Memorial Day Chicken Hawks

    I published this last year and I think I'll make it a habit:

Recognizing who served:

Democrats * Richard Gephardt: Air National Guard, 1965-71.
Tom Daschle: 1st Lt., Air Force SAC 1969-72.
Al Gore: enlisted Aug. 1969; sent to Vietnam Jan. 1971 as an army journalist in 20th Engineer Brigade.
Daniel Inouye: Army 1943-'47; Medal of Honor, WWII.
John Kerry: Lt., Navy 1966-70; Silver Star, Bronze Star with Combat V Purple Hearts.
Charles Rangel: Staff Sgt., Army 1948-52; Bronze Star, Korea.
Max Cleland: Captain, Army 1965-68; Silver Star & Bronze Star, Vietnam.
Ted Kennedy: Army, 1951-1953.
Tom Harkin: Lt., Navy, 1962-67; Naval Reserve, 1968-74.
Jack Reed: Army Ranger, 1971-1979; Captain, Army Reserve 1979-91.
George McGovern: Silver Star & DFC during WWII.
Bill Clinton: Did not serve. Student deferments. Entered draft but received 311.
Jimmy Carter: Seven years in the Navy.
Walter Mondale: Army 1951-1953
John Glenn: WWII and Korea; six DFCs and Air Medal with 18 Clusters.
Wesley Clark: U.S. Army, 1966-2000, West Point, Vietnam, Purple Heart, Silver Star. Retired 4-star general.
John Conyers: Army 1950-57, Korea

Republicans
Dennis Hastert: did not serve.
Tom Delay: did not serve.
House Whip Roy Blunt: did not serve.
Bill Frist: did not serve.
Rudy Giuliani: did not serve.
George Pataki: did not serve.
Mitch McConnell: did not serve.
Rick Santorum: did not serve.
Trent Lott: did not serve.
Dick Cheney: did not serve. Several deferments, the last by marriage.
John Ashcroft: did not serve. Seven deferments to teach business.
Jeb Bush: did not serve.
Karl Rove: did not serve.
Saxby Chambliss: did not serve. "Bad knee." The man who attacked Max Cleland's patriotism.
Paul Wolfowitz: did not serve.
Richard Perle: did not serve.
Douglas Feith: did not serve.
Eliot Abrams: did not serve.
Richard Shelby: did not serve.
Jon Kyl: did not serve.
Newt Gingrich: did not serve.
Don Rumsfeld: served in Navy (1954-57) as aviator and flight instructor.
George W. Bush: six-year Nat'l Guard commitment (in four).
Ronald Reagan: due to poor eyesight, served in a non-combat role making movies.
Gerald Ford: Navy, WWII
John McCain: Silver Star, Bronze Star, Legion of Merit, Purple Heart and Distinguished Flying Cross.
Chuck Hagel: two Purple Hearts and a Bronze Star, Vietnam.

Pundits & Preachers
Sean Hannity: did not serve.
Rush Limbaugh: did not serve (4-F with a 'pilonidal cyst.')
Bill O'Reilly: did not serve.
Michael Savage: did not serve.
George Will: did not serve.
Chris Matthews: did not serve.
Bill Bennett: did not serve.
Pat Buchanan: did not serve.
Bill Kristol: did not serve.

Comments

[Dave]

You forgot Republican Congressman and prominant supporter of the war in Iraq Christopher Shays who avoided military service by classified as a conscientious objector...Apparently his conscience doesn't seem to mind sending others to be shot at

[uniter]

the people who did not serve really have a lot of nerve,
with all the smack they talk, who would have thought it.
thanks for printing it

[brad]

Bill Clinton: Did not serve. Student deferments. Entered draft but received 311.

I'd have to double check but I thought it was:

Bill Clinton: Did not serve. Student deferments. Draft dodger, a felony, pardoned by Jimmy Carter. First former felon to be elected President of US.

Seems former President Clinton has more in common with the Republicans on your list.

[Kevin F Droste]

Either way, another good reason to never vote for a Clinton.

[Ragnar Lodbrok]

I don't know what "pardon" you guys might be referring to. If you are referring to amnesty for draft dodgers, that was President Ford. Clinton did not benefit from Ford's amnesty-- he did not leave the country to avoid the draft-- which, by the way, was an honorable response to being drafted into a war based on the now-admitted to lie of the Tonkin Gulf Resolution. Clinton pulled a low number in the lottery, just as the write-up said. And by what stretch of the imagination would his low draft number effect her qualifications to be President?

[D Flinchum]

"I don't know what "pardon" you guys might be referring to. If you are referring to amnesty for draft dodgers, that was President Ford."

President Ford "pardoned" former President Nixon. I believe it was President Carter who pardoned the draft evaders but that had nothing to do with President Clinton, who, like many another, evaded the draft by attending college for years and escaped it entirely by drawing a high lottery number. He did nothing illegal.

[john]

geezzz... sometimes you guys really scare me. if you are going to pretend to know your ass from a hole in the ground at least get your information straight. carter offered amnesty... then slick willy pardoned the chickenshits completely in 1995... any coincidents they were both dems? wonder what hohillary might come up with if she had the chance... god forbid..

[Dave Walters]

boy, that was some clever cherry-picking - finding every liberal who actually served, and every conservative who did not... and only listing those. Totally ingnoring the hundreds of Republicans who served honorably, trying to make it appear that the Republican party is a chicken-hawk party. Wow, a pretty distorted comparison! There are some sick people out there!

[tasini]

Dave: I think the point is quite clear--the list of Republicans includes some of the loudest, flag-waving, patriotism-claiming Republicans out there. Saxby Chambliss, for example, ran an absolutely horrific campaign against Max Cleland, effectively calling him an ally of Saddam Hussein. Chambliss--did not serve. Cleland--lost three limbs and is in a wheelchair from combat. Case rested.