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Volume CXXXIII, Number 15 |
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Kerry's patriotic ploy
GIL BARNDOLLAR
CONTRIBUTOR
After successfully avoiding the issue for most of the 2000 election, President Bush has been suddenly and loudly confronted about his National Guard record during the Vietnam War. Obese provocateur Michael Moore, while speaking in support of the certifiably crazy Wesley Clark, went so far as to label Bush a "deserter." While awaiting his coronation as the Democrats' candidate, John Kerry, a decorated Vietnam Navy veteran, has been quick to take Bush to task for the hypocrisy of America's Commander-in-Chief dodging the war of his generation. Finally, it seems, the man former Texas Governor Anne Richards charged was "born with a silver spoon in his mouth" will have to confront whether his wealth and privilege shielded him from the jungles of Southeast Asia.
Bush maintains that he's proud of his Air National Guard Service, and his experience flying jets certainly didn't hurt his triumphal aircraft carrier landing last spring. There remains no direct proof that the future president was given preferential treatment in the Texas Air National Guard, but the circumstantial evidence is hard to ignore. Despite no ROTC or aviation experience, Bush won a spot as a second lieutenant in the Guard. Texas National Guard historian Tom Hail told the Los Angeles Times that this kind of promotion may have been unique. "I've never heard of that," Hail said. "Generally, they did that for doctors only, mostly because we needed extra flight surgeons." Having a Congressman as a father certainly didn't hurt, but Bush's flight instructor also noted that George H.W. Bush's World War II achievements as a Navy combat pilot also gave his son "a leg up."
While Bush was a member in good standing with the Texas Air National Guard, his status after moving to Alabama in 1972 to work on the Senate campaign of Winton M. Blount is far more questionable. Dubbed "the Texas Souffl‚" in Montgomery political circles for looking good but being full of hot air, Bush seems to have put his military obligations on the backburner. A record of a dental exam was in the papers the White House released last week, but other than turning up to get his teeth checked, Bush doesn't appear to have been much of a regular at the air base. Even after ten Vietnam veterans offered a $1,000 reward during the 2000 campaign to anyone who could prove he saw Bush on duty during 1972, only a handful of unreliable witnesses have indicated that George W. Bush didn't shirk his Alabama National Guard service.
Bush's brief avoidance of duty is only the tip of the iceberg regarding Republicans and Vietnam. Almost to a man, the leading figures in the Administration and the Republican congressional leadership missed out on the war they now so ardently defend. Dick Cheney said he had "other priorities," college wrestler Dennis Hastert had bad knees, and John Ashcroft, born in 1942, somehow never made it to Saigon. Rush Limbaugh, hilariously, was kept away from Charlie by an anal cyst. And as if that couldn't be topped, House Majority Leader Tom DeLay told an audience in 1988 that he wanted to serve in Vietnam after graduating from the University of Houston, but "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 himself." The only major Republican with any Vietnam experience to speak of is John McCain, an undeniable American hero.
Clearly, the conservative war coalition is overflowing with hypocrisy. In fact, the only thing worse than conservative chickenhawks might be the Democratic shield-beaters lining up behind John Kerry. Suddenly, the party of draft-dodgers, peaceniks and "no nukes" is ready to defend America? The people who called Bill Clinton a man of principle for running off to London are now insinuating that only a combat hero makes a good commander-in-chief? Where are all those cries of outrage that Howard Dean spent Vietnam on the ski slopes of Aspen, or that potential Vice President John Edwards never grappled with Ho Chi Minh? The party that slashed defense spending, put Michael Dukakis in a tank, and lost China, Vietnam, and nearly Korea, is suddenly America's best shield against terrorists? You've gotta be kidding me. John Kerry, who voted against virtually every weapons system the U.S. military now uses, can cynically parade his Vietnam buddy Jim Rassman around Iowa and suddenly he's going to be the one to smash Al Qaeda?
As Lee Corso would say, "Not so fast, my friend." If there's any consolation for the 4-F and 1-Y conservative crowd, it's that John Kerry's little patriotic ploy is probably going to fall flat. One need only look to Max Cleland in Georgia. The disabled veteran, who lost three limbs in Vietnam, also lost his Senate seat to Saxby Chambliss, a recreational runner whose knees weren't good enough for his draft board. National security was the decisive issue.
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