So let me get this straight

[mnmoderatedem]

John Kerry, who served in Vietnam and legitimately was awarded Purple Hearts, has tea partiers wear purple heart band aids in a mocking tribute to his service and war wounds.

Tammy Duckworth, who lost both legs in Iraq and was awarded the Purple Heart, gets accused by her republican opponent of using her war wound disability as sympathy to garner votes.

Donald Trump, who was a child of priviledge and skirted military service altogether, gets given a Purple Heart which he has no fucking business whatsoever accepting, gets ohhs and ahhs from his supporters.

How do things get that freaking backwards?

[MrScorpio]

1. Wingers live in Bizarro World.

Up is down and so forth.

[jtuck004]

28. We all live in the same world. Else it wouldn't matter. n/t

[LongTomH]

42. You mean this world?

[True Dough]

2. Good recap

And I would add this one, whether you agree with John McCain's politics or not (and I think it's safe to say most of us here do not):

“He’s not a war hero,” said Trump. “He was a war hero because he was captured? I like people who weren’t captured.”

Don the Con proves his idiocy once more.

[JNelson6563]

3. Surely you meant to say "this is doubleplusgood"!

[SheriffBob]

4. Churchill said

a lie will go around the world twice before the truth is known.

[Wounded Bear]

23. Mark Twain said...

A lie will go around the world before the truth puts on its boots.

[malaise]

31. Precisely

One of his great lines

[baldguy]

5. "Things" didn't get backwards; RWers, Republicans and conservatives did.

[liberal N proud]

6. It makes your head hurt to think about it.

The republican world is a very bazar place where up is down (see Rudi Giuliani) and right is wrong and the Duck Dynasty crowd think that a fake billionaire with multiple bankruptcies is going to make America great again.

To create a list of things that the republicans are completely backwards on would take all year. It's as if they stepped into a mirrored universe and night is day.

https://vine.co/v/5Z6ZUliQAUU

[malaise]

32. Many of them are scoundrels

just like Don the Con. They want legitimacy so they too can enrich themselves.

[C_U_L8R]

7. And President Obama is blamed for Capt Khan's death

Even though it happened years before he was President.

The Republicans prove over and over that they're the party of bullshit and lies.

[Zing Zing Zingbah]

9. To them anyone that tells the truth is a liar...

Yep, they are from Bizarro world for sure.

[TNNurse]

8. Google Max Cleland

this is not new but certainly more widespread. If you read the Ann Coulter attack, unfortunately, you will not be surprised.

My dear mother who was a life long GA Democrat went to her grave still angry about how he was treated.

[Fast Walker 52]

11. indeed-- that was so freaking disgusting

I sent angry emails to him and every one in his campaign about that. Not one had the courage to respond.

[AwakeAtLast]

55. That's who I thought of.

The vitriol thrown at him was disgusting!

[SheriffBob]

60. he was swift boated

with outright lies.

[Fast Walker 52]

10. how freaking messed up to be do you have to be to give your Purple Heart to Trump?

that defies all commonsense and decency. Wingnuts. Oy.

[Dark n Stormy Knight]

38. I know, right. People are focusing on the fact that Trump accepted the purple heart,

but that cretin would not be where he is now if he didn't have legions of fucked up bigots supporting his every reprehensible act.

[3catwoman3]

56. IMO, that veteran disrespected his award by giving it to Trump.

And, the gracious thing for Trump to do would have been to thank the veteran for the thought, but decline to accept it.

Of course, graciousness and Trump are mutually exclusive.

[mainstreetonce]

12. I think the Purple Heart moment

was worse than the first Khan moment.

I think there should be a lot more outrage about a draft dodger holding up a Purple Heart.

[HughBeaumont]

20. There should be just as much outrage to the person who GAVE it to him.

Louis The Dorf Dorfman should be allowed to do what he wants with his medals, but this is just idiotic.

Trump exchanged a few words with Dorfman, who was wounded in action on Nov. 22, 2007, in the Iraq War. Trump recalled their discussion at the podium shortly after. “I said, ‘Lieutenant colonel, would you like to say something?’ He goes, ‘No sir, I’d like you to just keep saying what you’ve been saying.’ Seriously. He’s amazing.”

Simply stunning.

[niyad]

24. of course the man can do what he like with his medals, but maybe somebody ought to be

checking on him a bit more carefully.

[malthaussen]

13. IOKIYAR

It's Okay If You're A Republican.

-- Mal

[Ilsa]

14. Republicans hate wounded, captured, and dead military.

They have no respect for any soldier, sailor, airman (still
-man?), or guardsman unless they are able to fight.

The injured ones cost too much money for republicans, and are able to testify as to the ingloriousness of war.

[kairos12]

19. Truth is what you right. 100%

When a kid gets a pack of those green army men you don't see any with missing limbs or on a IV pole. Injured service personnel are shunted aside less the world see reality.

[BarbaRosa]

26. I think that was a lesson learned from the war in Viet Nam,

keep the horrors of war out of sight from the public eye.

[sarge43]

50. Still

Airman Basic
Airman
Airman First Class
Senior Airman

It's also the generic term for any member of an air force

Service men and women are only good for back drops or wall paper. Even fighting doesn't count, re Captain Khan.

[Ilsa]

52. Thanks. In so many other

Professions, the term "-man" has been replaced by something more gender neutral, and I know I haven't kept up.

