, saying "god****it, don't you know how to salute? Never mind." Would repeatedly get into fights with soldiers who were angered by the fact that Wayne didn't serve.
George W. Bush: served in Texas Air National Guard 1968-73, asked to be exempt from overseas service, left Texas Air National Guard eight months early to attend Harvard Business School (lampooned later in Doonesbury when Ray and an unnamed soldier requested an early release from their enlistment to attend business school), no one really sure how he spent that year that he was supposed to be in Alabama, despite offers of $10,000 to anyone who could conclusively prove that he did his full stint of service in Alabama, grounded in 1970 after refusing to take a flight physical, which is the same year nasal cavity inspections and drug tests were made (ironic because he appeared in TXANG anti-drug posters); later complained about anti-war "elitists" and refuses to listen to anyone who disagrees with him on the Iraq War.
Ronald Reagan (President, 1981-89; Governor of California, 1967-75): Spent WWII making training films. Later confused his action on training films with actually fighting in WWII.
The fact that so many Republicans who now lecture us about our patriotism (as well as Joe Lieberman, who got student and family deferments during the Vietnam War) for opposing such a foolish mission tells me that we have to fight back. As soon as your Republican friends talk about how great the war is, if they are capable of military service, hand them a business card for their friendly neighborhood recruiter. If you ever get the chance to debate someone, call them out on their lack of service. If your local paper runs ads for Hot Tub's book, write letters-to-the-editor criticizing his hypocrisy. But, above all, we cannot let these chickenhawks get away with their false patriotism.
Well, I--it, it is my opinion that when you go to war, we ought to all come together. You can debate going to war, that's a legitimate debate. But once you have our soldiers and our, our young people dying on the battlefield, we should come together, and we shouldn't have what we had yesterday on the Mall of, of, of--in Washington, D.C. When the--those are not, in my mind--my opinion, patriots that are talking about impeaching the commander in chief, that are--that are--work as, as Tom's group works...
Let's look at some of the things that are totally hypocritical about this quote. First of all, DeLay is equating mentioning impeachment with treason. While I want to make it clear that I oppose impeachment because I see no way that it will be successful, and even if it would be, I do not want to see President Cheney either, I think that this is an interesting turn of events from DeLay. As noted in the book The Hammer:Tom DeLay: God, Money, and the Rise of the Republican Congress by Lou Dubose and Jan Reid, Hot Tub Tom (This was his nickname in his days in the Texas Legislature because of his eagerness to be schmoozed by lobbyists and party.) blocked any and all efforts at censure against President Clinton because he knew that such efforts would derail impeachment. In other words, not only did he mention impeachment, he strong-armed Congress into actually impeaching a President.
For someone who was so against opposing a war once it started as treason, it is interesting to note that Hot Tub Tom was a vociferous opponent of the war in Kosovo even after it started. I found the following quotes while looking up Hot Tub Tom's remarks on Kosovo:
• “This is [President Clinton’s] war.” Washington Post, 4/14/99
• “The Kosovo operation is different and oxymoronic. It is a ‘peace war’ waged by ‘peace hawks’ pursuing a dovish social agenda. Peace hawks are global idealists and former anti-war activists, including the youthful Bill Clinton.” Floor Statement, 4/15/99
• “Doing good on a worldwide scale appeals to peace hawks, who are motivated by altruism, not patriotism.” Floor Statement, 4/15/99
• “There's no national interest of the United States in Kosovo. It's flawed policy and it was flawed to go in. I think this president is one of the least effective presidents of my life time. He's hollowed out our forces while running round the world with these adventures.” The Guardian, 5/17/99
• “I rise today to state that no defense funds should be used for ground forces in Kosovo unless authorized by Congress.” Floor Statement, 4/15/99
• “So what they are doing here is they are voting to continue an unplanned war by an administration that is incompetent of [sic] carrying it out. I hope my colleagues will vote against this resolution.” Floor Statement on S. Con. Res. 21, 4/15/99
• “It is clear that any deployment to Kosovo will similarly drag on and go enormously over budget.” Floor Statement, 4/28/99
