Has Pat Buchannon ever been in the military he has a LOT to say about the military

[bigdarryl]

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. Nope.

He was in ROTC but was 4F during Vietnam. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_Buchanan

[bigdarryl]

2. Figures another big mouth Conservative

[Joe Bacon]

14. Did V D keep Pat out of the draft?

http://www.realchange.org/buchanan.htm#draft

Despite his harsh pro-Vietnam War rhetoric, Pat Buchanan never served, in war or in peace. The reason why has always been murky - we've read or been emailed that he had flat feet, was wall eyed (the opposite of cross-eyed), or had an arthritic knee. Buchanan himself said that in 1960, when he was 21, the draft board rejected him because he had Reiter's syndrome. What's that, you ask? It's a form of arthritis usually caused by chlamydia, a venereal disease (at least in America. In third world countries, a form of dysentery is the most common cause.)

When pressed, a Buchanan aide said that if, indeed, sexual contact is the only way to get Reiter's, Buchanan would never have admitted it. That's an honest if cynical response, but it assumes that Buchanan knows what causes Reiter's. He also could have had chlamydia for years, even to this day, without knowing it; chlamydia often has no symptoms, especially in men. Notice also that this aide's statement is not a denial. The Buchanan campaign has refused to confirm or deny whether Pat has had chlamydia or any other venereal diseases.

Gee, who ever thought Pat was a lover, not a fighter??????

[The_Casual_Observer]

3. He talks about a lot of things he knows nothing about. He was

a half ass speech writer at one time.

[Virginian]

4. I find it strange that he is for the surge.

He was one of the very few Republicans against the Iraq war from day one. He was on an MSNBC show with Bill Press called Buchanan and Press in '03. I think the show was canned because both of them were against the war. There was no Crossfire. They weren't arguing about it.

[Lord Byron]

5. To be fair

The situation in Iraq today is different from the situation under Saddam Hussein. Buchanan has always been a (paleo)conservative. His cause can coincide with the progressive view, but sometimes it diverges.

This is my first post. I've lurked on here for months and I've noticed that you guys can be kind of harsh on the new guy. Hope that doesn't happen to me.

[Daylin Byak]

6. Lord Byron

I welcome you to this great board of ours, hope you have a great time here.

[Lord Byron]

7. Thanks Daylin. N/T

[5thGenDemocrat]

23. Welcome to DU

Now I don't have to be the only poster here with an LBJ avatar.
John
Over 7000 posts, but mostly a lurker my own self these days.

[calimary]

11. Welcome to DU, milord!

Good to have you weighing in. Perhaps we're hard on newcomers - those, I'm guessing, who waffle on issues and debate points that we've been haggling about, over and over and over (with little satisfaction, either, I might add - until November 7th, 2006), for a long time. It's been awfully frustrating being out of power for the past several miserable years. It does make one a little cranky.

:hi:

[Lord Byron]

12. Thanks calimary!

[emulatorloo]

8. It appears to me that Pat only believes about Half of what he says

the other 50% is him trying to earn his salary as a paid MSNBC defender of the nutty stuff bush says and does.

He is almost to the point of contradicting himself in a single sentence. One half what pat believes, one half what he is paid to say.

[Lord Byron]

9. Probably true

It would be great if he ran though. He'd damage the nominee-to-be just like he wrecked Bush I's candidacy in 92.

[Skittles]

18. YES

like he is NOT COMFORTABLE being a conservative whore

[MiniMe]

10. Good Lord he was whiney tonight.

If he had said "Bush deserves his chance, he admitted he made mistakes" one more time...

So he finally admitted it, why should that mean he can ruin more soldiers lives.

[HardWorkingDem]

13. Before Vietnam against jogging, after Vietnam avid jogger....

Ole Pat is actually a study in health miracles. Before the Vietnam war he had bad knees, but after it was all over he became quite the avid middle age fan of jogging.

Medical research has shown, if you don't get killed in your generation's war of choice, that someday you might live to learn to like jogging and bad comb overs.

Go, Pat, Go.

[fuzzyball]

15. Do you have to be sick to be an effective Doctor?

By the same token being a foot soldier or a fighter pilot
does not infuse you with military strategy and leadership qualities.

[retread]

16. Fighting war is like practicing medicine?? Also, there are those small details

called "medical school" and "residency."

[fuzzyball]

21. The best generals seldom come from actual combat experience...

They are usually highly intelligent, excellent strategists
and have deep knowledge of history and the enemy.

Again my POV is that you don't need to have served in the military
to understand geo-political situations.

[Vickers]

19. Doesn't it strike you as odd that many Repukes are all gung-ho

about the military, but were never actually *in* the military?

[fuzzyball]

20. Yes, I have noticed that trend....how can one not notice?

None of the bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld kids have been
in Iraq.

[Jennicut]

17. Pat sometimes acts like he detests Georgie and other times defends him when no one else will

He is wrong about not leaving Irag, he thinks it will cause a collapse of the gov and we can't look bad by leaving. I think it goes back to when Nixon thought the same thing about Vietnam. Pat was wrong then and is wrong now. However, he hardly likes Georgie. Thinks he is a bit of an idiot if you listen to some things he has said. He regularly shows up on Countdown and seems liked by Keith. He is an ultra conservative but not a neo con. I find him amusing at times if not monotone. His sister is a real b-tch though. Can't stand her.

[Chemical Bill]

22. Here's a good resource:

http://www.awolbush.com/whoserved.html

The rest of the site is good too.

Bill