Sunday, September 16, 2007

More of the same: Attack anyone who disagrees with the Republican party.

This is apparently true, even if the person happens to be a soldier in the U.S. Army, and was just killed in Iraq. That has absolutely no bearing on the discussion. As George Bush famously said, “Either you’re with us, or you’re against us.” We just didn’t know to what lengths people would take that statement.

This is from MyDD, via KargoX at Daily Kos.

Montana Republicans Says Dead Soldier Too Stupid to Write NYT Op-Ed (Left in the West)

Sgt. Yance Gray hailed originally from Ismay, Montana. He died earlier this week. His death gained attention because he was one of seven authors of a recent New York Times op-ed criticizing the continued occupation. Now, a prominent Montana Republican is saying Sergeant Gray probably wasn't smart enough to actually write the op-ed.

Barely a week after the death of Montana soldier Yance Gray, Dave Rye is attacking him, suggesting that he was neither intelligent enough to have written an editorial expressing discontent about the war nor able to escape the clutches of liberal propagandists.

Dave Rye Says:

September 13th, 2007 at 10:08 am

Pardon my skepticism, and certainly no disrespect for the dead Montana soldier, but in my time in the Army I never heard such a word as "recalcitrant" escape the lips of any Staff Sergeant. I doubt if it’s spoken all that much in Ismay, either.

The soldiers had the help and probably the encouragement of a writer with an agenda, from a newspaper which has always had one. Its continually declining circulation now mainly consists of those who want desperately to consider themselves sophisticated as well as compassionate, even if that means always branding the U.S. as the chief villain on the world stage—-in fact, especially if it does.

I await the inevitable onslaught from outraged liberals. (Is there any other kind?)



This just shows, one more time, that there is no limit on what these people will do to get their own way. They will say and do anything. That’s part of their whole game plan. The rest of us were just having a hard time catching up, because no one in their right mind would think that civilized people could actually behave like this.

I detest these people who pull out their timeworn little mantra, “Support Our Troops!” whenever they feel threatened. They, of course, really never “support the troops” themselves. They let our brave soldiers fight and die for no particular reason anymore, while thumping their chests and telling everyone how evil Democrats and liberals are. They don’t fight for a better idea of why we are actually in Iraq. They don’t fight for getting them better equipment that might save their lives. They don’t fight for better conditions at Walter Reed Hospital for wounded vets. They are actually for cutting benefits for returning soldiers. They are for getting rid of all support for head trauma injury studies that might help out our wounded vets.

No, the only time that “Support Our Troops!” becomes an operational phrase is when they either want to deflect attention from some real problem or to bash their political opponents that they see as mortal enemies. This was just on display this last week. Don’t we all remember the “outrage” of those on the right regarding the MoveOn.org ad that criticized General Petraeus, calling him “General Betray Us”? How loudly and self-righteously they screamed that no one, absolutely no one, should criticize our troops. (As if the General getting in front of Congress and saying just what George Bush wanted him to is the same thing as “our troops.”) All we heard about was how awful it was that anyone would criticize our brave troops. However, now that the message is different, then a dead soldier is fair game.

Why not? That's the rules of the game, according to the Karl Rove doctrine.

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