C H A R A C T E R

Character, some people have it, and some just talk about it!   You've probably seen this one before, but it's always good to read it again about the military records (OR LACK thereof!)

DEMOCRATS:

* Richard Gephardt: Air National Guard, 1965-71.

* David Bonior: Staff Sgt., Air Force 1968-72.

* Tom Daschle: 1st Lt., Air Force SAC 1969-72.

* Al Gore: enlisted Aug. 1969; sent to Vietnam Jan. 1971 as an army journalist in 20th Engineer Brigade.

* Bob Kerrey: Lt. j.g. Navy 1966-69; Medal of Honor, Vietnam.  (Wounded-in-Action, WIA, he lost a leg!)

* Daniel Inouye: Army 1943-47; Medal of Honor, WWII. (WIA)

* John Kerry: Lt., Navy 1966-70; Silver Star, Bronze Star with Combat V, Purple Hearts. (WIA)

* Charles Rangel: Staff Sgt., Army 1948-52; Bronze Star, Korea.

* Max Cleland: Captain, Army 1965-68; Silver Star & Bronze Star, Vietnam. Paraplegic from war injuries. Served in Congress. (WIA)

* Ted Kennedy: Army, 1951-53.

* Tom Harkin: Lt., Navy, 1962-67; Naval Reserve, 1968-74.

* Jack Reed: Army Ranger, 1971-1979; Captain, Army Reserve 1979-91.

* Fritz Hollings: Army officer in WWII; Bronze Star and seven campaign ribbons.

* Leonard Boswell: Lt. Col., Army 1956-76; Vietnam, DFCs, Bronze Stars, and Soldier's Medal.

* Pete Peterson: Air Force Captain, POW. Purple Heart, Silver Star and Legion of Merit.

* Mike Thompson: Staff sergeant, 173rd Airborne, Purple Heart.  (If this guy wasn't wia, he is one of the VERY few who served with the 173rd AB Regiment in VietNam who wasn't!  The unit was famous for it's "hard-luck" status, meaning high incidence of action and casualties.)

* Bill McBride: Candidate for Fla. Governor. Marine in Vietnam; Bronze Star with Combat V.  (To get the Combatr V-for Valor--you have to do something nearly worthy of a Silver Star!)

* Gray Davis: Army Captain in Vietnam, Bronze Star.

* Pete Stark: Air Force 1955-57

* Chuck Robb: Vietnam (LBJ's son-in-law, if he couldn't avoid service, who could?)

* Howell Heflin: Silver Star

* George McGovern: Silver Star & DFC during WWII.

* Bill Clinton: Did not serve. Student deferments. Entered draft but received #311.

* Jimmy Carter: Seven years in the Navy.

* Walter Mondale: Army 1951-1953

* John Glenn: WWII and Korea; six DFCs and AirMedal with 18 Clusters.

* Tom Lantos: Served in Hungarian underground in WWII. Saved by Raoul Wallenberg.


REPUBLICANS -- and these are the guys SENDING PEOPLE TO WAR:

* Dick Cheney: did not serve. Several deferments, the last by marriage.

* Dennis Hastert: did not serve.

* Tom Delay: did not serve.  (Got numerous deferments, even after he was kicked out of Baylor University for drunkenness and frivolity--he was known as "Hot Tub Tom")

* Roy Blunt: did not serve.

* Bill Frist: did not serve.

* Mitch McConnell: did not serve.

* Rick Santorum: did not serve.

* Trent Lott: did not serve.

* John Ashcroft: did not serve. Seven deferments to teach business.

* Jeb Bush: did not serve.

* Karl Rove: did not serve. (Bush's Machiavelli)

* Saxby Chambliss: did not serve. "Bad knee." The man who attacked Max Cleland's patriotism.

* Paul Wolfowitz: did not serve. Neocon warhawk

* Vin Weber: did not serve.

* Richard Perle: did not serve. Neocon warhawk

* Douglas Feith: did not serve.

* Eliot Abrams: did not serve.

* Richard Shelby: did not serve.

* Jon Kyl: did not serve.

* Tim Hutchison: did not serve.

* Christopher Cox: did not serve.

* Newt Gingrich: did not serve.

* Don Rumsfeld: served in Navy (1954-57) as flight instructor.

