LAT column: Why aren't the Bush daughters in Iraq?

[Rose Siding]

Franklin Delano Roosevelt showed how the power of good example could also be powerfully good politics. When he led the country to sacrifice in World War II, his children enlisted and his wife traveled to military bases to counsel and comfort the families of soldiers. Newsreels showed the president's four sons fighting with the Marines in the Pacific, flying with the Army Air Forces in North Africa and landing with the Navy at Normandy. Soon other public figures followed suit — movie stars (James Stewart and Clark Gable) enlisted and sports heroes (Joe DiMaggio and Hank Greenberg) went off to war.

The contrast between FDR's good example during wartime and that of George W. Bush is stark and sad. The Bush family rallies to the political campaigns of its scions and spends months on the road raising money and shaking hands to put their men into public office. In fact, the public image of their cohesive family — the pearl-choked matriarch surrounded by progeny and springer spaniels — helped cinch more than one presidency for the Bushes. Yet now, when its legacy is most in peril, the family seems to be squandering its good will on a mess of celebridreck.

The president tells us Iraq is a "noble" war, but his wife, his children and his nieces and nephews are not listening. None has enlisted in the armed services, and none seems to be paying attention to the sacrifices of military families. Until Jenna's trip to Panama, the presidential daughters performed community service only when mandated by a court after they were cited for underage drinking. Since then they have surfaced in public during lavish presidential trips with their parents, bar-hopping outings in Georgetown and champagne-popping art openings in New York.

The first lady, so often lauded for her love of literacy, has not been seen in the reading rooms of veterans' hospitals. The president's sister, Doro, publicly picketed Al Gore's last days in the vice president's mansion as he awaited the Supreme Court's decision on the Florida recount of 2000. Yet she has been strangely absent from publicly supporting her brother's war.........more..........

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-kelley19mar19,0,737381.story?track=mostviewed-homepage

[Uben]

1. Same reason....

.....Bush didn't go to Viet Nam. COWARDS!

[Rose Siding]

2. Or is it because they know that when Jr says this is the Most Important War EVARRR,

it's a crock?

[TwilightGardener]

3. What a fantastic fucking family. How long until we have

French Revolution-type outrage at the Bushes, who only benefit and profit from their position of power, while the "little people" pay for the war, pay for the oil and sacrifice their own young?

[rocktivity]

4. I don't hold the Bush kids to a higher standard

If you don't think this war is worth fighting, then you shouldn't--that's your right and moral duty as an American citizen.
:patriot:

I mean, why assume that the Bush kids are just spoiled arrogant entitled brats? For all we know, they might believe that the occupation of Iraq is immoral, too!
:eyes:

(Dammit, I knew I couldn't say that with a straight face...)

:rofl:
rocknation

[verse18]

5. But the Bush twins DO think the war is worth fighting

because they support their idiot father. I say of to Iraq with ye!

[Marr]

6. I'll tell you exactly why.

I can think of three little jokes Bush has made that, I think, really highlight his character.

"You can fool some of the people all of the time, and those are the ones you need to focus on".

"Some people call you the elite. I call you my base".

"This would be a heck of alot easier if it were a dictatorship. So long as I'm the dictator."


I've had Bush fans tell me he was only kidding, but really- what sort of man would think these comments anything but disgusting? GW Bush apparently thought they were funny. And that's why his children aren't in Iraq. George considers himself to be of a higher class. He's a sort of aristocracy, above the stupid peons.

[havocmom]

7. They've been busy running errands to Latin America (eom)

[genie_weenie]

8. The call for the Bush family

to enlist has been ongoing for several years now. The reason, of course, is the same as why Chelsea isn't in Iraq.

Members of the ruling plutocratic class are too important to be wasted as grunts. They are being groomed to run the government and industry. There are plenty of poor cogs who can be induced into bondage through platitudes of duty and honor and gurantees of health & dental care.

http://www.buzzflash.com/editorial/05/08/edi05061.html

http://operationyellowelephant.blogspot.com/

[Rose Siding]

10. True. Still, I don't think I've seen it blasted this way in a major daily before

[BOSSHOG]

9. And why isn't karl rove's son in Iraq?

That fat prick worthless motherfucker was one of the great minds behind the clusterfuck war bush lied us into. But his son is too fucking good to serve his country? And the fucks with access to microphones have done nothing FOR our country.