[sarge43]

53. Never bothered me.

I never noticed any lack of a X chromosome

Airperson just doesn't fly (pardon the pun)

[spanone]

15. trump supporters are consumed with hatred.

[MynameisBlarney]

16. How did things get this backwards?

Well, the people that support trump are not terribly bright. They've been fed a steady hate, fear, outright lies and half-truths for 20+ years. That is a BIG part of it.

[merrifield]

18. Backwards indeed.

Another example: Michelle Obama wears a sleeveless dress and the right goes apeshit. Malenia Trump poses completely nude and.. . . . Crickets.

[jcgoldie]

17. It's mind boggling

But I don't think those douchebags called themselves tea partiers in 2004, I thought that was a reaction to having a black president.

[Politicub]

21. The GOP uses the troops only when it suits them

When they don't fit their warped worldview, they're all too eager to denigrate them. Makes me angry.

[63splitwindow]

22. By appealing to low-lifes with a single digit IQ and a head filled with hate.

[nolabear]

25. Not because of the facts, but because of the filters.

The filters are getting more and more narrow, shutting out more and more of the picture because people are afraid. The whole purpose of "conservatism" is to narrow those filters, to close out ways of thinking and acting that don't reinforce those filters. Political conservatism uses that for personal gain (as does liberalism in its own ways; let's not be naive about people wanting to get and keep jobs).

[Tommy_Carcetti]

27. And let's not forget Max Cleland. nt

[jtuck004]

29. Don't overthink it. Just look in that big mirror that reflects all of us.

We are not only our brother's keeper; in countless large and small ways, we are our brother's maker.

- Bonaro Overstreet

[63splitwindow]

43. I'll accept you are at fault. The rest of us, not so much.

[jtuck004]

48. ROFL

“The most monstrous monster is the monster with noble feelings”
― Fyodor Dostoyevsky, The Eternal Husband

[63splitwindow]

49. ...

[SwankyXomb]

30. Trump's not actually wearing it, is he?

Even he can't be that dumb.

[lpbk2713]

44. He would have no use for it.

Other than its photo op value.

[Fantastic Anarchist]

45. Wouldn't that be against the law?

[sarge43]

51. Technically yes, but Trump don't need no stinkin' laws. n/t

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

33. Al Gore who was wounded was mocked by ReThugs wearing bandaids...

John Murtha was called a coward by "Mean Jean" Schmidt.

Max Cleland had his face morphed into Osama bin Laden and has never been able to revive his political career since.

There has always been a double standard when it comes to Rethugs and Democrats.

More Democrats have served in Congress than Rethugs. And there are more veterans currently serving who are Democrats.

But for some reason, people do not care when Rethugs mock veterans who are Democrats for having served.

[GoCubsGo]

35. Actually, they mocked John Kerry with the bandaids.

But, they did try to minimize Al Gore's military service when he ran for president.

What they did to Max Cleland is unforgivable, and I will never cease to be appalled by the fact that Suxby Chambliss was not only elected in spite of his filthy tactics, but that they gave that shitstain not one, but two additional terms. Sickening.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

36. Oh yeah, that's right. The purple bandaids were horrible. And the flip flops were childish.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

34. Marketing

[Proud Liberal Dem]

37. IOKIYAR

[OneGrassRoot]

39. Are there examples...

of Democrats denigrating anyone's military service -- let's say in the last 30 years? I can't think of any, but the list is long for the reverse, as this thread shows.

[Cosmocat]

40. Yep

that is about right ...

[retrowire]

41. its called

Being fucking stupid

[mobeau69]

46. He was awarded a Silver Star, a Bronze Star and three Purple Hearts.

In addition to being a war hero, he's a good man and a great Secretary of State.

[RapSoDee]

59. That's why the Repubs hate Kerry. He showed true valor and honor.

And he spoke the truth about the lies that got us embroiled in Vietnam. Republicans cannot abide his personal integrity and bravery, for it casts their fake piety, fake 'conservativism' and fake heroism in the hard light of reality.

[Initech]

47. Because Republicans say they're going to support the troops.

In actual reality, when it comes to actually supporting the troops, there's no unit of measurement created to accurately show just how little of a shit they give. Especially if it goes against their script.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

54. Pukes are exactly like the third grade bully clique.

No matter what you do, we hate you.
No matter what we do, it's just peachy.

[progree]

57. Let's not forget G.W. Bush, who honorably served his country in the military (sigh)

His father pulled strings to get him in the Texas Air National Guard that had little chance of seeing combat duty. And even then he went AWOL and somehow never completed his tour of duty.

But he is regarded by a grateful American media as having honorably served his country (and Dan Rather gets canned)...

Meanwhile John Kerry volunteered for perhaps the riskiest Navy duty there was in the Vietnam War (with the possible exception of naval aviators) -- swift boats that went up and down the rivers of Vietnam. And gets wounded and gets Purple Hearts.

But the dominant media narrative was that Kerry's military service was sort of a joke, while Bush's service, while not spectacular, was still serving his country in the military.

[RapSoDee]

58. Republicans don't really give a shit about veterans

They just like to USE veterans and "patriotism" as marketing gimmicks, and Trump the new Republican Chickenhawk in Chief is a prime example of that hypocrisy and cynicism.