He's a vet, You's a vet, Who's a vet?

Rantus 2 or 3

Published on August 20, 2004 By OckhamsRazor In Current Events

Every day I sign on to JU, I look over to the column with the "Recent JoeUser Articles" and pretty much every day I am seeing something about Bush being a vet or Kerry being a vet, and who is the vettiest vet of them all.

Any of you been in a war lately? No, then lemme 'splain something to you, Lucy.

Being a surviving vet is equal to but not greater than being a human being. There is no heroism in having survived a war. That theory is a drama.

If you're out on the battlefield, and large exploding objects are landing nearby, you run in a direction that is diametrically opposed to where the largest mass of exploding objects is landing. This is not heroism. This is lesson 3 from the "Holy Shiiiiiiit" Survival Training School.

If a guy runs at you with a gun, you do whatever you do. You shoot at him, he shoots at you, you run, you hide, you do whatever survival instinct kicks in for you, and you probably also crap your pants. Big hero.

Unless you think our president is going to have people gunning for him day after day after day (no, really) or will have big flaming objects dropping out of the sky in a repeating fashion (no, not "Ant" from Last Comic Standing), then I suggest not voting for someone based on the fact that they have been in the military, or were you radical lefts and rights too busy gnashing your self-righteous teeth at each other to THINK of that?

Numbers of purple hearts or number of years successfully avoiding death do not confer upon a person any ABILITY to run a business, and THAT is what the president of the United States needs to be able to do. Run our business and bring home a profit. If you don't think making a profit is the real bottom line to everything, can I have your stuff?

Comments

Gideon MacLeish

on Aug 20, 2004

If its about intelligence, then id have to say Bush was the brighter of the two,

What frightens me, LW, is...you may very well be right on this count.

Whichever, though, I agree with the original post. Kerry's past military service should be considered irrelevant.

OckhamsRazor

on Aug 20, 2004

Sure, cus its all junk and as you know, we're moving soon anyway...so you are welcome to my (literally) trash picked furniture...lol. We shall sit on the floor until our thrones arrive!

Is that "The Jeffersons" I hear in the backgfround, LW?

Once again, I'm really happy you guys caught a break. Virginny will be a sound improvement on Cleveland, to boot, I am guessing.

but i dont think its war skills that are being questioned in this issue, Ock, its honesty.

A good point to be sure. I admit I don't read much past realizing it's another "vet" or "not-vet" issue before hitting the ole "back" button.

I think it's pretty sad that we've been reduced to only two puppets to vote for. I know, Gid, you're hot on the Libertarian thing, and that way of thinking is more my speed, too, but I think you know what I mean. The presidential election has started to become a SuperBowl that only gets played once every four years by the same two teams. Ah well, being the optimist I am, I'll simply point out that either way Saturday Night Live will have good material to work with.

kingbee

on Aug 20, 2004

There is no heroism in having survived a war

maybe not. but until relatively recently, the number of surviving fighters determined the winner. and as george c scott being george s patton noted the idea isnt to die for one's country...it's to make the other guy die for his country.

THAT is what the president of the United States needs to be able to do. Run our business and bring home a profit

If its about intelligence, then id have to say Bush was the brighter of the two,

so in other words, what youre saying is...you need to hire a guy to run a business for you and there are two applicants: b and k. which one do you choose based on their real-business-world accomplishments? (have either of them done enough in the real world to qualify--or conversely, to disqualify--one to take the wheel at your new widget division?)

OckhamsRazor

on Aug 20, 2004

Not exactly. My main point was why do I care whether these guys have been in the military? The military confers on it's members the ability to stay alive when bullets are flying, not run a country.

It's also my observation that the things that make life better are the things that make it easier, and a sound economy sure helps me. But I'll stop at that premise and let you know up front, I do not have the business sense to tell you whether b or k is the better businessman.

Ock, you should join me on my quest to form the NOT-A Party....also known as "None Of The Above" party. We run no candidates, we have no position on ANY issue, we endorse no one, we condemn no one, we simply want a box on EVERY ballot that reads..."none of the above."

Consider me joined. How much for a t-shirt and a bumper sticker?

This won't be a stretch. I've been voting "none of the above" (myWholeLife - 18) with the exception of one election. I voted against Clinton because he had the gall to play saxophone as a part of his campaign and he sucked. If he'd had any chops worth anything I would have voted my usual NOT-A. I did not bother to vote against him the second time. By then he had thankfully stopped playing. Other than that, it's been "none of the above" my whole life because I don't care to participate in a system which is fucked and by participating enable those that want to pretend it still works as originally designed.

NOT-A for President on a ticket with Vice presidential hopeful, DILLIGAF.

We're gonna need a web site...

Abe Cubbage

on Aug 20, 2004

Ock, this is about politics, common sense is irrelevant.

Just like i didnt really give a damn that Clinton got his pee-pee sucked, i was concerned when he out and out lied about it.

Lieing in politics is such a non-issue. ALL politicians lie, INCLUDING the ones you vote for. I seriously doubt it's possible to get elected without lieing.

Give the people a change to reject EVERY candidate in any given race, forcing the powers that be to offer us higher quality candidates. This would eliminate the "lesser of two evils" position we often find ourselves in as voters.

That's a good idea that will never happen.

Dan Kaschel

on Dec 22, 2004

Wouldn't this be funny...

Election results:
99.9999999% none of the above
00.0000001% Bush
Winner: Bush

How I would love to be one of the eight people who voted for Bush and got him elected:)

Dan

ParaTed2k

on Dec 22, 2004

It's not so much about whether a candidate is a war vet or not (at least in this election cycle), it is about each applicants "resume" and what he chose to put on it.

When you (or anyone else) creates a resume, you fill it with what you consider the most impressive, and relevant job and education experience you have. As an added bonus, in politics the other applicants get to see your resume and try to redefine your accomplishments in their own image.

in this election cycle, Sen. Kerry chose to make his military service a major point of his "resume". He and his advisors looked over all of Kerry's experiences and decided that Vietnam service was something that would help Kerry's chances of winning (coupled with the idea that it would be a great segway into trashing Bush's National Guard service, they probably figured it was a win-win situation for them).

Military and war vet status has met with varied success where presidential politics is concerned. It worked great for JFK but crashed and burned for Sen. Dole's bid against Clinton.

In the end, whether it is an important issue or not has a whole lot more to do with the individual voter than the candidate, I know a lot of vets who are single issue voters where this is concerned. Personally, I consider it a plus, but not a litmus test.

sandy cheeks

on May 16, 2005

hey what up i am practicing to be a vet what do i need to know

sandy cheeks

on May 16, 2005

hey what up i am practicing to be a vet what do i need to know

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