The "Anti-Military Right" is Back

[Pirate Smile]

"People like you caused us to lose that war."

--Ann Coulter, to disabled Vietnam Vet on MSNBC some years back.

Digby's right, the anti-military right is back.

http://atrios.blogspot.com/2005_08_14_atrios_archive.html#112402874400510530

"The Latest

I know this isn?t going to popular on this website, but may I just point something out?

A soldier?s #1 job is to stay alive. If you die, you can?t accomplish the mission, and you weaken your team and put your buddies in danger.

Obviously Sheehan?s son, I forget his name at the moment, didn?t die on purpose, and he may well have have had no control over the circumstances that let to his death.

BUT.

In war, there are no excuses. You find a way to stay alive, whatever it takes ? if you?re a good soldier. Sheehan?s son didn?t do that. He paid the price. but he als failed the mission and let down his buddies.

As a soldier, he was a failure. He was brave (maybe), but he was also incompetent.

So, really, how much exactly are we supposed to grieve over this guy? Isn?t a certain amount of disapproval in order for the guy ? and by extension his mom, for making such a fuss over a person who was, in the last analysis, by definition a loser?

So shouldn?t Mrs. Sheenhan be showing a little more shame about the situation and maybe not wanting to get her son and his shortcoming splashed all over the media?

Something to consider, anyway.


I shouldn't have stolen that from Andrew's comment section, but I needed to get it out there. To start the meme. To provide the right with the argument they've been waiting for.

I've been thinking for a while that we might be seeing the beginning of a new trend in American politics --- the anti-military right. Rush is calling marines "pukes," veterans are being called cowards and fakers, disabled vets are mocked for not having the right wounds or getting them in the right way, GOP hags are wearing cute little "purple heart" bandaids on their cheeks. People are selling busts of the president using his lack of combat experience as a selling point saying outright that physical courage is no longer particularly worthy of conservative approbation. Being a veteran buys you no credibility and no respect in today's Real Murika.

This is how they transform Chickenhawkery into a badge of courage.

I suspect that what we are hearing (aside from the self-loathing fidgeting of those who loudly beat wardrums yet are too selfish to serve) is the distant rumblings of a massive rightwing frustration with the military's inability to just "win" this damned thing so we can move on to our next country. It was supposed to be a cakewalk. They are reading things like this and seeing red:

Administration officials have all but given up any hope of militarily defeating the insurgents with U.S. forces, instead aiming only to train and equip enough Iraqi security forces to take over the fight themselves.

<...>

Top Pentagon officials have made no secret in recent weeks of their eagerness to begin withdrawing some troops to ease the strain of lengthy deployments. At the same time, military commanders have cautioned against expecting that Iraq's new army and police forces will develop quickly enough to operate on their own within another year or two.

"It's a race against time because by the end of this coming summer we can no longer sustain the presence we have now," said retired Gen. Barry R. McCaffrey, who visited Iraq most recently in June and briefed Cheney, Rice and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. "This thing, the wheels are coming off it."

But none of this can't be Dear Leader's fault. He's the man with the real courage.

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2005_08_07_digbysblog_archive.html#112397669655412143