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The Military Records of Political and Media Leaders

October 11, 2004

This could be the last election where military service in Vietnam has any political significance, but just for the record it's worth noting who really served among the heavyweights in each of the major political parties.  Also check out the bottom of the list where the people who spend their time jabbering about military service (the TV pundits) have their military credentials - or lack thereof - exposed.

Disclosure: In 1971 I had low number (111) and was eligible for the draft from my county in Indiana. I had received student deferments from 1967-1971 while in college. I failed my physical in 1971due to flat feet and a lower back ailment which I still have. I served two years as a VISTA volunteer working for Cook County Legal Assistance Foundation in Evanston. This was the suburban legal aid for Northern Cook County.

DEMOCRATS:

Richard Gephardt: Air National Guard, 1965-71.
David Bonior: Staff Sgt. Air Force, 1968-72.
Tom Daschle: 1st Lieut., Air Force SAC 1969-72.
Al Gore: enlisted 1969, sent to Vietnam Jan.'71 as army journalist-20th Engnr. Brig.
Bob Kerrey: Lt. j.g. US Navy, 1966-69, Medal of Honor, Vietnam.
Daniel Inouye: Army 1943-47, Medal of Honor, WWII.
John Kerry: Lieut., US Navy 1966-70; Silver Star, Bronze Star with Combat Purple Hearts.
John Edwards: did not serve.
Charles Rangel: Staff Sgt. US Army 1948-52; Bronze Star, Korea.
Max Cleland: Captain, US Army 1965-68: Silver Star & Bronze Star, Vietnam.
Ted Kennedy: US Army, 1951-53.
Tom Harkin: Lieut. US Navy, 1962-67; Naval Reserve, 1968-74.
Jack Reed: Army Ranger, 1971-79; Captain, Army Reserve, 1979-91.
Fritz Hollings: Army officer in WWII, Bronze Star & 7 campaign ribbons.
Leonard Boswell: Lieut. Col., Army 1956-76: Vietnam, DFCs, Bronze Star
Pete Peterson: Capt. USAF, POW, Purple Heart, Silver Star & Legion of Merit.
Mike Thompson: Staff Sgt., 173rd Airborne, Purple Heart.
Bill McBride:( Candidate for Fla. governor), USMC Bronze Star- Vietnam.
Gray Davis: Captain, US Army; Bronze Star - Vietnam.
Pete Stark: USAF, 1955-57.
Chuck Robb: USMC- Vietnam.
Howell Heflin: Silver Star.
George McGovern: Silver Star & DFC - WWII.
Bill Clinton: Did not serve. Student deferments - Entered draft & rec'd #311.
Jimmy Carter: Lieutenant US Navy ; seven years of service including WWII.
Walter Mondale: US Army, 1951-53. Korea.
John Glenn: US Navy WWII & Korea, six DFCs and Air Medal with 18 clusters.
Tom Lantos: served in Hungarian underground in WWII. Saved by Raoul Wallenberg
Wesley Clark: US Army 1966-2000, West Point, Vietnam, Purple Heart, Silver Star, retired Four Star General.
John Dingell:  WWII.
John Conyers: US 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 due to "other priorities"
John Ashcroft: did not serve. 7 deferments to teach business.
Jeb Bush: did not serve.
Karl Rove: did not serve.
Saxy Chambliss: did not serve due to a "bad knee". This is the man who attacked the patriotism of Max Cleland who lost three limbs in combat in Vietnam.
Paul Wolfowitz: did not serve.
Vin Weber: did not serve.
Douglas Feith: did not serve.
Eliot Abrams: did not serve.
Richard Shelby: did not serve.
Jon Kyl: did not serve.
Tim Hutchinson: did not serve.
Christopher Cox: did not serve.
Newt Gingrich: did not serve.
Don Rumsfeld: US Navy flight instructor 1954-57.
Geo. W. Bush: six year Nat'l Guard commitment (incomplete).
Ronald Reagan: poor eyesight, made movies and canteen visits in WWII.
Gerald Ford: US Navy WWII.
Phil Gramm: did not serve.
John McCain: Vietnam POW, Silver Star, Bronze Star, Purple Heart, DFC.
Bob Dole: US Army WWII, wounded in action.
Chuck Hagel: Purple Heart & Bronze Star - Vietnam.
Jeff Sessions: Army Reserve 1973-86.
J.C. Watts: did not serve.
Lindsey Graham: attorney for National Guard.
G.H.W. Bush: US Navy pilot-WWII, shot down by Japanese.
Tom Ridge: Bronze Star - Vietnam.
Antonin Scalia: did not serve.
Clarence Thomas: did not serve.

