Posted by
Jason on Tuesday, October 02, 2007 3:18:52 PM
The left has cooked up another imaginary scandal this week in a concerted effort to create the illusion that they support our troops, rather than conservatives. They seized the comments of Rush Limbaugh who was complaining about phony soldiers. I chronicled the damage of phony soldiers on my blog, too (In the Mold of Senator Kerry). They are cowards who lie about their military service or charlatans who lie about their experiences in combat zones. Jesse Adam Macbeth and Scott Thomas Beauchamp (the now debunked "Baghdad Diarist") personify the lies told by the left in order to dishonor the brave men and women who do serve in our military. Those were the scoundrels to which Rush was referring, and the left knows that.
But, the Dems are always looking for a new and exciting way to politicize our military. So with the help of their buddies in the media, they're attempting to manufacture a scandal. Now, Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), not wanting to miss an opportunity to pretend that he actually stands for something, has weighed in on the floor of the Senate (because the Dems apparently have nothing better to do in the Senate than attack Limbaugh), saying: "Now what's most despicable is that Mr. Limbaugh says these provocative things to make more money... Maybe he was just high on drugs again."
The greatest irony to all of this is that Harkin's defense of phony soldiers is really a defense of himself. Why? Harkin's claims of military valor (his entire basis for public service) have been debunked time and again. Here's a passage from the book "Stolen Valor: How the Vietnam Generation Was Robbed of Its Heroes and Its History:"
"During a 1992 bid for the presidency, Sen. Tom Harkin of Iowa claimed that he had served as a pilot in Vietnam... flying F-4s and F-8s on combat air patrols and photo-reconnaissance support missions. Challenged by Sen. Barry Goldwater, Harkin did a quick shuffle, claiming that he had actually flown combat sorties over Cuba during the sixties. Harkin finally admitted he had not seen combat but had served as a ferry pilot stationed in Atsugi, Japan, flying aircraft to be repaired from Atsugi to the Philippines. When pressed by reporters to explain how much time he really spent in Vietnam, Harkin estimated that over a year, he flew in and out of Vietnam a dozen or so times. But Harkin's military record showed no Vietnam service decorations. He finally conceded he had not flown combat air patrols in Vietnam and began describing himself as a Vietnam era vet."
No wonder he gets so defensive when people start criticizing phony soldiers!