Obama politicizes military spouses
Here’s an interesting letter to the editor–which reads like a column– that Mrs. See-Dub noticed for me:
Michelle Obama is having “round table” discussions at various sites near military bases to discuss issues faced by military families (”Michelle Obama courts vital military families,” Politics, Thursday). A group known as Blue Stars for Obama, largely made up of military wives, has been asked by the Obama campaign to contact other military spouses and enlist/encourage them to attend and to, in turn, contact other military wives and ask them to do the same. It’s an attempt to infiltrate and extend support for Sen. Barack Obama in what has traditionally been a more conservatively leaning group…
Nothing wrong with that, except for this:
The problem is in how the campaign is attempting to bring military spouses to the discussions with Michelle. They are asking members of Blue Stars for Obama to go out and seek other military spouses, who are not signed on to Blue Stars for Obama, in order to drum up large crowds for the events.
Some BSFOs are known to be contacting other military wives, urging them to take part in a political event; the rough equivalent of “undue command pressure” — unacceptable behavior considering that spouses of junior officers or enlisted personnel can sometimes be intimidated by a request or admonition from the wife of a senior officer or enlisted military member. After all, the senior officers and enlisted write or have input on the fitness reports for those under their purview (”I can’t cross the chief officer’s or master sergeant’s wife; her husband holds my husband’s career in his hands”).
Since the military member cannot take part in publicly supporting a particular candidate, it has always been understood among military wives that it is also inappropriate for a military member’s spouse to use her position in the military community to solicit others toward her personal political views via access she has gained to e-mail addresses, phone numbers and other networking avenues available to her within the military context.
That’s not the worst thing the Obama campaign has done, but if that’s an accurate explanation of the norms that govern military wives, then this outreach effort shows both political desperation and an unpleasant disregard for the military’s customs and ideals. Which wouldn’t surprise me in the least–Obama’s great at being geostrategicalistic but I don’t think he’s gaining a lot of real traction among the military.
That brings politics, and the polarization inherently involved, into the sisterhood of military wives, a place where good order and unit cohesion are just as important as they are to the units of military members. The military should not be politicized on the staff or distaff side; it is clear the Obamas do not have a historical view of how the military community operates best and are capitalizing on military spouses who also lack such understanding.
___
{Post by See-Dubya}
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- Now They Care About “Politicizing” The Military | Oliver Willis
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I used to joke about the Colonels wife wearing his rank on her PJ’s. Very true higher ranking wives can be intimidating to unit wives. Shame on the Obama’s once again.
I can’t tell that they have a historical view of how anything operates best.
not that it was a bad thing, (following the link) that was one of the longest letters to the editor I have ever seen..
most seem to be a short paragraph or two.. maybe 2 – 3 sentences to convey one thought..
The Obamas don’t care how the US military operates best. Like the good little leftists that they are, “divide and conquer” is the goal, and the end always justifies the means.
In the time it took me to post, I see that backwoods conservative beat me to some of what I said.
That contacting of other military wives best NOT cross the EM/NCO/Junior-Senior officer line. Yes, there are a lot of lines there and for good reason–intimidation and undue influence are violations of the Uniform Code of Military Justices and most Command Standing Operating Proceedures.
But Obama and friends do seem to make up the rules as they go along as did their one time hero Hillary and Consort.
Another time, another thread but Hillary was real nasty to White House military staff including the enlisted people operating the communications center. It was Hillary who put the She in SheWitch.
I concur.
But only some of it. What you added was quite pithy.
— unacceptable behavior considering that spouses of junior officers or enlisted personnel can sometimes be intimidated by a request or admonition from the wife of a senior officer or enlisted military member. After all, the senior officers and enlisted write or have input on the fitness reports for those under their purview (”I can’t cross the chief officer’s or master sergeant’s wife; her husband holds my husband’s career in his hands”).
That’s the problem with Obama, isn’t it? Name a situation. Is he being ignorant, insensitive, indifferent, desperate, or is he just being duplicitous? One can argue any or all of the above, in this instance and others. That’s why I have come to dread and dislike the man. You never know where you stand with him, where he is coming from. There is a difference in degree here that has become a difference in kind. I recall (accurately, I trust) he has described himself in one of his books as a “Rorschach test.”
