Posted on 10/06/2004 6:58:11 AM PDT by Lunatic Fringe
Last night, the U.S. House shot down the military draft bill proposed by Democrats. The purpose of the bill was to scare college kids into voting for John Kerry.
George Bush has never been in favor of the draft. But don't take my word for it. Check out the U.S. House's official website at the link below to see who sponsored the bill to reinstate the military draft.
In the end, the sponsor of the bill to reinstate the draft, Charlie Rangel (D), didn't even vote for his own bill. The two "yea" votes were Democrats. The other sponsors of the bill:
Rep Abercrombie, Neil [HI]
Rep Brown, Corrine [FL]
Rep Christensen, Donna M. [VI]
Rep Clay, Wm. Lacy [MO]
Rep Conyers, John, Jr. [MI]
Rep Cummings, Elijah E. [MD]
Rep Hastings, Alcee L. [FL]
Rep Jackson, Jesse L., Jr. [IL]
Rep Jackson-Lee, Sheila [TX]
Rep Lewis, John [GA]
Rep McDermott, Jim [WA]
Rep Moran, James P. [VA]
Rep Stark, Fortney Pete [CA] (Voted "yea")
Rep Velazquez, Nydia M. [NY]
All Democrats. All but one voted against their bill.
http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2004/roll494.xml
Here is the chain mail I'm sending out:
WASHINGTON -- The House of Representatives yesterday overwhelmingly rejected a Democrat-sponsored bill to revive a military draft in a last-minute vote scheduled by its Republican leadership.
"For two months — especially on college campuses — they've used the draft as a fear tactic to get people to vote against George W. Bush," House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, Texas Republican, said of Democrats.
"We've had enough of that. We're going to call them on it. The Democrats are the only people that have a bill instituting the draft; we're going to bring it out there, and we're going to put a nail in it."
Mr. DeLay said Democrats, including Democratic presidential nominee Sen. John Kerry, have started "rumor campaigns" that Republicans are planning to restart the draft.
Mr. Kerry has said several times on the campaign trail that President Bush might use a draft, including yesterday, in Tipton, Iowa, when he listed "the possibility of a draft" among his reasons that voters might be motivated to support him.
Yesterday's draft bill — sponsored by Rep. Charles B. Rangel, New York Democrat — was defeated 402-2, with even Mr. Rangel voting against the proposal that called for reinstituting the practice abandoned in 1973 when the military converted to an all-volunteer force.
Rep. John P. Murtha, Pennsylvania Democrat, and Rep. Pete Stark, California Democrat, voted for the measure.
The bill, which Democrat Rangel said he introduced to make a political point that the military is being stretched too thin under Mr. Bush, would have required everyone, including women, between the ages of 18 to 26, to serve a period of military service.
The draft, signed into law by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1940, was last used from 1948 to 1973 to fill vacancies in the armed forces that volunteer recruitment could not.
"You've been caught in your own trap," Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham, California Republican, told Democrats.
Rep. Duncan Hunter, California Republican and chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, said the Defense Department and other military experts have told him that a draft is simply not necessary.
"We don't need a draft," he said, adding that Democrats have been trying to scare people and that yesterday's vote "may be the only way to put that to bed."
He said Republicans had to stop the Internet rumors of an impending draft under Mr. Bush — rumors that he called "the biggest hoax in show business."
"There are some who have tried to bring this up as a scare tactic, and that is highly unfortunate," White House spokesman Scott McClellan said. "The president does not believe we need a draft, and he's made that repeatedly clear."
Mr. DeLay said, "The Democrats have nothing to offer. John Kerry is trying to cover up who the real John Kerry is."
He added that Mr. Rangel's bill is "a fraud and so is the pernicious campaign of deception that brought it to the floor today."
"It is my sincere hope that this vote will put to rest the urban legends and conspiracy theories about reinstating the draft now being circulated, not just on the Internet, but on the campaign trail," said Sen. John Cornyn, Texas Republican.
"And I hope that the president's opponents who are now spreading such rumors will take this vote as a rebuke, and that it will bring an end to the unsubstantiated specter of a draft."
Before the vote, Republican Majority Leader Tom DeLay stated, "for months now, the American people have been subjected to -- and had their intelligence insulted by -- a manipulative, dishonest, and willful campaign of misinformation. This campaign, which started as a whisper but has since been given voice by the leading Democrats in the country today, asserts without any evidence whatsoever that there is a secret Republican plan to reinstitute the military draft.
