This ain't Hell, but you can see it from here

Category: Veterans in politics

  • Jim Webb in 2016?

    Jim Webb in 2016?

    Webb for President

    Dave sends us a link to an article in The Hill in which the journalist, of sorts, opines on the candidacy of Jim Webb, the former Senator from Virginia hoping that he’ll jump into the race for the presidency next year.

    Jim Webb is a veteran. Period. I have his latest book, “I Heard My Country Calling” sitting here next to the computer. Unopened. His publicist sent it to me, uninvited a few months ago. I don’t like James Webb, veteran or not.

    That picture above is one that I took in 2007 soon after the birth of this blog. It was those Bethesda MoveOn doinks going to an anti-war protest soon after Webb snubbed President Bush in the White House – you know, why would you go to the White House and snub the president unless that was your intention from the beginning and you intended to make headlines by doing it.

    I don’t like President Obama much, but when I was in the White House, if he had made a gesture towards me, I wouldn’t have snubbed him – you know, out of respect for his office irrespective of his politics. You know, like we learned in the military, a lesson that escaped Senator Webb, apparently. But, on to The Hill’s article;

    Webb would be Hillary’s “worst nightmare.” Webb “takes on his party’s hawks.” Webb is the “anti-Hillary.” Webb can “beat Hillary.” And as the coyote pups begin their autumn chants here in the hills of chilly New Hampshire, Webb arrives tonight to give a little talk at St. Anselm College.

    […]

    After the Civil War, Walt Whitman sensed that we had come to dreams of world conquest and passage even across the universe; to Sirius and Jupiter and beyond. It will be a better time, Whitman promised, for then “the true Son of God shall come, singing his songs” and that is the promise of the millennium rising.

    Why Webb? Because for every thing there is a season and our seasons today demand a leader with a stout heart. That could be warrior scholar Jim Webb.

    I don’t know, there’s something about those veterans who become Democrats. You can name a bunch, I’m sure, who are reviled by the veteran community. Sure there are exceptions, but generally, they don’t look to help veterans as much as they seem to use their service towards a political end. It’s not because they’re not in my “club” (I’m a registered independent who is conservative) it’s because the party that they joined wants to screw veterans to the wall. Just look at the ways that they’re doing their best towards that end today, because veterans are a relatively small demographic compared to the others that Democrats claim to serve. We’re easier to screw in comparison, politically.

    I just don’t see how a veteran can join that crowd knowing that they care more about politics than they care about veterans and the issues that are important to veterans. It has nothing to do with their membership in my club and it has everything to do with the club that they joined.

    For the record, I have voted for Democrats in the recent past, but none of them were veterans.

    If Webb runs for president, I’ll probably read his book, but I still won’t vote for a veteran who is a Democrat, because those two things don’t go together, generally speaking.

  • Walsh and his political future

    Walsh and his political future

    John Walsh

    The other day, Hondo posted some links to news sources in Montana in regards to John Welsh, the Senate appointee seeking to be elected to that office in November. TSO sends us a link from Politico which reports that Welsh is contemplating stepping away from the ballot.

    Fueling speculation that he might quit the race, Walsh’s campaign canceled several events slated for this week, including a Tuesday evening fundraiser in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, according to the Bozeman Daily Chronicle. But based on interviews earlier Tuesday with a number of Montana Democrats, most of whom spoke anonymously to discuss the situation candidly, it was far from clear what Walsh was going to do.

    Of course, everyone is focusing on the charge that he plagiarized his thesis at the Army War College – I could give two shits about that. Yeah, he’s a liar and a cheater, but that’s not new among Senators – look at the Majority leader of the Senate. Walsh is a Democrat and he fits right in with the Elizabeth Warrens, the Richard Blumenthals, the Barrack Obamas.

    I want him out of the race because he blamed his lying and cheating on PTS. While it would be nice to have a veteran in the Senate, we don’t need one who is going to blame every lie on some condition that he made up. He even lied that he had been in “hundreds” of IED attacks, when he meant to say that he had been in one, but that he knew people who had been in others. In other words, he stole the valor of his own troops to make excuses for his own bad behavior. He needs to go down the road for that alone.

    But like Harkin, Warren and Blumenthal, Walsh probably won’t drop out of the race and the idiot voters will elect him. And then we’ll spend another few years reading in the Washington Post and Politico how there’s a growing divide between America and it’s warriors and the pointy-headed class will scratch their scraggly, pony-tailed noggins wondering “why”.

