Saturday, October 16, 2004

Freudian slip?

What Bush (hswib) actually said:
"Bush sought to counter suggestions that there will be a military draft if he's re-elected, but the president almost blew his line.

He said that, after a debate with Kerry, 'I made it very plain. We will not have an all-volunteer army.' The crowd fell silent. 'WE WILL have an all-volunteer army,' Bush said, quickly catching himself. 'Let me restate that. We will not have a draft.'"
But if Kerry had said that, there is no doubt the Bush (hswib) stump speech would be repeating ad nauseum the line: "Kerry said, 'We will not have an all-volunteer army.'" Remember, this kind of stuff is the only ammunition they have.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

A slip of the tongue is one thing. Kerry's actual words are another. Kerry has promised to create two new divisions if elected.

How's Kerry going to recruit two new divisions? Polls of the military show that most of them prefer Bush, and the most gung-ho among them love Bush and despise Kerry. Those guys aren't reenlisting if Kerry is elected. The ones who joined for the technical training might, but not the guys on the front line. They genuinely fear having to wear a UN helmet.

Do you think we'll have more liberals join the military to fight "the wrong war at the wrong time" just because Kerry's in charge? How many Berkeley students are planning to enlist on January 20th?

Kerry even left open this possibility when he said he doesn't know what kind of situation he'll find if he becomes president. Remember his "Beirut" comment? That was a door he left open.

Best of all, he's going to do it sooner rather than later because if he waits too long then he won't be able to blame Bush.

I suggest you start practicing your push-ups now.

Kendall Miller said...

Lord only knows why the military seems to prefer Bush (hswib) since he has been so profligate with their lives.

The other side of the coin is that many of us has learned that Bush (hswib) simply can't be trusted when it comes to using the military. He was said that he would use military force as a last resort. But he just blew past that one as if his words meant nothing. And that just what he has taught America and the world to expect from him. He has lied before. We can only expect him to lying now. Fool me once....

Finding the wolunteers to fulfill Kerry's plan may not be easy but given proper incentives and a leader that actually knows something about leadership I'm confident a way will be fourd.

Kendall Miller said...

For a better answer to the draft question see Josh Marshall.

Anonymous said...

What makes you so sure this wasn't the last resort?

Oh, that's right: No WMDs! Were you going to take Saddam's word for it? Well, maybe if our intel had been better. Who was on that Senate Intelligence Committee for all those years, anyway? You know, the guy who missed all those meetings?

Josh Marshall is making the mistake of comparing his personal impressions of Kerry's history to Bush's rhetoric.

Have you heard the comparison of Kerry to LBJ? "Lyndon Baines Johnson was another President with a silver star and a short combat career who seemed to feel that he had a lot to prove. Might Kerry's rather clear desire to be seen as a tough guy make him a surprisingly resilient warrior?"Most of us have seen that old LBJ campaign commercial with the little girl picking pedals off a daisy. That was from when LBJ ran as the guy who wouldn't start a war. Then he won the election and sent hundreds of thousands to Vietnam.

Kerry isn't going to just sit there. The CIA's going to keep sending him nasty reports, and he'll know that another 9/11 commission will be after him if he sluffs off the wrong one.

But here's the funny part: Remember all those troops who are there now? The ones who love Bush and hate Kerry? They've got VA college money waiting for them if they don't reenlist. They'll be going home and back to school while Kerry drafts the guys who voted for him.

Anonymous said...

Make no mistake - BOTH parties want to implement a draft. It's simply a matter of triangulating it to make the other guy take the political heat for it. Of course, if events can be choreographed such that the public starts demanding a draft, then both parties will be racing to take credit for implementing it. Either way, we're going to have a draft in the next year or two.

Now, as for the comment that the majority of the military supports Bush -- that's just plain false. It might have been true a few years ago, but today it is approaching a 50/50 split, and military families are leaning hard in the anti-Bush direction.