"This campaign is a baseless and malevolent concoction of the Democrat Party, and everyone in this chamber knows it. It has one purpose -- to spread fear. To spread fear among an unsuspecting public, to undermine the war on terror, to undermine our troops, to undermine our cause, and most of all, to undermine our commander-in-chief ... in an election year.
"It is a lie. And to prove it, all we had to do was to look in the Congressional Record. And lo and behold, there it was. A plan, not secret, but public. Not hidden by Republicans, but openly touted by Democrats. H.R. 163 -- before us today -- is not the product of a Pentagon cabal, but is sponsored by six of the most liberal and vociferous critics of the war on terror.
"The vote on this bill won't be close, and it won't be party- line. Instead, it will be an opportunity for the American people to see who takes the national security of the United States seriously, who respects our armed forces, who wants to win the war on terror, and who just wants to win the next election."
The draft bill was defeated 402-2, the only two "aye" votes being Democrats. Not a single Republican supported the draft measure.
All the sponsors are the farthest of the far left, America hating, race bating slugs. They are the ones who keep pushing class warfare by insisting only poor kids will go to war. This was not true in the Vietnam era (they should ask JK if he remembers!) and it's not true now.
Ahem. Proposed by which party again?
DEMOCRATS! Say it loud and often!
Democrats?
Gee, that doesn't even rhyme with "Republicans". Is it possible Kerrywards and the rest of the DNC are misleading us? Well, color me shocked.
Done, I am also introducing it as a topic when I talk to people. "Did you hear the good news"? "What" The Republicans in the House defeated the Democrat restore the draft bill. It went down 402 to 2. It was so bad only 2 Democrats voted FOR it"
Someone needs to start a campaign to say that a draft is most likely under Kerry. Where is he going to get the extra 40,000 troops he's promising? Time to start that one up.
http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2004/roll494.xml
YEAS (In FAVOR of Draft): 2 (Murtha & Stark)
Nays: 402 (Too many to list)
Not Voting: 29 (Interesting list of cowards and slackers who chose not to vote or weren't there- Boehlert, Brown (OH), Brown, Corrine, Cannon, Cox, DeMint, Dooley (CA), Forbes, Gephardt, Greenwood, Hoeffel, John, Jones (OH), Kaptur, Kleczka, Kucinich, Lampson, Majette, McIntyre, Meeks (NY), Millender-McDonald, Nethercutt, Norwood, Portman, Pryce (OH), Sandlin, Slaughter, Tauzin, Terry)
...issue.
Even though I am away at college, I'm still glad that redistricting got Moron out of my home. What an idiot.
sounds about par for the course
but, isn't that about the number(29) of reps that supposedly belong to the communist party of America or some such?
BTTT
A draft you say?
Read article AND post one.
You were saying that Bush was going to impose a draft?
NOT ON YOUR LIFE.
The bill to reinstate the draft came from Democrats, and the guy who sponsored it, Rangel, didn't even vote for his own bill.
Not exactly. I said that the invasion-fever of the neo-cons - their desire to invade more and more countries in the Middle East - makes people fear a draft is coming. The House GOP agreed, which is why they try to defuse those fears by bringing this bill up for a vote. Of course, if there are more US invasions planned for after the election (Syria, Lebanon and the rest of the neocon play book), it's still reasonable to fear they'll need a draft.
It's all in the article and in post one.
And in numerous other places.
There will be no draft.
But, hey, act never bothers the churchillbuff.
And, you claim to foresee a draft.
And you have made mention of Dubya's daughters serving in Iraq.
Until it was pointed out that you were mentioning only Dubya's daughters.
"Since you favor an invasion of Iran, you shouldn't criticize people who foresee a draft. We're stretched as it is in Iraq - without even pacifying that country yet - so moving on to another country might very well require conscription."
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1223150/posts?page=54#54
"foresee a draft"?
That post above shows that you aren't looking at Iraq right.
Samarra was done with local Iraqi people taking part in it.
Who needs a draft when you can have the people themselves fight the terrorist infiltrators?
In the end, the sponsor of the bill to reinstate the draft, Charlie Rangel (D), didn't even vote for his own bill. The two "yea" votes were Democrats. The other sponsors of the bill: .....Yep ! Even Rangel voted AGAINST his own bill.
I heard the vote was turned down with 402 NO votes.
Whoops! Meant to include you in that post.
Rangel was trying to scare people with this bill at a meeting right on my street, at a Lutheran church. His implication was, Don't reelect Bush and there won't be a war any more, so there won't have to be a draft. "Caught in your own trap" says it perfectly.
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