• “When asked the question, ‘what if he does not come to the table,’ they said, ‘well, we will go to Phase 2, and Phase 2 is that we will bomb for a few more days. Then he will be going to the table, by crackie.’ And when we asked, ‘Then, what?’ then they said, ‘well, we will bomb for another week and that will force him to come to the table and this will be all over with.’ And then when we asked, ‘Then, what?’ there was silence. This administration started a war without a plan farther along than two weeks.” Floor Statement, 4/28/99
• “I cannot support a failed foreign policy. History teaches us that it is often easier to make war than peace. This administration is just learning that lesson right now. The President began this mission with very vague objectives and lots of unanswered questions. A month later, these questions are still unanswered. There are no clarified rules of engagement. There is no timetable. There is no legitimate definition of victory. There is no contingency plan for mission creep. There is no clear funding program. There is no agenda to bolster our overextended military. There is no explanation defining what vital national interests are at stake. There was no strategic plan for war when the President started this thing, and there still is no plan today.” Floor Statement, 4/28/99
• “Instead of sending in ground troops, we should pull out the forces we now have in the region. Mr. Speaker, I do not think we should send ground troops to Kosovo and I do not think we should be bombing in the Balkans, and I do not think that NATO should be destroyed by changing its mission into a humanitarian invasion force.” Floor Statement, 4/28/99
• “So what they are doing here is they are voting to continue an unplanned war by an administration that is incompetent of carrying it out. I hope my colleagues will vote against the resolution.” Floor Statement, 4/28/99
• “It’s very simple. The president is not supported by the House, and the military is supported by the House.” As quoted in USA Today, regarding Floor votes on Kosovo, 4/30/99
• “For us to call this a victory and to commend the President of the United States as the Commander in Chief showing great leadership in Operation Allied Force is a farce.” Floor Statement opposing resolution commending America’s successful campaign in Kosovo, 7/1/99
All but the last of these statements was made by Hot Tub Tom during the operations in Kosovo. (Thanks to blogger Justin Logan for cataloguing these statements.) If Tom DeLay were held to his own standards on treason, he would already be executed.
However, the fact that he told a 31-year Navy veteran that he was a traitor really bugs me the most. After all, Hot Tub Tom came of age during the Vietnam era and was 26 when the draft ended in 1973. You would think that he would have served proubly in the Vietnam War. However, when asked in 1988 about his military service, Hot Tub Tom said the following:
So many minority youths had volunteered for the well-paying military positions to escape poverty and the ghetto that there was literally no room for patriotic folks like myself.
Hey, Hot Tub. Here's a newsflash: There was a draft! Of course, there was room for people like you, although I would argue that the "patriotic" part does not apply. After all, Al Gore, who was and is a patriotic person, enlisted in the Army in 1969 and served as a journalist in Vietnam. If you want to question his service because it was not a combat role, the second Vietnam veteran to win a major party's Preisdential nomination was John Kerry, who received a commission in the Navy in 1966, and then went on to win a Silver Star, a Bronze Star, and three Purple Hearts as a swift boater. Hot Tub also had praise for President Bush for the aricraft carrier landing, complete with codpiece, telling a group of College Repbulicans:
Could you imagine Ted Kennedy in uniform, making that landing?
Well, admittedly, I would wonder if Senator Kennedy could land a plane. However, I could imagine the senior Senator from Massachusetts in uniform. You see, unlike Hot Tub Tom, Edward Kennedy did serve his country, with a two-year stint in the US Army (1951-53) when he served in Europe. If one wanted to quibble, they could point out that he served in Europe during the Korean War, but this was the height of the Cold War, so I see no reason to question Senator Kennedy's willingness to serve his country. His brother, John, also showed the difference between himself and chickenhawks by getting waivers so he could serve in the Navy during World War II, despite health concerns.
The thing that is shocking is just how many Republican hawks managed to avoid military service and war in particular during their own youths. As Al Franken pointed out in Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot and Other Observations and Lies and Lying Liars: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right, this list is quite extensive. Here is a partial offering:
Newt Gingrich (Former House Speaker, 1995-98 and Congressman, 1979-98, possible 2008 Presidential candidate): Received student and teaching deferrments during the Vietnam War. Later wondered aloud if he "missed something" by avoiding military service.
