Winter Soldier Syndrome
The tale of Army Private Scott Thomas Beauchamp, the discredited “Baghdad Diarist” for the discredited New Republic magazine, is an old tale:
Self-aggrandizing soldier recounts war atrocities. Media outlets disseminate soldier’s tales uncritically. Military folks smell a rat and poke holes in tales too good (or rather, bad) to be true. Soldier’s ideological sponsors blame the messengers for exposing anti-war fraud.
Beauchamp belongs in the same ward as John F. Kerry, the original infectious agent of the toxic American disease known as Winter Soldier Syndrome. The ward is filling up.
U.S. military investigators concluded this week that Beauchamp concocted allegations of troop misconduct in a series of essays for The New Republic. “The investigation is complete and the allegations from PVT Beauchamp are false,” Major Steven Lamb, a spokesman for Multi National Division-Baghdad, told USA Today. The New Republic is standing by Beauchamp’s work. But Michael Goldfarb, online editor and blogger at The Weekly Standard who first challenged Beauchamp’s writing, reported Monday that Beauchamp had “signed a sworn statement admitting that all three articles he published in The New Republic were exaggerations and falsehoods — fabrications containing only ‘a smidgen of truth,’ in the words of our source.”
To illustrate the soul-deadening impact of war, Beauchamp had described sitting in a mess hall in Iraq mocking a female civilian contractor whose face had “melted” after an IED explosion. “I love chicks that have been intimate — with IEDs,” Pvt. Beauchamp claimed he said out loud in her earshot. “It really turns me on — melted skin, missing limbs, plastic noses.” Beauchamp recounted vividly: “My friend was practically falling out of his chair laughing. The disfigured woman slammed her cup down and ran out of the chow hall.” It wasn’t true. After active-duty troops, veterans, embedded journalists and bloggers raised pointed questions about the veracity of the anecdote, Beauchamp confessed to The New Republic’s meticulous fact-checkers that the mocking had taken place in Kuwait— before he had set foot in Iraq to experience the soul-deadening impact of war.
Military officials in Kuwait tried to verify the incident and called it an “urban legend or myth.” Beauchamp’s essays are filled with similarly spun tales. How much of a bull-slinger was Beauchamp, an aspiring creative writer who crowed on his personal blog that he would “return to America an author” after serving (which he told friends and family would “add a legitimacy to EVERYTHING I do afterwards”)? The very first line of his essay “Shock Troops,” which opened with the melted-face mockery, was this: “I saw her nearly every time I went to dinner in the chow hall at my base in Iraq.”
“Nearly every time.” At “my base in Iraq.” Complete and utter bull.
Defenders of The New Republic, a left-leaning magazine infamously duped by another young and ambitious fabulist, Stephen Glass, say the Beauchamp saga has been 1) blown out of proportion; 2) perpetuated by sloppy, rumor-mongering bloggers; 3) used as a distraction from the troubles in Iraq; and 4) exploited by “chickenhawks” who deny that war atrocities happen.
But the truth is, you won’t find a single Bush Kool-Aid drinker among the military bloggers, embedded independent journalists, and active-duty troops who prominently questioned the Beauchamp sham. They know it ain’t all going swimmingly overseas. But unlike Pvt. Beauchamp, they’re committed to telling the whole truth about the war, not just approximations and embellishments that will score easy magazine gigs and future book deals with elite New York City publishers. The doubters of Scott Thomas know atrocities when they see them. But, unlike the TNR editors, they know steaming bull dung when they smell it.
http://www.youtube.com/v/M7_Si6JYUI8
Ever since John Kerry sat in front of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and accused American soldiers of wantonly razing villages “in fashion reminiscent of Genghis Khan,” the Left has embraced a small cadre of self-loathing soldiers and soldier wannabes willing to sell their deadened souls for the anti-war cause.
Think Jimmy Massey, the unhinged Marine who falsely accused his unit of engaging in mass genocide against Iraqis.
http://www.youtube.com/v/ia_003j9nZg
Think Jesse MacBeth and Micah Wright, anti-war Army Rangers who weren’t Army Rangers.
http://www.youtube.com/v/5Pmg2Pr4SkA
Think Josh Lansdale, the anti-war Army medic who attacked former GOP Sen. Jim Talent by spinning a bogus health care tale swallowed whole by Dem Sen. Claire McCaskill, Gen. Wesley Clark and the far Left VoteVets.org crew.
http://www.youtube.com/v/5XX7R-MjFzI
Think Amorita Randall, the NYTimes-championed former naval construction worker who told the Times magazine that she served in Iraq, was in a Humvee that blew up, and was raped twice while serving in the Navy–but, in fact, had never served in Iraq.
