Reply #28: I sent my email. Here it is: [View All]

[krispos42]

Dear Mr. Morin,

I apologize for not knowing the rank you retired from the Army with and thus not being able to address you properly. Your biography on the Legion's website does not mention it, and there is as of yet no Wikipedia article on you.

I am writing to take issue with your demand that Senator John Kerry apologize. I think maybe is time to put down the White House talking points and turn off Rush Limbaugh for a minute. They will both rot your brain, as evidenced by the fact that Limbaugh fans call themselves "dittoheads", eagerly submitting to unquestioning agreement and groupthink.

If you had seen and heard the comment prior to the now-famous quote that (decorated combat veteran) Sentator John Kerry said, you would have noticed that :

"You know, education, if you make the most of it, you study hard, you do your homework and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well. If you don't, you get stuck in Iraq."

flowed in a fairly consistant manner with the prior comment which was, incidently, about Bush, so that it's pretty clear who the last "you" refers to. You can hear people in the audience laughing and chuckling, not screaming in terror at being sent overseas. Remember Bush's gaff a few years ago when he said "We will not have an all-volunteer army" instead of "We will not have a draft" and the audience of Bush supporters just kind of froze? That didn't happen here, just a few giggles. Some poking around on CNN or www.crooksandliars.com should turn it up in its entirety

Taken strictly out of context, thinking it is talking about the troops is just simplistic. The soldiers are not 'stuck' in Iraq, they have been 'sent' there. Due to a variety of reasons, Bush and our nation are 'stuck' in Iraq, but our soldiers are not.

Furthermore, unlike Vietnam, there is (as of yet) no draft. It is my understanding that during Vietnam the draft system absorbed a disproportionate amount of the less-educated and less-monied. While the if-you-don't-study-you'll-get-sent-to-Iraq argument might be valid if there was a draft, there isn't one. The argument dead-ends there.

If it helps, you can mentally add "just like Bush has" after the word "Iraq".

It was intended as a light verbal jab at Bush, such is the case in politics, and is in fact much nicer than the "Defeat-o-crat" label that gets thrown around quite a bit. But there is a saying about jokes that if you have to explain it, it wasn't funny, and that was certainly the case here. It was written better than it was said.

Something like this happened about ten years ago. Clinton's Heath and Human Sevices Secretary Donna Shalala said "We sent not the best and brightest's sons to Vietnam. We sent men from small towns and rural areas, we sent kids from the neighborhoods I grew up in, and we exempted the children of the wealthy and of the privileged and is tore this country apart and we must never do that again."

This was mistakenly interpreted by several talk-show hosts as meaning "The best and brightest sons didn't go to Vietnam.", i.e., the stupid poor ones went over. Oliver North, G. Gordan Liddy, and Rush Limbaugh took umbrage at this; however after the quote was replayed, North and Liddy both agreed that there had been a misunderstanding and made public corrections immediately. Limbaugh, however, refused to correct himself, and one of his stafferes said about Shalala's misquoting "That's her problem".

Two months later, the Limbaugh Letter had Rush's take on it. See if you find the missing apostophe and letter 's':

"'We sent not the best and brightest sons sons to Vietnam.' This is the declaration on CNN's 'Capitol Gang' by Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala.... My friends, there is no better demonstration of the liberal view of the country than this. Ordinary American kids who fought and bled and died in Southeast Asia- or their parents- were too stupid to know any better. These were not the talented ones, the ones with great promise, the future national leaders, the coming movers and shakers. These were the mere working class, the patsies, the chumps, the losers."

That " 's " missing in the 7th word makse a hell of difference, huh? Especially since "The Best and the Brightest" is a 1972 account by David Halberstam about the origins and players of the Vietnam war, not about the infantry in the field, and Shalala was noting that the ones bleeding in Southeast Asia were not the children of those doing the sending.

People like Bush, the right-wing radio hosts, and various other conservative figures find is very useful to take the most politically advantageous spin on a quote or paraphrase and play it ad nauseum while not admit there are any other possible, plausable interpretations. Taking out of context is even better. They also enjoy omitting vital words in an argument, like Tom Sorwell of the National Review. He states:

"As regards the war on terrorism and the terrorists’ war against the west, Nancy Pelosi has opposed having international phone calls to and from terrorists monitored by American intelligence agencies."

Funny how he fails to mention "without a warrant", isn't it?

Well, I have taken up enough of your valuable time. Legion business is even more important now, with all of the new combat veterans being minted every day.

Take care of them. They deserve it.

Sincerely,

<name, city, state>

================
"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated; and no Warrants shall issue but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."
-The 4th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution

Si Hoc Legere Scis, Nimium Eruditionis Habes

Okay, there are a couple of misspellings and typos, so don't razz me about it! :-) I kept them in there for integrety's sake. This is the actual letter I sent him.