Indeed. That is one way to put it.
At his core Obama is just your classic sleazy Chicago politician. Maybe he should invite the wives of the wounded soldiers he blew off at Landstuhl over for coffee.
As a “senior military wife” I can affirm that this approach is beyond tasteless and inappropriate, and there is already a counter-campaign underway to inform that this is NOT acceptable behavior.
I received an e-mail asking me to help sign up voters for the big O, and a donation of $10.00. I asked why the big O needs my money, since apparently he is so flush he doesn’t need public matching funds and I hardly doubt $10 from me will put him over the top. No reply.
Scuttlebutt has it that in the “roundtable” meetings with military spouses in Norfolk, the Obama camp are engaging in shameless pandering in the vein of tell ‘em what they want to hear, promising that a vote for the big O will mean an end to back-to-back deployments,
among other goodies, such as plussing up the VA and military benefits (ha!) all outlined in their shiny “blue book” for outreach to military voters in Virginia, since the Dems see turning VA blue as a “possibility” by leveraging the military vote.
Again, how little they know of how the military works. We own property in VA (where I am domiciled), but (currently) live in CA, and hubby votes as a FL voter via absentee ballot(his home of record).
Military physical presence in VA does not translate into VA voters….many military pick FL, AK or TX as homes of record.
Speaking of military wives, Sean Hannity didn’t do McCain any favors tonight.
No reporter will ever ask Barack or Michelle Obama a rather simple question: If you love the military and “our troops” as much as you say you do, why did you opt NOT to join the military? I suspect that Barack would say (if he was given truth serum) that he believes being a “community organizer” is more patriotic than being in the military. And nobody in the MSM will ask either Obama: If you love the military as much as you say you do, why did you sit quitely and not protest even a peep when your pastor of 20 years, Jeremiah Wright, trashed the US military day after day.
S’plain.
Sean asked, “How can the American people trust you as President when you lie to and cheat on your wife?”
Alan agreed with him and brought up McCain’s past. Oops.
Good for Sean! I wonder if Cindy McCain, who lives in the tidewater area, signed up as a BSFO military wife…..
I also saw Hannity tonight. I’m no fan of McCain and I don’t differentiate between McCain’s cheating or Edwards. I will say McCain has had 20 years to stay on the straight and narrow (which as of now it seems he has) and in 20 years Edwards will be able to say the same thing.
Yeah, McCain shouldn’t be throwing those stones and neither should his supporters.
That replays at 9PM MST, I’ll have to catch it.
Has to be wrong, Alan Colmes is always wrong.
I find it interesting that the Obama camp named it Blue Stars For Obama and is actually targeting spouses…They even have a picture of the Blue Star Flag on their web site, but include this disclaimer:
“The initiative borrows the symbolism of the blue star flag which immediate family members of active duty service members in times of war may fly, but it is not in any way affiliated with the Service Flag or the Blue Star Mothers organization.”
Blue Stars are only displayed by PARENTS that have children in the military. My wife cannot display one, but my mom can (the one with two blue stars). Thankfully no gold stars for our family.
On active duty since 1985.
More like..
The Obamas don’t KNOW how the US military operates best.
These people will say and do anything to get a vote.
As See-Dubya put it best:
Exactly.
And Michelle O can whine to them about how hard her life is. *gah*
The only thing that the military can count on if Obama becomes CINC, is many will be out of a job. Just like BJ Clinton did in the 90’s and touted he reduced the federal government payroll. Civilan employees increased and the uniformed military decresed.
Nothing is sacred to the Obamas, least of all honors reserved for military personnel and their families.
Good move by Obama’s campaign to have Michelle Obama have roundtables with military wives.
As is pointed out – not so good of move on their part to suggest to military wives attending to “recruit” other BSFOs.
My guess is – that it will quickly become apparent to them that such a suggestion is not appropriate when talking to military personnnel and their families – and they will tone down their message about “recruiting”.
Of course, their main goal is to have some military people to draw upon when they make some commercials near election time showing military people in favor of Obama.
