Again as dialogue not an attack
[QUOTE=Moore]It always seems silly to me when people claim that Bush was a draft dodging coward. It seems about as politcally relevant as the Monica Lewinski "scandal". Almost everybody tried to evade serving in Vietnam, which by the way is nearly 40 years ago. And the politicians that did go, like Kerry and Gore, seem to grossly exagerate their "combat" experience. Again, is this at all relevant? I don't think one had to have extremely stong contacts to "legitimately" get out of that war, and Bush definitely had them. I ask people like my dad, who served there, about the war and he'll tell you that he would have avoided it if possible. But he was basically a poor man and it was basically a poor man's war.[/QUOTE]My issue with Bush and the war is simple. He portrays himself as this tough talking fit kick your ass kind of guy. Willing to send another generation of poor sons to fight a pretty meaningless war (Afganistan I supported, Iraq I thought when we invaded and continue to think is a serious mistake) but was unwilling to do so himself. I'm a veteran and I agree that I probably would have done what I could to avoid Vietnam. But I don't dress up in flight suits for photo ops taking the glory from the Joes that did the work. I agree that his service is not relevant to the job at hand but the image that he cultivates really pisses me off.
I even agree that Gore would have made an abysmal President and Kerry was a poor pick. However attacking his war record was horrible, on par with attacking Max Cleland and saying he was unpatriotic. The swiftys were guys that felt he broke ranks upon his return and have nursed a grudge for a lot of years and leveled baseless and unprovable allegations against him. They were financed by an ultra right wing business man from Houston their only mission was to caste doubt by telling lies.
Again I would have avoided it if possible but stop acting like this warrior 40 years later. It's easy to be brave when somebody elses ass is on the line. All three of my Uncles that served in Vietnam went as volenters. It's their service I think he is shamed by. Three poor kids that believed in their country and answered the call.