Winter Soldier Syndrome will only be cured when the costs of slandering the troops outweigh the benefits. Exposing Scott Thomas Beauchamp and his brethren matters because the truth matters. The honor of the military matters. The credibility of the media matters.
Think it doesn’t make a difference? Imagine where Sen. John Kerry would be now if the Internet had been around in 1971.
***
More:
Scott Johnson at Power Line points to another Winter Soldier Syndrome candidate profiled in, you guessed it, The New Republic.
See what others have said
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- Bill's Bites >> 2007.08.08 Long War // Dhimm Perfidy Roundup
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- Jay Reding.com - Buried
- scott thomas-dot-us » A letter to the Senate: The Emo Soldier Investigations
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- Ed Driscoll.com
- Hot Air » Blog Archive » Winter Soldiers and other thoughts
- Random-American - News, Comments, and the Rantings of an Ordinary Citizen » Fake and Inaccurate
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swj719AWG:
I may be wrong, but according to the article and overall, it seems Joe Darby didn’t himself goto the media at any point. I believe it was leaked some other way.
SWJ- you hit the nail on the head.
The war is not about a popularity contest or $400.00 haircuts!!!! It’s about doing your duty. If a service member wants to speak up that’s fine. However, Senator Kerry better not try to feed me a load of B.S., by telling me he didn’t do his duty by reporting a “free fire zone”. How about acting like a Naval Commissioned Officer and not Mr. Popular.
Note to Michelle Malkin:
If you do not pass your stories through the troll network for approval, you are not a journalist and deserve the criticism from said troll network.
Note to Michelle Malkin Part II:
I like your choices for heros better!
That ends my suck up post for the day!
And then the right wing blogosphere reacted to the media’s antics which consisted of…
1) Trying to pin it on Bush and Rummy as their approved torture methods
2) Not pointing out that the Army was taking these allegations seriously and was court martialing people.
3) Running the story everyday on the NY Times front page for more than a month…. perspective matters. Did the NY Times do that for 9/11 for goodness sake?
Yes it is inconsistent, because the example you used is a soldier who did NOT use the proper approach and obey the rules by going up the chain of command.
Regarding the Abu Grab*ss whistle bloweer, he was not shunned by the military but rather by his own hometown. These actions were perpetrated by members of a Reserve unit. Reserve units are formed from citizens in the surrounding communities which means everybody knows everybody. It explains why England was carrying on an affir with the other guy and getting pregnant by him even though he was married. it explains all the videos and pictures of the members of this unit, that didn’t make it to the front page of the NYTimes showing them in, shall we say, questionable behavior with each other. The guy who kicked over this ant hill was turned out by his community for exposing far more then the frat party at the prison.
Regarding the Winter Soldiers, most of the people caught on tape and presenting the evidence had either never served or never been to Vietnam, yet it is to this day presented as truth and factual. A lot of the people featured have since then recanted but it matters not.
That is why it is important to not let lies stand. Too many people with too much ignorance of things military related choose to believe these types of stories.
But that is what you get when less then 1% of the population serve in the military.
pressto, see Zero#90 post.
Why has Kerry never been brought up on purgery charges for his little speech in front of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee???
MikeB:
If your point is that whistle-blowers that follow the proper guidelines, chain-of-command et al. deserve respect, I agree with you.
If you are trying to represent someone like Joe Darby being shunned by the guys and gals he exposed as something wrong with the military or right-wing bloggers;
OR
if you are trying to say that “winter-soldier” types deserve respect simply for being soldiers;
those points I don’t agree with.
Ummm, my first guess is he is not Rebublican. If he were, the Dimocrats would make sure he was flogged and left for dead at Gitmo (where Republicans belong – not terrorists).
On-my-soap-box said:
On August 8th, 2007 at 12:11 pm,
Mr_Conservative_Cat said:
We get enough of their hateful rhetoric in the physical world – let’s ignore them here.
Ignore who!