Obama is going to continue to draw big crowds right up to election night. A few more military spouses attending – isn’t going to make any noticeable difference -so it’s not an act of desperation in that regard.
PS – Michael Phelps just won his 11th gold!
yeah..he’s kinda schmarmie that way.
This is a perfect example of ignorance of the little things that end up being so extremely damaging, under the radar.
Obama and his bitter half are totally clueless and heartless about military wives and the families….just the votes.
This is dangerous and will have BIG ripples in the ‘pond’.
My goodness the snob-amas are ridiculously arrogant.
Yeah, until the other shoe drops.
I smell an October surprise.
Let me make a correction…
They display the Blue Star Flag prominently and then at the bottom is a much smaller bumper sticker that is just blue without the red frame and on a referral page, there is the Obamessiah logo with a big blue star…
Still don’t like the intentional “confusion” about “immediate families” and the Blue Star Flag that parents get to fly.
Since when exactly has the left ever failed to politicize anything and everything that could be of any potential benefit to it?
It doesn’t matter to a leftist how they gain their power, only that they do.
This is such an arrongant move.
The answer to that is: never.
Just like all of a sudden they’re “pro life”.
Yeah, sure, and I’m Hillary Clinton.
I hope all the other senior military spouses agree with you, but I’ve known a few who used their husbands’ rank like a club.
Any military spouse campaigning for anyone as a private individual is fine, using their military affiliation to do so is inappropriate, though not at bad as an actual member of the military doing so.
Patrick –
You are right about the Blue Star flag — As a mom, I proudly have one in the window with the addition of “We Honor Those Who Serve” — but we also fly the “Don’t Tread on Me” Jack, even though technically, Cinchome is not a naval vessel underway…but point is taken by others in the neighborhood who are salty….it usually elicits a knowing smile and nod…
The co-opting of the Blue Star for political purposes is beyond the pale.
The arrogance and presumption soars to even higher levels…
Thanks for sharing the info about the Big O campaign exploiting the symbol for political gain (yuck).
TXVet2,
I think we have all had the misfortune of dealing with spouses who somehow feel it is a “joint” command. My husband made it very clear to me in the beginning there would always be a firewall between his professional life and our personal life.
When I am asked what my “billet/cause” is, I explain I’m the “official” date for social functions and then change topics….
One of the things that makes me very uneasy about Michelle O is that IMHO she definitely would view herself as a Co-CIC & the WH as a “joint” billet. I don’t see her as the type to passively sit on the sidelines hosting teas or chairing literacy campaigns.
You mean “moored”, right? The First Navy Jack is hoisted at the bow (with the National Ensign at the stern) when vessels are moored.
I was going to post but never want to be under Hillary….so, pass.
I find it interesting that the “grass roots” military spouses movement has 194 members that have knocked on 29 doors, but have hosted 508 events, raised $18,614.27, and and attended 3,970 events (oops, but they haven’t actually made any calls).
Follow the links within the Obama site to get to the BSFO…
They should have scrubbed their site before the article hit.
AJ…
Just the visuals alone on that one made me have the dry heaves.
SPOILER ALERT!!
Just kidding.
You mean “moored”, right? The First Navy Jack is hoisted at the bow
P Boilermaker, thanks for keeping me on the straight and narrow!
I was referring to flying the Don’t Tread jack at home as a symbol of support for our brothers and sisters forward deployed….
http://www.navyjack.info/war.html
Spouses usually are “volunteered” to head the family support group commensurate to their spouses command level. I know my wife hates dealing with that (not supporting the soldiers and spouses, but the hierarchical spouse chain when you are a green tab in the Army).
When not in one of those positions, there should be no “rank” among the spouses (even though many feel it is always there). We typically avoid those who “wear” their spouse’s rank outside of official functions. No one talks political issues or candidates at official functions either.
If someone were to start pushing a candidate, I guarantee that it will have the opposite effect in the voting booth for any spouse. At least it would with my wife and all of the friends she has made while we have been in the military.
Odopey groupies haven’t a clue, Just ask them, why Obama? and wait for the dopey look in their face with no answers.