PUNDITS:

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.
Paul Gigot: did not serve.
Bill Bennett: did not serve.
Pat Buchanan: did not serve.
Bill Kristol: did not serve.
Kenneth Starr: did not serve.
Michael Medved: did not serve.

From September 8, 2004:

Iraqi Deathwatch: Why John Kerry Will Lose the Election

John Kerry, eight weeks from the election, is staring at a foundering campaign that is 11 points below George Bush's poll numbers. Mr. Kerry's campaign seems to have lost the momentum from where it started. You hear him on daily news bites sounding professorial as he wags his finger and tongue at GWB.

However Mr. Kerry is failing to give the voters what they need to elect him - a clear reason why he would be better than the incumbent for the White House job. This is why Mr. Kerry will lose the election, unless something dramatic happens to change the direction of his campaign.

GWB is winning the debate over the security issue of the American response to terrorists. Mr. Kerry who voted for the war powers and funding for Mr. Bush to wage war said he would do the same thing again. The economic numbers in the US are being lost because the bean counters are speaking about this billion and that billion, but there is no passion in what it means for Americans.

And the lack of passion is killing John Kerry's chances of being president. The undecided American voters will vote for someone because they hear or sense the "fire in the belly" of the candidate. And so far George Bush is winning that battle.

So in the coming weeks unless John Kerry gets his campaign fired up he will go back to the back benches of the Senate and fall back into the shadows of Massachusetts Senior Senator, Edward Kennedy. Let's hope that is not the case.

From September 1, 2004:

Lessons From World War II Affect Iraqi Postwar Policy

(Chicago, Illinois) September 1, 2004 Today is the 65th anniversary of the start of World War II in Europe. The start of the mayhem which would claim 60 million lives worldwide. The European portion of the war, much of it fought in the East, claimed 25 million Russians of the old Soviet Union.

The war brought about a Cold War that lasted 50 years and set up an unnecessary confrontation between the former allies of that war. The years since the unsuccessful diplomacy of the 30's turned to create allies of enemies and enemies of allies. The subsequent years cast people that sacrificed 25 million in the fight against fascism in an evil way.

The United States acted as arrogantly then as it is now in the Iraqi conflict of today. As Europe lay in cinders the U.S. acted as if we were the only knight in shining armour that would save the continent from fascism. The truth be told, the U.S. was instrumental in the process to save Europe from fascism by supplying weapons, ships to haul goods and the cheer leading first as a neutral power than an allied belligerent. But, too often we forget that Russian, British, French and many other country's people fought the war alongside American soldiers.

From August 5, 2004:

There Goes the Catholic Church Again

"On the Collaboration of Men and Women in the Church and in the World," calls modern feminism a threat to family and creating an environment where gay marriage is acceptable. The church issued this statement to bishops last week.

The attack on women was led by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Cardinal Ratzinger a conservative German from the Munich area has been a Vatican official since being appointed by Pope John Paul II in 1981.

[According to Cardinal Ratzinger,] the Vatican says women should have equality in the workplace, but elsewhere differences between the sexes must be recognized.

