My good friend Vidiot got all bent out of shape over Peter Roskam saying Tammy Duckworth wanted to cut and run from Iraq, the implication being that since she served in Iraq and lost her legs there, both the accusation that she wanted to retreat from Iraq was uncalled for and the choice of words was outwardly offensive. From the MSNBC article:
During an election debate at the weekend in the outskirts of Chicago, Peter Roskam, the Republican candidate for Illinois’s sixth district, trotted out the familiar line that his Democratic opponent wanted America to “cut and run” from Iraq.
His opponent, Tammy Duckworth, a former National Guard pilot who lost both her legs in Iraq last year when her helicopter was shot down by a rocket-propelled grenade, was visibly angry at the exchange. “I just could not believe he would say that to me,” said Ms Duckworth, who now walks on artificial legs with the help of a cane. “I have risked my life to serve my country and you cannot question my patriotism.”
This is the problem with Democrats. No one questioned her patriotism in that statement. He questioned her wanting to leave Iraq. If he did it in ads, no one here has seen the ads to tell otherwise.
Secondly, there’s this quote:
“I am sick and tired of the Republicans saying ‘Either you agree with us on national security or you are not patriotic’,” says Ms Duckworth, whose campaign has ignited the highest level of volunteer door-to-door support the Democrats can remember in this district. “It is total baloney – in fact I have a better army word, but I can’t use it. We must never forget that it is patriotic and it is American to question people in power.”
The typical Democrat talking point that everyone is allowed to question those in power, but no one is allowed to question the questioners. Ever. Period.
Cindy Sheehan cannot ever be questioned on anything because Casey died in Iraq.
Kristen Breitweiser (and her gaggle of 9/11 widows) cannot be questioned on her position on 9/11 because her husband was killed.
Max Cleland’s judgement on defense matters cannot be questioned because he lost his limbs in Vietnam.
John Kerry’s courage because he got some purple hearts that he still won’t release the records that explain the wounds that explain them.
And now, Tammy Duckworth cannot be questioned on her plan to leave Iraq and “cut and run” as her opponent calls it because she served there. Apparently, serving in Iraq makes you an expert on it who cannot be questioned for any reason whatsoever. Unless of course you’re pro-war, in which case serving in Iraq means only that you’re a puppet of the Bush administration.
Why this gets any more attention than any other political pissing contest is beyond me, except that Democrats have once again set themselves up as unquestionable on an issue. For all the talk about how people inside the Bush Administration will immediately call you unpatriotic, isn’t a war veteran holding up her war service as a shield against all criticisms of her war beliefs the same exact thing?
Of course it is. Anyone not looking at it through partisan glasses can see it.
Which basically means nobody.
Technorati Tags: tammy duckworth, peter roskam