I know, I was just messin’ around with you.
What self respecting Navy family doesn’t own a First Navy Jack?
This action is wholly inappropriate and demonstrates the lack of knowledge of American military culture. How many of us vets recall that the wife was not included in your seabag?
If Michelle O decries how hard it is making ends meet on a six figure income, how can she begin to relate to the self sacrificing men, women in uniform including families.
First the great seal of the POTUS, now corrupting the significance of the Blue Star, what is next?
But then again, the military just aren’t helping her children.
enjoy the eve all, i am o.u.t.
PBoilermaker –
Got mine! Awarded in the gulf the beginning of Iraqi Freedom.
Pit Snipes Forever
Patrick,
I think the correct term is
“voluntold” ;0
PB –
I’m told we’re in the “Men’s Department” of the Navy….;)
I’m glad that Sean got the message-
Friday he went down at least two pegs in my estimation when he stated on his radio show that McCain had a better excuse that Edwards for the same adulterous behavior:
In fact I commented on it with the words:
Shacking up is Shacking up -whether you’re a Dem or a Rep….NO EXCUSES>>>>>
Welcome BLUE STAR wives…
Are there any BLUE STAR Moms?
From the BSFO website:
# Do not forward this letter, unsolicited, to any spouses who are subordinates of your family member/service member.
# We discourage members from sending this letter, unsolicited, to any family member in their service member’s chain of command
Too late!
There are a bunch of testimonials on the BSFO website:
http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/blog/bluestars
Now, forgive me for asking the un-askable– but, giving the trending along race lines in the primaries, with an overwhelming # of black voters pulling for the Big O, and an overwhelming # of “gun-clinging, bitter” white voters pulling for Hilary, it makes me wonder –
How many of these spouses that Michelle O is hosting roundtables with and are out and front declaring their love for the Big O are African-American? Are the testimonials (if genuine) showing a trend towards race-based preferences?
Just askin’
Thank you YTZGal for the good info and follow up.
God Bless You, Your Husband and all serving!
Now picture what Commander in Chief Obama will be like. Good-by military decorum.
YTZGal,
“Voluntold” in absolutely correct. I am just glad spouses can’t be mentioned on efficiency reports anymore.
Amen to that. I understand conservative commentators wanting to jump ugly on Edwards (deservedly so, that asshat), but they have to tread very lightly because McCain did the same thing and it’s hard to come up with a counterattack.
Back to Obama and the wives: Anyone here watch Army Wives? There was a storyline last season where the wife of the C.O. gets in trouble for supporting a fellow Army Wife who was testifying in front of Congress about her husband. She thought the Army was lying about the circumstances of his death. Claudia Joy, the C.O.’s wife, was told she couldn’t do anything that looked political or against the Army.
Then again, both McCain and Obama taped messages before this season’s premiere so there’s that.
FYI, posted to the “Obamesque” site and copied here before it can be taken down/scrubbed —
http://obamesque.wordpress.com/2008/07/26/michelle%E2%80%99s-blue-stars-for-obama-pro-military-pro-obama/
“First of all, the concept that this is a spontaneous “grassroots” movement by military spouses is highly suspect. Those of us privileged to be married to our fine men and women serving in the armed services would never corrupt that trust and esprit de corps by crossing the unspoken line of neutrality in political matters by openly advocating for one political candidate over another. Furthermore, the corruption of the sacred message silently acknowledged by the display of a Blue (or Gold) Star is a level of self-serving, exploitative and cynical abuse of a cherished, non-partisan symbol.
As a military spouse who has already received an unwanted and unsolicited request , I can assure that this effort and shameless exploitation will backfire — big time.
Is there ANYTHING that you aren’t willing to shamelessly prostitute for your own self-aggrandizement?
Obama….. A legend in his own mind who needs to use legends to create a mythical but non-existent groundswell of support.
You disgust me.”
Wait…doesn’t your second statement completely contradict your first?
Your entire post really gives me a case of the red ass!!!
Not that you wrote it, but the contents. D@mn I so hate politicians who do this.
What lower form of snake takes advantage of persons such as this?