Mike B and the couple of other troublemaking far-left libs here clearly out to cause trouble and simply confuse the exchange and expression of anything resembling intelligent political conversation, of course. And here we have a nother thread in which a couple of malicious troublemakers spin and throw around mistruths like snow in a storm and, understandibly, people take the bait. After all the direct insults Mike B has hurled at Michelle, I’m ansolutely dumbfounded that the administration of this board allows him to stay, not just for Michelle’s sake, but for the sanity of the rest of this board. Like concervatives don’t have to deal with the insanely dishonesy left the rest of the time!
LOL – it wasn’t a question but an agreement / confirmation.
The MSM uses these “winter soldiers” to further their agenda. When they are discredited and proven to be frauds, there is no mention of it again. No retractions or apologies are made. They just move on to the next anti-Bush story. They did the same thing when the accuser in the Duke lacrosse case was discredited. They ruined those men because the story fit a profile. When it wasn’t true, they made no apologies or retractions. Where is journalistic integrity?
To the DK trolls, life ain’t fair, take it or leave it. You’re not going to be woken by a kiss from your fairy prince. Islamic extremists are still going to try to kill us tomorrow. Ms. Malkin provides coverage on issues that don’t see the light of day in the mainstream press. The stories you’re whining about are already covered there ad nauseam. Grow up and go home.
Agreed! Didn’t Time do a front page story of these guys that made the whole world look at them as rapists?
Again and again the MSM dose these stories to scoop the other “news” (tongue-in-cheek) outlets. What was it Hitler said – something like:
The bigger the lie the easier it is to get the people to believe. (paraphrasing at best ‘cause I just don’t want to google it).
It can work if everyone maintains the discipline. I experience it myself on another of my favorite blogs where mischief perpetrated by commie canucks is monitored. Not much senses of humor from what I can see.
Michelle’s compilation is excellent, however there was one really big one that keeps getting missed.
During the TANG C-BS document scandal, Col. Ollie North was on Hannity&Colmes one night talking about something GungaDan did on 60minutes in 1988. Dan had interviews with 3 or 4 guys who were said to be involved in the “Tiger Force” special ops in Vietnam. They were full of horrifying tales of how they snuck into South Vietnamese villiages and massacared 50-100 civilians at a time, left there dismembered bodies piled up like cordwood and then planted evidence to blame it all on the Vietcong, to turn the population of the south against the communists. This was their story.
Ollie, of course, smelled a rat with these guys. He began to investigate these men and their claims, and determined that not one of them were where they said they were. None were special forces, only one was even in theater at the time, but he was a stockboy at a supply base, not combat duty at all. These guys were tools of the anti-military propaganda efforts of the left. Those atrocities did take place, but were the Vietcong punishing villiages that cooperated with U.S. forces. The left tried to blame our special ops for it instead, to “stop the war”.
Of course Dan Rather was happy to put them on prime time TV years later, and not challenge anything they said. Ollie proved they were liars, and 60minutes were all too happy to spread their lies to support their own ideological agenda.
This incident should be added to the list and not forgotten, because it was one of the worst, right up there with John F’n Kerry’s Cambodian Adventures.
Anyone else remember that?
Dan “there not real but not inaccurate” Rather, I remember all to well.
Sounds like a make believe cartoonish (redundant, I know) story! Oh, sorry, it was. (That was redundant and sarcastic all at once. I need to see a Doctor).
Daily Kos calls Jim Webb a “coward”
Brian72 – I don’t recall that – but probably because of the election being close and all that I didn’t look for it…
Although, you would think that if the initial reporting deemed all that to be a story – the subsequent debunking of such wild claims portrayed by a major newsman would make national headlines….
But who on the left would credit Ollie with it?
Conservative Cat: Give it up. I am here for the duration. The “deciders” on this site have seen fit to keep me here. Plus, I am insulted by you and others much more than I insult Michelle Malkin (who said “O’Rourke was as flat a Lara Flynn Boyle’s chest”).
Balava: Nothing surprising there…. the far left will demonize and feed on their own over the smallest disagreement.
There is no dissention allowed by the far-left.
And this is the party of ‘inclusion’ and tolerance? This is the party that asks us all to be open to other people’s views and lifestyles?
As more and more of these layers come off – the sting of daylight will show them for who they truly are – and they will NOT gain or hold onto leadership powers for long.
Umm….Mike….Lara Flynn Boyle’s chest IS flat….
General Petraeus on Alan Colme’s show (transcript provided)
LFB’s chest is NOT FLAT for her height. But even if it were, you don’t think MM could have came up with a better analogy, like O’Rourke was as flat as a brain scan of Sean Hannity.
