So much for those little magnetic yellow ribbons that say “Support our troops“. One could always rely on seeing a Bush/Cheney bumper sticker near those yellow magnets as well.
At the same time Bush was telling us to “go shopping“.
We needn’t make any sacrifices, a yellow magnet would do just fine.
Someone on the “go shopping” link put it clearly and succinctly:
The period immediately following 9/11 provided a moment for Pres. Bush to exercise great leadership, especially to ask Americans to make a sacrifice, and that Bush didn’t seize that opportunity. I also share the view that refraining from calling on Americans to make helpful contributions to the war effort, while ordering other people into harm’s way, is unseemly and symbolic of the growing class disparities in the US. But I caution people against evaluating policies on the basis of symbols.
The Raw Story
An openly gay soldier who was booed by a Republican audience spoke to MSNBC host Chris Matthews on Wednesday about his reaction to the incident.
Army Captain Stephen Hill asked at the Fox News Republican presidential debate in September if the candidates intended to “circumvent the progress that has been made for gay and lesbian soldiers in the military?” His question was met with loud boos.
“I’ve been in the army about 20 years,” he told Matthews. “And I submitted the question because I have had a lot of times in the military where I’d go to the firework, and would be sitting there and they would say, ‘We want to shout out to the troops,’ and it made me feel like I should be really happy at that moment, and then I would all of a sudden realize I am fighting for everybody’s rights except my own. So when I heard some of the Republican candidates had said they would repeal the repeal of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,’ I felt inclined to ask them, ‘is that true? is that what you would do?’”
“I was pretty surprised when the boos happened. It was shocking to me, my gut kind of dropped out. I thought that I had done something wrong. But I think what’s worse is probably that Mr. Santorum’s response got so many cheers.”
Santorum responded to the question by saying that gays shouldn’t have the “special privilege” of being able to serve openly.
Watch video, courtesy of MSNBC, here…
Related articles
- Gay soldier shares reaction to GOP debate boos (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
- Listeners didn’t just boo a `gay’ soldier. They booed a SOLDIER (kaystreet.wordpress.com)
- Gay Soldier Shares Reaction To GOP Debate Boos (queerlandia.com)
- Audience boos gay soldier at GOP debate, Santorum promises to reinstate don’t ask, don’t tell (boingboing.net)
- After Criticism, Santorum Condemns Audience’s Jeers And Thanks Gay Soldier For Service (kaystreet.wordpress.com)