I know there are many strong wives (and husbands of wives deployed) who I would go to combat with that could withstand pressure such as this, but there are many who would easily be intimidated as well.
Thank you YTZGal for doing what you do, and recognizing that this is no where near appropriate.
What’s next? Telling wives of deployed soldiers their husbands might get an extra day home on R&R for a donation?
I’ve had several surrendercrats over the years constantly call asking me to be on their Steering Committee or re-election committee, essentially names lent for their campaign, only for them to forget veterans the day after the election.
Jackasses! All of them!
So many of the military wives of the enlisted ranks of E6 or below are young, undereducated, and angry at the current administration for sending their husbands back into harms way over and over again in Iraq. Or causing him to be maimed or killed, leaving them back home with children, or alone and living at or below the poverty level with no hope of improving their standards of living.
Now, some unscrupulous group comes along, engages them in their misery and gets their minds off of their plight, feigns interest in their opinions, asks them for their help, latches on to their anger and funnels it in the direction of getting the “Hope Messiah” elected.
If nothing else, they can feel that they can now strike a blow against the government they blame for their daily hardships.
Brilliant!!
…and diabolical.
From B’HO’s web site:
These nitwits never stop to think that the spending bills they opposed might be the reason why some military families might be struggling…not that they need a nanny to care for them but proper pay they do control, or that their outrageous tax rates might also be a cause.
But hey, if Michelle’s homie is installed in the White House, she’ll continue to take your concerns to her messyiah.
Republicanvet, it sounds like the Democrats are looking for another group of people to sell their victimhood mentality to.
This is true to some extent. What BJ did was exhibit his loathing for the military such that those that could leave, left.
As for civilian federal employees, I saw it firsthand. Bubba (with AlGore leading the way) eliminated hundreds of federal positions one day, while hiring many of the same employees (retiree’s) the next day as consultants or contractors.
Some of the prices of these contracts was absolutely stunning considering what the person may have made the week before.
I consider it even worse than that if they are targeting wives whose husbands might be deployed.
They are targeting people who might already be somewhat vulnerable, or like Simcoe said, someone who might be upset that hubby is deployed again.
I know where they are coming from, and understand their concerns which are very valid, but exploiting those concerns for political gain like this is as low as intentionally throwing out absentee ballots from those deployed.
Can you provide a link Patrick…and an email address if possible?
Truly. I’m having a hard time expressing how d@mn disgusting I find this, particularly more so with your post which reminded me of her/his income, compared to most enlisted pay, and their bastardization of the the Blue Star flag.
Finally found the site. Under the title is a link to Report Objectionable Content. I clicked, and a little response popped up asking if I really wanted to alert an admin to the group profile.
There was no option for “You damn skippy I do” so I just clicked OK.
Another little window popped up saying it was sent to an admin for review.
Geez that makes me feel better.
Trotting out the classics, eh?
Roger that.
Doing things like this is a telling example of the ignorance many in today’s America have concerning military matters. So few in today’s America have served or known others that have served, that these kind of unwritten rules are only known to those who are peripherally associated with US Military service members.
Self acknowledged Democrats by and large do not join the military, or associate with those who did, and therefore are oblivious to this kind of thing.
Since behavior is judged in the press, you know she’ll get a pass. Yes, she understands the military concerns, and that is as far as it gets. Both of them aren’t much interested in the military. Maybe, with Obama as President, families won’t be split by being overseas; they’ll all be home. We’ll be “talking” to our enemies.
This all sounds like it has the makings of a good episode of “The Unit” – starring the nation’s real first black president, the ex-David Palmer (Dennis Haysbert) of “24.” And were it not for creator David Mamet’s public self-outing as a neo-con in the Village Voice earlier this year, I’d say that in any other hands it would be a right-wing ideologue candidate’s wife who comes on base and gets a good upbraiding from the wives for organizing such an exploitative event. I’d like to hold out hope that Mamet would see right through this and treat it for what it is: a sham.
And I love this from the excerpt quoted above, quoting Michelle Obama:
Yes, and he also needs to know what intentionally losing a war does to military families.
I think the unpleasant disregard angle is more accurate. It fits with their “religious” views.