JRL you asked for it:
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://images.askmen.com/galleries/actress/lara-flynn-boyle/pictures/lara-flynn-boyle-picture-1.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.askmen.com/women/galleries/actress/lara-flynn-boyle/picture-1.html&h=490&w=376&sz=50&hl=en&start=1&tbnid=IyiPx-SMGxNQcM:&tbnh=130&tbnw=100&prev=/images%3Fq%3DLara%2BFlynn%2BBoyle%26gbv%3D2%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DG
What the heck does height have to do with it – face it – you’re wrong….
Ooooh there’s a big surprise.
NEXT!
( Methinks MikeB’s got a thing for LFB )
Sure sounds like it to me…
FLB will never hold a candle to MKH…
*swoons*
LFB, even…
Good God – this is fair & balanced:
(Emphasis Mine)
COLMES: The surge strategy has been referred to by some as the Petraeus Doctrine and when you and Ambassador Ryan Crocker report to Congress on September 15, IT WOULD BE UNLIKELY FOR YOU TO REPORT THAT YOUR OWN STRATEGY ISN’T WORKING, RIGHT?
So, Alan is suggesting that the highly respected and unanimously confirmed General Petraeus would lie to Congress, a crime, just to paint a rosy picture of his own strategy implementation.
Nice, one, Skeletor….
Okay Michelle. MikeB posted nude pictures on YOUR site. Lose the bet and bump him.
P.S. MikeB ahs, once again, taken the thread off topic.
Oh, and let me correct myself before I get corrected. MikeB posted links of nude pictures.
That was pretty tacky – and I’ve been a MikeB defender at times….
A bit out of line and off topic to post that kind of link …
Hahaha…..Alan Colmes IS Skeletor!!!!
For those of you in Rio Linda…..
http://www.krosis.com/imgs/art/full/skeletor.jpg
skeletor.jpg (JPEG Image, 768×1024 pixels) – Scaled (65%)
There is no defense for MikeB.
Worst kind of troll. Insults MM with his first post in each thread. Makes arguments that are easily refuted by Jethro Bodine (6th grade education). When refuted, he then takes the post off topic.
As for the topic of the day, thank God Michelle is here and willing to do the kind of work it takes to keep us all informed about sleazoids like Beauchamp.
If Colmes is really Skeletor, then Hannity must be He-Man, right? (besides being blonde)
http://www.geocities.com/persephonyfalling/heman.jpg
heman.jpg (JPEG Image, 348×350 pixels)
I remember when there were “(John) Kennedy)” democrats and Reagan republicans. We now have “(George W.) Bush” republicans and “Beauchamp” democrats.
I think I’ll stick with the Gipper and the Dub.
I was wondering why Michelle did not mention the democratic debate last night, but then I remembered that nobody watched it.
I hope people can live with themselves knowing that somewhere puppies and kittens are crying and the President doesn’t care because he is preoccupied with trying to save American lives.
http://blacktygrrrr.wordpress.com/2007/08/08/puppies-and-kittens-are-cryingblame-the-president/
Respectfully,
eric
MikeB has worn out his welcome. Let the record show that I bent over backwards to allow his dissenting opinions. There is no room here, however, for incessant abuse. Buh-bye.
Now, let’s stay on topic. Thanks.
Blacktygrrrr – that is beautiful….
I think if my tv had the ability to provide conservative text instead of just English, Spanish & French… that would be EXACTLY what came across my screen last night!
Bravo!
Buh-bye, Mikey!!!
I don’t think Mikey likes it.
swj719AWG:
You say there is “PILES” of protection for whistleblowers? Oh yeah? And where are these piles located? I’m here to tell you there are no protections for whistleblowers, that’s why there is current legislation pending in Congress called the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act –– which WILL give whistleblowers adequate protection.
You also stated that the first thing a would-be whistleblower should do is talk to their supervisor and use their chain of command. I’m here to tell you that is exactly what a would-be whistleblower should NOT do.
The current Whistleblower Protection Act is very clear who can accept a whistleblower complaint: Members of Congress, Congressional committees, Office of Special Counsel, Office of Inspector General, agency’s Office of Professional Responsibility or equivelant internal affairs office, or any other agency authorized to investigate complaints of gross mismanagement, abuse of authority, waste, fraud and abuse, Prohibited Personnel Practices, or any violation of law, rule, or regulation.