* George W. Bush: failed to complete his six-year National Guard; got assigned to Alabama so he could campaign for family friend running for U.S. Senate; failed to show up for required medical exam, disappeared from duty.

* Ronald Reagan: due to poor eyesight, served in a non-combat role making movies.

* B-1 Bob Dornan: Consciously enlisted after fighting was over in Korea.

* Phil Gramm: did not serve.

* John McCain: Vietnam POW, Silver Star, Bronze Star, Legion of Merit, Purple Heart and Distinguished Flying Cross. Remember how the Bush campaign trashed him in the Republican primaries in 2000?

* Dana Rohrabacher: did not serve.

* John M. McHugh: did not serve.

* JC Watts: did not serve.

* Jack Kemp: did not serve. "Knee problem, " although continued in NFL for 8 years as quarterback.

* Dan Quayle: Journalism unit of the Indiana National Guard.

* Rudy Giuliani: did not serve.

* George Pataki: did not serve.

* Spencer Abraham: did not serve.

* John Engler: did not serve.

* Lindsey Graham: National Guard lawyer.

* Arnold Schwarzenegger: AWOL from Austrian army base.


Pundits & Preachers  These are the flag-wavers and stalwarts of the "American Way"

* Sean Hannity: did not serve.

* Rush Limbaugh: did not serve (4-F with a 'pilonidal cyst.')

* Bill O'Reilly: did not serve.

* Michael Savage: did not serve.

* George Will: did not serve.

* Chris Matthews: did not serve.

* Paul Gigot: did not serve.

* Bill Bennett: did not serve.

* Pat Buchanan: did not serve.

* John Wayne: did not serve. (He was 34 when WW2 began for the US, made movies extolling the American spirit and willingness to make the soldier's ultimate sacrifice)

* Bill Kristol: did not serve.

* Kenneth Starr: did not serve.

* Antonin Scalia: did not serve.

* Clarence Thomas: did not serve.

* Ralph Reed: did not serve.

* Michael Medved: did not serve.

* Charlie Daniels: did not serve.

* Ted Nugent: did not serve. (He only shoots at things that don't shoot back.)

Information compiled by: Illinois State Sen. Howard W. Carroll  (Yes, he is a Democrat, but the information is still accurate!)
So, it seems the Democrats have numerous veterans and medal-winners, veterans of WW2, Korea and VietNam.   Undoubtedly, there were Republican Veterans, in years past, like Bob Dole, for instance, but they seem not to have risen to prominence in today's political arena.   Notice the pattern, those who wave the flag most furiously and claim to be "patriots" also never bothered to put words into action?  Those who have BEEN THERE are labelled "liberals" as a way to minimize them and marginalize their experiences.  Doesn't that remind you of the schoolyard bully, who "acted out", as psychologists say, because he was secretly envious of others, or perhaps might have been in the "closet" about his feelings for others of the same sex, or had been seriously abused at home.  Whatever the reason, the flag-wavers and the self-styled patriots have been careful to avoid military service, but are quick to delegate others to do their dirty work, and make the sacrifices.  Personally, I have come to agree with the well-known Sci-Fi writer, Robert Heinlein, who opined that citizenship, and the attendent right to vote, ought to be conditional on military service.  I think it could be made mandatory, like the Israelis do it, on a much shorter time span than the old draft and with the severe restriction on the military that these forces were NOT to be used to experiment on, or use as world peace-keeping forces, or any other use like VietNam or Iraq.  I think Trent Lott, Tom DeLay and Sean Hannity would ALL have VERY DIFFERENT points of view had they had the opportunity to walk down a few of the trails I, and a great many others, travelled in the late, unlamented Republic of VietNam!   Next time you hear Rush, or Sean, or Ann Coulter bad-mouthing the "liberals", you stop a minute to think JUST WHO it was in the trenches, jungles and deserts, ACTUALLY defending FREEDOM, and WHO stayed home.  We had a name for those who stayed home, it was JODY, as in "Jody's gonna get your girl", or even worse, less-flattering actions.  No one in the military had a very high opinion of those who were labelled Jody, and that goes for all those who today claim to be PATRIOTS, without any evidence of their having DONE ANYTHING patriotic!