That these women should be soliticed to in effect undercut the morale of their husbands towards the National Command Authority is vile.
They want emotionally vunerable women to support the man, who Hammas supports, for our President.
And what would Obama’s wife know about military service?
This “princess” went to an Ivy Leaque school, had AA work its magic to hire her for jobs she didn’t deserve, and has none nothing but contempt and actual hate for the country that afforded her this.
She isn’t fit to work in the off-base dry cleaners.
Late to the party, I know, but I would presume to ask if you had ANY first hand knowledge of this. The closest military wife friends I have on this base (all of whose husbands I deployed with when I was in) may be young, but we are not uneducated and angry at the current administration. We realize the risks we signed up for by marrying military men, and are proud to see them off to do what they signed up to do.
When we get together, the conversation almost always turns to politics, and quite frankly, we are more afraid of what a CIC Obama would do to the military than we are of our husbands going on another tour in the sandbox. Several weeks ago, there was a rather large interview with Sen. Obama in “The Army Times”, along with a blurb about a military fiancee who was supporting him. The interview simply confirmed my belief (and the belief that many military spouses share, at least the ones that I know) that Sen. Obama doesn’t have a clue as to how the military works. His plan for withdrawl, unless he has flip-flopped on it again, is a sheer logistical impossibility. He also has yet to learn that
increasing fundingthrowing money at an issue is not a way to get votes. Between the universal healthcare, more tax relief checks, the global poverty relief, and the money he wants to give to the military, I shudder to think where he is going to get the funds from.New York magazine is reporting Rev. Jeremiah Wright is launching a book and tour in October, just weeks before the election.
James Forsyth from UK’s Spectator magazine calls this a “huge problem for Obama:”
So we’ll see. Audacity of hope, indeed.
It’s clear that — in election years, anyway — conservative concern for servicemembers and their family is largely focused on using them as a cudgel against the Democratic nominee. Obama doesn’t visit troops because the Pentagon warns him that it would be seen as “political” and he’s shallow and uncaring. Michelle does visit with military families and she’s politicizing the military. Nice play, though the mock outrage does get a little tired. Real contempt for the military comes from people like Dick Cheney, who had “better things to do” with his own life when it was his turn to serve, but manufacturers reasons to send others to battle.
And, apparently, the Blue Star organization is listening to concerns; respecting the military: from the Military Times [did that work?]
“It is important to us that our organization’s code of conduct meets or exceeds government standards concerning military communities and political activity. We believe in those rules because most of us have felt a bit coerced politically at some point in our lives. Blue Star Family Members for Obama is made up entirely of volunteer family members of active duty service members; not the members themselves. We do not seek out active duty military members, nor do we permit our members to communicate our message to active duty members, or through them, via email, fax or any other form of official communication. Blue Star members are not permitted to use government equipment or government property to advance our cause. We have a website where people can sign up and prohibit members from seeking out spouses who are subordinates of Blue Star members’ spouses. If any of these events occur we want to know immediately so that we can take corrective action.
We do, however, respectfully disagree with Mrs. Percy’s opinion about our right to exist as a voluntary organization. Military families have borne the burden of the Iraq war alone for more than five years. We have as much or more at stake in this election as any other section of the electorate. And we strongly believe that Senator Obama has our interests at heart, as evidenced by his recent co-sponsorship of the GI Bill, his vote to stop cuts in Tricare reimbursements, and his efforts to support better VA funding for our veterans as opposed to cutting VA spending. We are proud of our status as military family members, and we support Barack Obama for president.”
That wormy Obama bunch is obviously looking for a few disgruntled women to exploit for their own political purposes. Tell them to call my wife, she was a military spouse for 35 years and is proud of every minute of it. Obama and his gaggle of incompetents make me sick.
I hope the Obamas push this because it’s a losing battle for them, just like Obama’s attempts to portray McCain as lacking in support for the military by refusing to vote for the recent military benefits legislation. The notion that Obama is more concerned with the welfare of our military personnel than John McCain is not gonna fly.
I am still laughing, they want the perception that the military is supporting Obama over McCain?