No where in the law does it recommend or authorize a whistleblower to file a complaint with his supervisors or use the chain of command –– be it a civilian employee or a member of the military. If you do, you will not be protected under the Whistleblower Protection Act (what little protection there is anyway).
Now on the other hand, the law doesn’t authorize a whistleblower to file a complaint with the media either, and in this aspect, I will agree with you.
But… what does an employee do when they do follow the law and file a complaint with their agency Office of Inspector General, and the complaint is buried because of the good-old-boys club and they have friends in your agency?
What does an employee do when they file a complaint with the Office of Special Counsel and they “have no finding of wrongdoing” because, well because that’s what OSC does in 99.9% of their cases –– after all, the Special Counsel himself is employed in an Executive Branch agency and works at the pleasure of the President. Hmmm, conflict of interest you think?
So what does an employee do when he exhausts all remedies afforded to him by law and the bureaucracy conveniently dismisses his complaint and subsequently partakes on a campaign to destroy the whistleblower’s life and credibility?
I’ll tell you what he does –– He goes to the media.
Want some examples?
• FBI Whistleblower Colleen Rowley
• FBI Whistleblower Sibel Edmonds
• NSA Whistleblower Russ Tice
• DIA Whistleblower Lt. Col. Tony Shaffer
• FAA Whistleblower Bogdan Dzakovic
• DOE Whistleblower Joe Carson
• FAMS Whistleblower Robert MacLean.
Ask any one of these individuals just how effective going to their supervisors and using their chain of command was. Ask them about all the whistleblower protections they were promised.
Mike:
DLTDHYITBOTWO
Back on topic, Dean Barnett has reaction to Howard Kurtz on the TNR scandal over at townhall
strange statement from his GWU prof.
That cloud on the Army was the whole point, no?
On August 8th, 2007 at 4:07 pm,
Sorry, but you did take all of his abuse.
Back on topic:
This is still one of your best stories – evah!
On Topic – sorta:
What irritates me is that the liberals are so quick to hoist up people like STB and others like him, but yet we have an honorable, lifetime-devoted soldier like Gen. Petraeus, who, by all things that I’ve seen, is an honest, devoted Patriot who understands the realities of both Politics and Warfare, and he gets hammered by the left as partisan and biased.
The question I alluded to in #121 from his interview on Alan Colmes’ show is a perfect example. A leading question, biased in the context of implying that this man would lie to Congress to cover his butt – when by all evidence to this point, he’s served honorably and is performing brilliantly.
But yet we can’t question the motives of a grunt who denegrates our troops and leans more left than a monster truck with a flat tire….
That p#sses me off.
O.T. for a moment:
Michelle / Rick – you’ve shown tolerance and class in the handling of MikeB – and proven what we’ve said here many times:
Give them enough rope – and they hang themselves everytime.
( How sad is it to get booted over Laura Flynn Boyle? – Wow, that’ll be rattling around in his cage for a while. )
I agree with that, jrlingreenbay. I might start calling you Farve for short:)
General Petraeus is an outstanding officer from everything I’ve read about him, even before he got his 4th star and his new command. He wrote the book on counterinsurgency for the U.S. Army, got confirmed for that 4th star unanimously by the Senate Armed Services Committee. Now they don’t want to hear what he’s got to say. The Democrats are allergic to military success in Iraq, and I guess the remedy is a story like this TNR bucket of dung.
That is so frustrating to me, I can’t say how I really feel about it because Michelle might send me right behind our pal Mikey the lib:)
Amen & Amen
Think about where America would be if the internet had been around.
Brian, I’ll take that “Favre” moniker anytime! LOL….
Someday at a Malkin convention I’ll tell you a few personal stories about the man ( the good kind ).
Outta here for the day, folks – keep up the great work!
See ya around Farve!
Michelle … Like many others I have seen the abuse that was being thrown around … must say not sorry to see that individual gone … but must also commend you for your patience and tolerance in this matter … keep up the good work …
No one can say that Michelle silences dissent, she just demolishes their arguments with accurate, direct fire.
They don’t like that at all.
Bravo. Bravo. Bravo!!
Now stick that one where the sun don’t shine, Ross Douthat, Rick Moran, and other “reasonable” conservatives.
Thank you for the kind words Mr. Green Bay. I will be seeing you play in December when my Raiders get smashed in Lambeau.
