KERRY AND TERRY INSULT NATIONAL GUARD

Republican National Committee ^ | February 4, 2004 | RNC Research

[PhiKapMom]

KERRY AND TERRY INSULT NATIONAL GUARD
Kerry Associates National Guard Service With Draft-Dodging, DNC Chair Says Not Military
_______________________________________________________

KERRY AND TERRY BELITTLE NATIONAL GUARD SERVICE

Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) Compares Guard Service To Draft-Dodging. “‘If people went to Canada, if people opposed the war, if people chose to be in the Guard, that’s their choice, and I’ve never raised that in an issue,’ he said.” (Noelle Straub, “Kerry Presents Himself As GOP’s Worst Nightmare,” Boston Herald, 2/3/04)

Kerry Repeats Insult Of Guard.  “‘I’ve never made any judgments about any choice somebody made about avoiding the draft, about going to Canada, going to jail, being a conscientious objector, going into the National Guard,’ Kerry, a decorated Vietnam veteran, told Fox News Channel. ‘Those are choices people make.’” (Nick Anderson, “Buoyant Kerry Embraces Role Of Frontrunner,” Los Angeles Times, 2/4/04)

DNC Chair Terry McAuliffe Says President Bush’s National Guard Service Not Part Of Military.  “George Bush never served in our military and our country.”  (ABC’s “This Week,” 2/1/04)

BUT THEY IGNORE HONORABLE SERVICE
OF NATIONAL GUARD TODAY

Over 460,000 Men And Women Serving In Air And Army National Guard.   (2003 Reserve Forces Almanac, 2003, p.100)

8,866 National Guard Soldiers Participated In Iraq War.  (“Forces: U.S. & Coalition/Army, Army National Guard,” CNN’s “War In Iraq” Special Report Website, http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2003/iraq/forces/coalition/deployment/army/army.national.guard.html, Accessed 2/3/04)

22 Percent, Or More Than 28,000, Of 130,000 Soldiers In Iraq Right Now Are From National Guard And Reserves.   (Jim Garamone, “Officials Detail Iraq Rotation Plans To Congress,” American Forces Press Service, 1/28/04; Ron Martz, “Guard, Reserve Dying In Iraq,” Cox News Service, 1/17/04)

AND THROUGHOUT HISTORY

“Air National Guard And Reserve Units Make Up Between 60 Percent And 80 Percent” Of Air Force Personnel Who Served In Liberation Of Afghanistan.  (Matt Kelley, “Air National Guard, Reserve Forces A Big Part Of War In Afghanistan,” The Associated Press, 4/20/02)

63,000 Guardsmen Served In Desert Storm, And Guard Has Played Major Role In Peacekeeping Operations In Last Decade.  “Approximately 63,000 Army Guardsmen were called to serve in Desert Storm, and in the decade since then Guardsmen have seen a greater role than ever before – conducting peacekeeping in Somalia, Haiti, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, Bosnia, and Kosovo.”  (Army National Guard Website, www.arng.army.mil, Accessed 2/4/04)

“The Guard Doubled The Size Of The Regular Army When It Was Mobilized In 1940, More Than A Year Before Pearl Harbor, And Contributed 19 Divisions To” World War II, Plus Numerous Aviation Squadrons.  (Army National Guard Website, www.arng.army.mil, Accessed 2/4/04)

Army National Guard, “The Oldest Component Of The Armed Forces Of The United States And One Of The Nation’s Longest Enduring Institutions, Celebrated Its 366th Birthday In 2002.”  (Army National Guard Website, www.arng.army.mil, Accessed 2/4/04)

Air National Guardsmen Participated In Almost Every Conflict Since First World War.  “Although the Air National Guard was not established as a separate reserve component of the U.S. Air Force until 18 September 1947, National Guard aviators have played significant roles in all of America’s wars and most of its major contingencies since the First World War era.”  (Air National Guard Website, www.ang.af.mil,  Accessed 2/4/04)

[PhiKapMom]

John "Botox" Kerry and his "I am a Vet" is wearing mighty thin along with that lowlife at DNC! All of a sudden Kerry keeps his dog tags with him for good luck! Give this person a break -- this is the same slilmeball that threw his or someone else's medals over the WH fence. BTW, a veteran can order medals he has lost!