If I was Obama, I would not doing anything, to remind people, that I never served my country in a military capacity. After all he couldn’t, once you admit to using “blow” the military couldn’t take you if they wanted to. Who is handling Obama’s campaign? Obama needs new people.
This should be the lead story on the front page of this blog. It needs to be picked up and spread like wildfire.
Couple of things:
And i think that’s absolutely fair. We need to ask these 2 people who would be our POTUS the hard questions. And get *honest* answers.
We call them liberal democrats.
MO needs to go do something that actually helps her kids.
This is disgraceful. There is already too much pressure on military wives and the tiny few husbands to attend a political meeting. It may even violate some federal laws on campaigns.
Help me a little, because I’m not up to speed on the McCain affair.
1.Did he cheat on his wife and then lie about it till there was too much evidence to the contrary?
2.Was his wife dieing when he was cheating.
3.When he came clean , was it found out he was still lying?
Oh yeah,but he’ll cancel out visiting troops because bodyboarding in Hawaii is more important:
C’mon, does anybody really think the Obamessiah is going to make time for people who protect and defend this country? Not only does he have Clinton’s familiar distain for the military, but hell, there’s no celebrities involved.
If you take the link over to the letter in the Washington Times, you’ll see that the BSFOs are taking the same tact as BemusedLib (#79) is above. Restate that BSFO doesn’t approach active service members while ignoring the pressure possibly placed on the spouses of those service members. That’s it guys. Keep repeating the same thing over and over and eventually it becomes the truth.
“I can fly. I can fly. I can fly!”
On August 13th, 2008 at 12:52 am, Mookie said:
I fully agree with Sean’s summation on McCain’s boorish behavior towards his first wife: that it is attributable to his being held captive and tortured for five years in Vietnam; that McCain’s subsequent affair and divorce were a product of post-combat, post-war stress syndrome or trauma.
Edwards has no such extenuating circumstances or excuses. He did it for the “fun,” and out of a lack of care or concern for his wife and children; he selfishly sacrificed his family to satisfy his own desires and, in the process, all-out lied to the American people to fraudulently garner their votes.
Add-on to #87
Oh yeah, I forgot. Also copy or paraphrase copious amounts of the “official” statement. Gotta have the official statement. Otherwise how will you know what you’re supposed to think?
oopps. wrong comment thread!
I live in VA, am married to a retired military man, and most of our friends are either active duty or retired military. I can tell you that not one of them would have any respect for a woman who would sell out their spouse by supporting a candidate who CLEARLY shows NO support for the military. Yes, it is hard to see your spouse sent overseas again and again – but you know what the cause is and why it is so important. (and if you don’t – then don’t marry someone in the military) My husband is my hero because he willingly put his life on the line to protect this country and he is someone our children can look up to and be proud of – not someone lining up to see who will give them the bigger handout.
Republicanvet,
Shows the flag and then the bumper sticker.
Has the groups page with membership numbers, etc.
From personal experience, I can tell you two things. The first is that often the first people you meet when getting to the assigned duty station are part of your spouse’s unit and/or their spouses. If you’re far from home, these people might be the only social circle you have. Secondly, and this is especially true in my husband’s case where everyone he presently works with outranks him, there is an inherent caution when interacting with senior enlisted/officer spouses. It’s not a bad thing necessarily, it’s just a little reminder that the military is just different.
Reminds me of those idiot groups John McCain referenced not long after he was released from the Hanoi Hilton. These anti-war morons preyed on POW wives, telling them that if they publicly denounced the war, the group could get letters and packages to their POW. Abhorrently shameless behavior, in my book.
Like I said, the military is just different. Some people don’t understand that.
Amen to that!
We can never tell them that often enough, but we try anyway.
Former active duty, former Rear Commander where I dealt a lot with spouses of deployed Soldiers…
As a rule we (my unit and Family Readiness Groups) did not encourage anyone to attend any kind of political event, and we did not allow people to use our mailing/emailing lists for such purposes. If spouses wanted to engage in that kind of activity they did it on their own without any of our resources, and that was fine with us as long as they did not imply that their participation was endorsed by our unit.