As for Kerry, Beauchamp and Mike B, they are now on the ash heap of history, with Obama, Edwards and Hillary soon to join them.
Respectfully,
eric http://www.blacktygrrrr.wordpress.com
Heh. “Reasonable” conservatives. Reasonable to whom? MSM/DNC?
Michelle,
“MikeB has worn out his welcome. Let the record show that I bent over backwards to allow his dissenting opinions. There is no room here, however, for incessant abuse. Buh-bye.
Now, let’s stay on topic. Thanks.”
Desert Lover
“must say not sorry to see that individual gone … but must also commend you for your patience and tolerance in this matter”
Obviously, this reader is thrilled. However, Michelle, in my mind you need not worry about the record showing your tolerance. More to the point, who would make hay on the issue even if you showed only a fraction of the tolerance that you did? Conservatives? Nay. Liberals?! – they trash you daily anyway simply for being a dissenting voice in their world – a world in which their singular media voice ran like a steamroller unchallenged for 40 years in the MSM without ever offering an opportunity to conservatives – our side has had to fight like hell for every bit of air time we get.
At the risk of almost sounding like a dissenting opinion myself, less tolerance of that sort would certainly not be missed by me, or some others I’m sure. Of course, that also gets into the issue of what these boards are for besides general comment. If more specifically they are to have a forum to debate the opposition, then of course, Mike B would be welcome without his nudie pics and perpetual insults. My problem with that is that we get so much of the opposition everywhere else, that an oasis is not amiss once in awhile. Additionally, 1. some practical good might come out of such an oasis that conservative voices can take away new thoughts for rebuttal when such things are discussed between like minds when unimpeded, and, 2. as conservatives, there is certainly enough differing opinion within a fairly wide grey zone that conservatives need not worry that we get no healthy debate on the issues without have to perpetually engage people who present their arguements from the perspective of a true enemy.
No, you need never worry about the record showing you allowed dissenting opinion. once again, the only ones who would attack you for that are people who never cut you a break even at the best of times. Certainly the left is in no position to go after anyone for allowing or not allowing dissenting opinion(!!!)
Back OT: Once again, this is a beautifully written article. IMO, one of your best.
Back OT II: using the current story as a foundation, I’m suddenly stricken by a sense of simplicity on the larger issue, and feel rather badly ashamed of our country that Kerry could have been elected dog catcher after what he did, let alone to be a voice for the people in the US Senate.
Excellent post, Michelle. It is a pity that the MSM does not fact check before pressing their own agenda. Sadly many people believe everything they read and don’t notice retractions.
And thanks for giving the troll the boot!! He did nothing to support the discussion and it was sad to see so many posts directed at him.
Lindsay
The biggest reason people don’t notice retractions is that if they are ever printed at all they are buried in some obscure section of the periodical …
retractions are never given the same level of exposure and headlines that the original incorrect statement was given when it was first printed …
Well said. I sit in front of two large flat panel monitors and when I see that picture of Kerry in uniform with those ribbons, I want to punch the screen (and I am thankful I do not pay for them).
IMHO, the states that elect these people (Kerry, Kennedy, Ellison, Boxer, Murtha…) should have their star removed from the American Flag. Of course, these are the same people who support burning same. GRRRRRR
DesertLover
I disagree. The reason they do not print retractions is they would eat up too much column space. There just would not be enough room for Hilto_ and Loha_ stories.
On-my-soap-box
LOL …
I was about to say something similar. That picture of Kerry with that smirk really annoys me. And still full of it…Ugh. But he had help from the media. Many of you here are too young to remember Dan Rather’s reporting from Vietnam. Ugh again.
AlohaGuy
I am old enough to remember but never saw it because I was in Nam and didn’t see much TV in the jungle … lol … but heard plenty about it from my late father after I returned … but heard more about Cronkite than I did about Rather …
Yep, I see that picture of Kerry and I hear his testimony clearly and wish for a frontal lobotomy every time just to get that out of my head – or – to get me to the point where I just don’t care that my brain has that in there somewhere.
Kerry is seared…..seared into my memory, thank goodness I have my lucky hat.
Yes JRLinGreenBay,
I caught the dissing of General Petreaus also.
I don’t know if he was sworn under oath but the questions would’ve been better stated if Alan Colmes had ANY quibble with a statement he made to Congress to debate that specific statement he had quibble with. But just to sort of dismiss his entire statement with a wave of hand is disrespectful.