  • So, What Are They Saying in Montana?

    Wonder what they’re saying in Montana about Senator Walsh and his “unintentional mistake” of copying virtually verbatim around 25% of his War College final paper – including his conclusions – from other sources? As well as citing, but then lifting nearly word-for-word without indicating a direct quote, other sections? Well, let’s look:

    And even though it’s from Joliet, Illinois (Times Weekly) vice Montana, this editorial “gets it”:

     . . .

    So:  was cribbing that material instead of writing the paper yourself really worth it, Senator? “Oh, what a tangled web . . . . “

  • Another political attack on a veteran

    We talked the other day about the attack on gubernatorial candidate and Iraq veteran Anthony Brown by perfumed prince Doug Gansler and the attack on Tom Cotton by Mark Pryor in the Arkansas Senate race. Now, in Alaska, Democrat Mark Begich puts out the following ad against Marine and GWOT veteran Dan Sullivan who went to work for the Bush White House and was called to active duty for two years.

    Gansler, Pryor, nor Begich have any military service, and apparently, they don’t respect the service of their opponents, we can only guess at their opinions of their constituents’ service. Thanks to Chief Tango for the link to Breitbart.

    By the way, I can’t find any evidence of VoteVets supporting either Sullivan or Cotton, but VoteVets claims to be non-partisan. I asked them once if they had ever supported a Republican veteran for office and they said that they had once supported Chuck Hagel, however Chuck Hagel never ran for office after the founding of VoteVets, so…I guess the answer to my question would be ‘no’.

  • MD AG disparages opponent’s military service

    MD AG disparages opponent’s military service

    brown-uniform

    The current Maryland Attorney General Doug Gansler who is in a primary race with the Lieutenant Governor Anthony G. Brown went where he should not go these days. He told a crowd that “You know I’m running against somebody who has never managed anybody, never run anything. You know his ads are about how he was a lawyer in Iraq, and that’s all fine and good, but this is a real job.”

    Brown is a JAG Lieutenant Colonel with a tour in Iraq, whereas Gansler graduated from High School at trendy Sidwell Friends and attended Yale. Yeah, that’s his whole experience besides being a lawyer. According to the Washington Post;

    Brown had served five years of active duty in the U.S. Army and 10 years in the Army Reserve. He also had obtained a law degree from Harvard, worked four years at the Washington law firm of Wilmer Cutler & Pickering, and was elected to the House of Delegates representing a Prince George’s County district.

    And now Gansler has made me quote and agree with Jon Soltz of VoteVets;

    Jon Soltz, chair of VoteVets.org, a political action committee that endorsed Brown for governor, called the statement “slime ball politics.”

    “Doug Gansler needs to stop smearing those of us who served in Iraq as not having had a ‘real job,’” Soltz said in a statement. “It’s a horrible insult to all those men and women who put their lives on the line, and especially those who died, in service to this country. Additionally, Mr. Gansler, if he chooses to attack an Iraq War veteran, ought to at least admit that the person he is attacking has been serving as Maryland’s lieutenant governor. This kind of slime ball politics is what turns people off to our democratic process, so Mr. Gansler is doing no favors for Maryland or our democratic electoral system by playing in the gutter like this.”

    Soltz went on to demand an apology from Gansler.

    Of course, Soltz couldn’t help but remind us that he went to Iraq, too. And it was made easier because Brown is a Democrat. But, then so is Gansler. It wasn’t hard for me at all because Gansler is a giant pussy and he reminds me of someone else we all know from Montgomery County who waves his dick around hoping someone will salute him.

    AG_Gansler

    Dick. By the way, Gansler made the comment as Brown is rising past him in the polls. That’s all he has? Seriously? Maybe he should warn voters that Brown might have PTS and start gunning down people in the state’s capital. Pompous fuck.

    Did I mention that the State AG’s office is a broke dick piece of shit and Brown needs to clean the whole damn place out and put in some prosecutors who will do their jobs? Especially in Montgomery County, where Gansler screwed the pooch before he moved to his current job. I can name names if the new AG needs them.

  • LTC Ernst emerges as front runner in Iowa Senate race

    LTC Ernst emerges as front runner in Iowa Senate race

    Joni-Ernst

    Country Singer sends us a link to the Free Beacon which claims that Iraq War veteran and current battalion commander of the Iowa National Guard’s 185th CSSB, Lieutenant Colonel Joni Ernst has emerged as the front runner for the seat of phony Vietnam veteran Senator Tom Harkin;

    Ernst has 25 percent support among likely primary goers, followed closely by wealthy businessman Mark Jacobs with 23 percent. The other three candidates received less than 10 percent, while 40 percent are still undecided for the June 3 primary.