The document restates long-held church beliefs about women. The ban on female priests is upheld in this 37 page document. The church says, "that many women felt they had to be 'adversaries of men' in order to be themselves."

The mixed message to women that it is OK to be equal in the workplace but not necessarily in the home and certainly not within the church walls is difficult to reconcile for many Catholics.

From July 29, 2004:

George Ryan Doesn't Go Away: Deadline a Documentary To Air on His Heroic Actions

Volume 1, Number 49

(Chicago, Illinois) July 29, 2004… George Ryan takes center stage with the replay of his death penalty heroics - the commuting of pardoning four men and commuting another 167 men and women on death row to life without parole through a documentary movie. And in the event some of them are proved to be not guilty they will walk out of prison instead of having been wheeled out on a gurney.

The movie, Deadline, airs on NBC's Dateline at 7 PM CST on Friday, July 30. The movie by Katy Chevigny and Kirsten Johnson is repeated on MSNBC from 8 - 10 PM. You can go to www.deadlinethemovie.com for more information on the movie.

I was fully involved in that set of circumstances. I covered a number of speeches as a journalist by Governor Ryan after he imposed the moratorium on carrying out death sentences. Later I did media and headed an organization working to end the death penalty in Illinois.

I could tell that George Ryan was sincere when I interviewed him. He was troubled by the fact he within 50 hours of putting death Anthony Porter to death.

The governor once made an off hand comment about there may be many more people in Illinois' prisons who should not be there.

In Wake of 9/11 Report: Airport Security Clamping Down on American Freedoms

Volume 1, Number 46

(Chicago, Illinois) July 23, 2004…Yesterday the 9/11 Commission released it's long awaited report on the terrorist events of September 11, 2001 and the subsuquent  finger pointing. Just as the Pearl Harbor Commission of 60 years before, the report swirled the waters, but revealed little new information. That now discredited report on the Japanese bombing of the U.S. Navy facility was seen as a product of the political wars of the 1940's. There is no reason to believe the current report will not be seen that same in a future time.

The terrorists that knocked down the two towers of the World Trade Center and one section of the Pentagon were clever and resourceful people. They scored a political victory against an arrogant nation led by an arrogant leader. Does that excuse them or condone their actions, absolutely not. Just as at Pearl Harbor thousands of people died - unnecessarily. The United States mourns their loss justifiably.

Now the commission has arrived at 15 major findings and 16 major recommendations for action. The lists from the Associated Press are in the latter part of this edition of Today's Issues. The entire report is available for $10 at bookstores on the web at http://www.9-11commission.gov/report/911Report.pdf.

Fahrenheit 9/11 - A Movie Documenting Deceit in America

Volume 1, Number 45

(Chicago, Illinois) June 28, 2004…Until Saturday I had not seen a Michael Moore movie. I had read previous reviews of his other movies and was familiar with the sense of things. But, I was unprepared for the power of  Fahrenheit 9/11 on my psyche. While I dislike George Bush and all that he represents this movie confirmed while teaching me few new things about Mr. Bush.  For others that are undecided or supporters of President Bush the impact could be even stronger.

The movie that is done in television documentary format could come across as a propaganda movie. There were similarities to Leni Riefenstahl's 1930's classic about the rise of Nazi Germany, Triumph of the Will. Fahrenheit 9/11 was not as polished a film, but it used speeches of a leader and symbolism to get points across to the audience.  Mr. Moore's movie was disapproving in outlook and that negativity came through perfectly. Ms. Riefenstahl's movie was an upbeat positive movie about social change at a traumatic period in European history. That upbeat position is much easier to pitch than negativity to an audience.

One of the techniques he used was archival news footage punctuated with new interviews. The footage obtained from news outlets and the Bush Library showed George W. Bush at his very worst. While Mr. Moore didn't have to try at all, one could argue the spit and the polish was taken off of President Bush's inarticulate mannerisms and that allowed him to appear as a boob.