One of Mrs. Malkin’s best stories and MikeB shown the door on the same day. I think somebody should get a BOO-FREAKEN-HOO award.
Back on topic.
The Kerry testimony is more outrageous than a false story being written by a private in the Army. Privates mess up all the time. I can remember when I was a PFC. Ladies and gents, it was not a pretty sight. Senator Kerry and his political comrades are responsible for all the moonbats, nutroots, netroots and unhinged libbs today. It makes my blood boil every time I see that damn video of Kerry in front of congress. My Zen thought is thinking about the 2004 election. That brings my temp down again.
That and a perfect shuttle launch makes for an almost perfect day!
By far this article is one of MM better pieces. The one thing that comes close was her book; The Case for Internmet.
Any possiblity of turning a topic like “Winter Soldier” into a book? Somehow it would definately be NY Times best seller!
Personally, I want to join the line that takes SB “Big Red One” patch off his sleeve. He’s disgracing the memory of bigger men that wore it.
Better yet, he’s disgracing the uniform that better men and women have worn in honorable service to their country whether they served in combat or cooking in the galley.
“Dhimitude or Freedom-Your Choice!”
Concur.
The strange thing about the above is, why do I feel like all the rest of us have dodged a bullet?
Commenting on this blog, and on HotAir.com, is as close as I’ll ever get to being able to say that I’m “hanging out at Michelle’s place.” A privilege that most of us don’t take for granted.
It was a travesty when Michelle had to shut down comments altogether when she began her blog; every time I watched certain individuals turn the current comment section into a poo-slinging contest, I’d always hold my breath hoping that we wouldn’t all end up getting the heave-ho.
In any event, it’s been a good day: I began it above ground, and am still there; lots of interesting stuff on this blog; and with one less person to raise the specter of screwing it up for all the rest of us, this corner of the world is a better place.
Not a bad day at all.
Great post today Michelle. We had an associate join us for lunch today, a thoughtful democrat of the Lieberman stripe, who happened to bring up soldiers who speak up against the war. I listened to what he had to say and then introduced him to this post. I think you now have another regular visitor. He was impressed with your writing style and links to substantiate your words. Thanks.
Great article, MM. I caught it this morning on Realclear, no?
You know, I’ve met fellow Airmen who may not agree with the reasons for going into Iraq, but they still do their jobs.
It makes me think of our last president. I didn’t particularly care for him, but I never lessened my efforts. I didn’t because a) I liked my job and b) it was my duty [but duty doesn't seem like 'duty' when you enjoy it]. To this day, I want to be respected by my peers. To have the public appreciate what we do is great, but to have the respect of my peers is very important.
Well, my 2 cents.
Kevlaur
Yep, great article. Too bad it’s on the same page at RealClear as Clark’s drivel.
Great piece Michelle, another scalp to add to the ineffective Righty blog’s growing list. Hey you know, maybe we aren’t as ineffective as some say.
Michelle, thank you for keeping on this while other people tried to ignore it or downplay its importance. As an active member of the military and OIF/OEF veteran, I would like you to know that your continued vigilance in spotlighting the left’s attempts to demoralize and undermine our fighting men and women do not go unnoticed. In fact, it is highly motivating to see you policing these issues with fervor.
Thank you again for all that you do in TRUE support of our troops.
I don’t know about the “self-loathing”, unless it’s meant in the context of “as a soldier”. Otherwise it would seem that all of these people wax quite narcissistic in their enormous and delusional egos.
I wrote if before and I’l write it again.
Stupid is as Foer does.
It was mentioned that beauchamp is married to a tnr staff member, but I can’t find out who he/she is-Can someone provide the link to the info?
“Got Freedom or a sack of dhimis?”
Michelle,
I thought MikeB was for comic relief? Haunted by Lara Flynn Boyle, come on you can see how it could happen, it drove him over the edge. Winter Blogger Syndrome.
Scott Thomas Beauchamp, I said it before he is a Pud. Do you think every night before the lights go out in the barracks, he says a little prayer, oh lord please no blanket and tubsocks stuffed with bar soap tonight!
The staffer to whom Fauxchamp is married is named Elspeth Reeve.
As of about 3pm eastern, July 26th, she still was working there.
I suspect she still is, but have no way of proving or disproving that belief (I’m not calling to ask, I don’t want their number durtying up my phone records…)