    […]

    Ernst told the Washington Free Beacon in an interview that a strong military “is a must in order to remain a world player.” Defense budget cuts known as sequestration could drain almost $1 trillion from the Pentagon in the next decade if they remain in place.

    “It’s especially important as we look at Syria, Iran, what has happened in Egypt, and North Korea, that we have a strong stamp whether it’s foreign policy or national defense,” she said.

    So, if you’re in Iowa, things might be looking up for your representation in the Senate after decades of being represented by a proven liar. By the way, according to AKO she’s branched as an LG officer – Logistics.

  • Shane Osborn for Senate

    You probably don’t recognize his name, you hardly remember the reason that you should – he was the pilot of the aircraft that a Chinese pilot damaged forcing the intelligence gathering aircraft to land in China. Osborn and 23 others were held and interrogated for 12 days by the Chinese. You know, back in the days before the war on terror. Well, Osborn is contemplating a run at the Senate seat for Nebraska, after continuing to fly operations in the war on terror. But, I’m all for him just on the basis of this one quote; “If I can take 12 days of communist Chinese interrogations, I can certainly handle Harry Reid on the Hill”.

    “It goes back to growing up with a single mom who ran the veterans’ home in Norfolk, Nebraska,” he said. “Hearing those veterans and their stories and then going on to serve in the Navy. There is a saying we have in the Navy, ‘Not on my watch.’ And I think that applies here. I refuse to sit back and watch this country decline.”

    Osborn, who also flew missions in Afghanistan, said he sees himself as part of a new generation of veteran leaders.

    “Over a decade, war has created a lot of leaders, and these people understand how the world is and they understand that everybody loves America, and they understand the importance of getting this country back on track,” he said. “That’s why you’re seeing veterans step up and realize they got to you know they’ve got to come out here and fix things in Washington, it’s not just overseas.”

    I’d like to see a conservative veteran from Nebraska finally. The last one was RINO Hagel.

    Thanks to the folks at ABC News for sending the link. There’s video of the story at the link.

  • Anger Understandable but Cool Headed Thinking Needed

    There’s a lot of understandable anger being expressed here at TAH and other military blogs about the treachery being enacted in Congress against the military community. Believe me, I agree that, once again, America has betrayed its military and the anger is righteous and expected. But as an old soldier in his seventies, I can assure you it’s nothing new. What concerns me, reading the comments here at TAH is the attitude by some of you who say the Republicans are equally responsible; yes, you are correct to a point insomuch as those Republicans we refer to as RINO’s are the ones who sided with the Democrats to stick it to you. But you should keep in mind that it was the most conservative Republicans in the House and Senate who opposed this move.

    I would only caution that those of you who see no difference between the two parties don’t throw out the baby with the bath water by deciding not to vote for Republicans in the future. Just make sure you vote for CONSERVATIVE Republicans. For those of you claiming political equivalence between Democrats and Republicans, I say, “Fine, vote for conservative Democrats if you can find any of that species which for all practical purposes is damned near extinct. And even if a Democrat is personally conservative, he’ll vote with the rest of the donkey herd because of peer pressure and party support at election time.

    As for the sentiment expressed by one commenter about not voting at all, not ever, that’s like throwing away all your weapons in a firefight, troop. It’s a sure way to help your side get overrun in the present battle and to insure your side never wins the war. If nothing else, your voting cancels out at least one vote cast by some low-information scumbag who’s definitely going to vote every chance he gets to make sure the political whores he votes for keep handing out the goodies and screwing the warriors out of what they’ve rightfully earned through blood and sacrifice. It’s a fact Jack that the best weapon you have in this fight is your vote so you should use it effectively as you would your primary weapon in battle: quit re-electing RINO’s because of their seniority and their ability to deliver pork. More importantly, get yourself and other military friends more actively involved in electing the right kind of politicians, conservatives with military backgrounds, the more service time the better.

    I know I can’t possibly be as angry as those of you who, along with your families, will directly suffer financially for this traitorous legislation. But I do have family actively serving who are career, with four deployments and another approaching, so I am understandably angry and intend to do my best to help get rid of the remaining Democrat senator in my state. That will be one less liberal Democrat in the Senate so it’s a step forward on the long march.

    Better yet, my guy is ex-infantry with two combat tours.