This is one great reason to Reelect Bush-Cheney in Nov '04!

[finnman69]

I would like a response from the RNC to the RATS to be something like this.

"Rather than focusing on unsubstantiated and irresponsible rumors regarding President Bush's service in the National Guard 30 years ago, The Democrats should be more concerned with John Kerry's more recent AWOL record in the Senate."

[PhiKapMom]

Anyone on this forum that thinks that Kerry would be good for conservatives to teach us a lesson better stay out of the way of any of us that support our men and women in the National Guard, the Reserves, and in the Active Force.

If you would like to be added or removed from this Bush-Cheney ping list, please let me know!

PKM

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Please read and help alert all to this important information:

Armor shell games & body bags

Our newly deployed troops have problems getting armor which is vital!

[Cannoneer No. 4]

ping

[snippy_about_it]

bump for record keeping

[Terabitten]

I guess no one told Kerry that over 50% of the combat power in today's Army is in the National Guard.

As a former Guardsman, I am *furious* over this insult.

[WarrenC]

A response to this from the folks at NRO:

ISN’T THIS INCREDIBLY NIXONIAN? [Rich Lowry] Here is Kerry on Bush and the Guard: “‘I’ve never made any judgments about any choice somebody made about avoiding the draft, about going to Canada, going to jail, being a conscientious objector, going into the National Guard.” You have to give Kerry Nixonian points for two things: 1) instead of just saying “I’m not going to talk about it,” he spins out a very purposeful sound bite about exactly the thing he says he’s not going to make an issue; 2) he not so subtly lumps Guard service in with every known dishonorable anti-war activity—including going to jail!

RE: INCREDIBLY NIXONIAN [John Derbyshire] Rich: That is the rhetorical figure known as "praeteritio." Arthur Quinn, in his 1982 book Figures of Speech, has this to say: "If I were to declare any figure inherently disreputable (which, of course, I will not), this would be the one. Neither will I mention that the only American president who repeatedly used the praeteritio was also the only one who had to resign. I will not mention it, despite its obvious relevance to our present discussion, because anything that might be interpreted as a political statement would be entirely inappropriate in a book like this."

[PhiKapMom]

Very good! Would imagine they will be reading and will be able to that comment!

[backhoe]

I'll cross-link and add it to the file:

-John Kerry- some selected, informative links...--

[W04Man]

That's a real good one Finn.

[PhiKapMom]

Everyone should be seeing the link as I pinged a whole group to this thread! Thanks for posting the link!

[jla]

Good for you, PhiKapMom!
Republican gals are something to behold when they're fired up!

W '04

[PhiKapMom]

Thank you sir!

[colorado tanker]

I saw Kerry say this in Fox News. My wife and I just turned to each other in amazement that Kerry would compare service in the Guard to running to Canada. I'm sure Rove has a tape of Kerry's disgraceful statement.

[funkywbr]

Those aren't dog tags, those are his balls on loan to him from his Rich Republican wife!~}

[plain talk]

I'm not worried about this. I think Rummy or the President should mention the National Guard when mentioning the men and women in uniform defnding our country. And specifically mention the NG folks over in Iraq. Kerry is playing his little associations game. Our side could deflect that by associating NG with soldiers and the war.

[rintense]

As posted before:

McAwful is one sorry f_ck if he thinks the National Guard isn't the military. One of my brothers, a proud member of the Oklahoma Nat'l. Guard, served in Gulf War I. My other brother, a member of the Michigan Nat'l Guard, just left for a stint in Bosnia as a UN Peacekeeper. So Terry McAwful can kiss my ass. My brothers combined have faced more real danger in their lives than Terry has seen driving through the streets of DC.

And John Kerry's remarks this weekend about how some 'joined the national guard' to avoid the Vietnam War should be played over, and over, and over again to every single soldier and American out there. It shows that liberals like John Kerry can turn serving your country into an elitist fraternity.

[PhiKapMom]

I cannot believe these lowlifes trashed the Guard this way. I think if I hear one more time about Kerry being a Vietnam Vet with medals, I may hurl something at my TV!

[bereanway]

Let Kerry and the DNC keep prating. They're well into the process of overplaying their hand and it's going to bite them big time. Kerry has a lot of baggage in this area that will be exploited as this is played out.