Pat Buchanan (Presidential candidate, 1992, 1996, 2000. Political commentator, Nixon official): 4-F due to a football injury in high school, still manages to run on a treadmill almost daily.
Dick Armey (Former House majority leader, 1995-2003, Congressman 1985-2003): received student deferments
George Will (Washington Post columnist, contributor to Newsweek and This Week with George Stephanopholous): student deferments
Bill O'Reilly (conservative commentator, host of The O'Reilly Factor and The Radio Factor): avoided service, no one is really sure how
Rush Limbaugh (conservative commentator and radio talk show host): claimed to have a pilonidal cyst, went to draft board with a doctor's note, despite the fact that pilonidal cysts are an operable condition
Paul Wolfowitz (former Deputy Defense Secretary): student deferments
Richard Perle (former Reagan defense official) and Bill Kristol (editor, The Weekly Standard): student deferments
Dick Cheney (Vice President, 2001-present; Defense Secretary, 1989-93; Congressman, 1979-89; Chief of Staff, President Gerald Ford, 1975-77): five deferments, said he had "other priorities at the time," first daughter born nine months and two days after President Johnson announced that deferments for married men with no children would be lifted
John Wayne (starred in numerous war movies, released America, Why I Love Her, a patriotic spoken-word album in 1973; major donor to George Wallace in 1968, supporter of conservative causes, icon of "tough guy" and "American hero"): Sought, and received, draft deferment to take care of his kids during WWII. Stayed home despite the fact that many (at the time) bigger actors served in WWII, including Clark Gable and Henry Fonda, who were older than the Duke. Re-classified as 1-A (fit for service and eligible for draft) in 1944, but studio appealed and had his draft status changed back to 2-A. Apocryphal stories tell of a time when John Ford, who did serve as a film-maker during several key air missions in the Pacific, would criticize Wayne for his salute, saying "god****it, don't you know how to salute? Never mind." Would repeatedly get into fights with soldiers who were angered by the fact that Wayne didn't serve.
George W. Bush: served in Texas Air National Guard 1968-73, asked to be exempt from overseas service, left Texas Air National Guard eight months early to attend Harvard Business School (lampooned later in Doonesbury when Ray and an unnamed soldier requested an early release from their enlistment to attend business school), no one really sure how he spent that year that he was supposed to be in Alabama, despite offers of $10,000 to anyone who could conclusively prove that he did his full stint of service in Alabama, grounded in 1970 after refusing to take a flight physical, which is the same year nasal cavity inspections and drug tests were made (ironic because he appeared in TXANG anti-drug posters); later complained about anti-war "elitists" and refuses to listen to anyone who disagrees with him on the Iraq War.
Ronald Reagan (President, 1981-89; Governor of California, 1967-75): Spent WWII making training films. Later confused his action on training films with actually fighting in WWII.
The fact that so many Republicans who now lecture us about our patriotism (as well as Joe Lieberman, who got student and family deferments during the Vietnam War) for opposing such a foolish mission tells me that we have to fight back. As soon as your Republican friends talk about how great the war is, if they are capable of military service, hand them a business card for their friendly neighborhood recruiter. If you ever get the chance to debate someone, call them out on their lack of service. If your local paper runs ads for Hot Tub's book, write letters-to-the-editor criticizing his hypocrisy. But, above all, we cannot let these chickenhawks get away with their false patriotism.
posted by Albert McStephenson at 12:44 PM
2 Comments:
Don't forget Jimmy Stewart. Flew Bombers. Exact opposite of "tough" guy. But you know, if you're a onscreen "tough" guy, you can't go to war an get hurt, that might make people think you aren't so tough...
I thought I did include Jimmy Stewart in the statement about "bigger movie stars at the time." (He had already won his Oscar for The Philadelphia Story and earned a nomination for Mr. Smith Goes to Washington before WWII.) However, any omission of Stewart was uninentional. He was a conservative Republican, but at least he walked the walk, earning the rank of colonel during WWII and eventually becoming a Brigadier General (one-star) in the Air Force Reserve. The reason I included Henry Fonda and Clark Gable by name is that they were older than John Wayne, and Henry Fonda was a liberal Democrat, who was known for playing peaceful characters.
Post a Comment
<< Home