Say Anything Blog

Charlie Rangel, still pushing the idea that we need to renew the draft, thinks that a) none of the troops joined the military to actually fight in a war and b) they just signed up because they couldn’t find a decent career in any other field.

I want to make it abundantly clear: if there’s anyone who believes that these youngsters want to fight, as the Pentagon and some generals have said, you can just forget about it. No young, bright individual wants to fight just because of a bonus and just because of educational benefits. And most all of them come from communities of very, very high unemployment. If a young fella has an option of having a decent career or joining the army to fight in Iraq, you can bet your life that he would not be in Iraq.

Video at the link.

First Kerry’s comments, now this.  Every time one of these guys open their mouths it becomes more and more clear how Democrats really feel about the military.

Do the Democrats think that disparaging our military men and women like this is going to get them any traction with the American public?

I understand what they’re tying to do.  Rangel, Kerry and a lot of the rest of the Democrats need to find a way to make the mission in Iraq seem like something less than honorable so that it’s that much easier for them to advocate giving up on the commitment we made to Iraqis when we invaded and/or cutting off the resources our troops need to further that mission even as they’re still fighting on the ground.  If they can make the troops appear to be nothing more than a bunch of simpletons who were manipulated into fighting a “war for profit” or “war for oil” by the evil Bush/Cheney/Rove cabal they’ve won.

At least they think that’s how it will go, anyway, but I’m not so sure that all this demeaning talk about the military isn’t going to backfire.