So Hannity, Limbaugh, Beck, and all the usual suspects claim that the Corps of Cadets was "cool" ...

[11 Bravo]

to President Obama last night. Their hypothesis is that the military does not respect the Commander-in-Chief. Here's a different perspective.
If, in a different reality, I had once been a 21 year-old warrior-in-waiting, I too might have preferred a more swaggering, tough-talking C-in-C. Perhaps, God help me, something along the lines of "Bring it on!"
But you see, by the time I was 21, I had already been to war. I had watched friends die, dug through steaming piles of meat searching for a dog tag, and been wounded twice. When I was 21 I had seen enough swagger to last me a lifetime.
I would like to think that when the young men and women at West Point last night have the time to reflect, perhaps even years from now, upon what they heard last night; they will be grateful that they were commanded by a man who preferred reflection and thoughtfulness to faux-cowboy bullshit. A man who sent them to war, not because of unresolved mommy issues, but because he felt it was a necessary evil.
But that's just me.

[AlinPA]

1. Just before the speech I watched CSPAN.org and there was a pre-speech event at which

an officer told the cadets that they were not to display any signs pro or con on the speech and that their duty is to listen to the CIC or some words to that effect. So the assholes on Fox and elsewhere are inventing that crap and the assholes watching it believe it.

[TheCowsCameHome]

2. Everything Bush ever attended was as phony as his presidency

These RW shills have no room to badmouth anyone.

[tularetom]

3. These guys military experience is limited to playing with their toy soldiers

Your opinion carries a million times the weight of any chickenhawk. As far as I'm concerned anyway.

Tom (12 Bravo - Old MOS)

[alstephenson]

4. Excellent post.

Thanks for your service.

[Occulus]

5. The only Cadets I know of that are "cool" are

The Cadets.

Maybe Beck et al were talking about them instead :shrug: