by matttbastard
AP:
Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney on Wednesday defended his five sons’ decision not to enlist in the military, saying they’re showing their support for the country by “helping me get elected.”
Romney, who did not serve in Vietnam due to his Mormon missionary work and a high draft lottery number, was asked the question by an anti-war activist after a speech in which he called for “a surge of support” for U.S. forces in Iraq.
“The good news is that we have a volunteer Army and that’s the way we’re going to keep it,” Romney told some 200 people gathered in an abbey near the Mississippi River that had been converted into a hotel. “My sons are all adults and they’ve made decisions about their careers and they’ve chosen not to serve in the military and active duty and I respect their decision in that regard.”
He added: “One of the ways my sons are showing support for our nation is helping me get elected because they think I’d be a great president.”
[…]
Romney noted that his middle son, 36-year-old Josh, was completing a recreational vehicle tour of all 99 Iowa counties on Wednesday and said, “I respect that and respect all those and the way they serve this great country.”
Conservative law prof Stephen Bainbridge, no fan of Romney’s to begin with, is far from impressed with the former Governer of Massechusett’s political acumen:
I’m not saying his kids should have served. I’m saying that to equate serving in the military with helping out in a political campaign is the sort of thing only a guy dumb enough to strap his dog to the roof of his station wagon for a 12 hour trip would say. It’s incredibly demeaning to those who serve to compare the heroism of those who serve in Iraq (whatever one makes of the cause) to stuffing envelopes in Ames or whatever Mitt’s kids are doing.
Now, now Professor. Josh Romney isn’t merely stuffing envelopes this summer; he’s been courageously driving the Mitt Mobile through the mean streets of the Midwest. Which, according to some, could be considered akin to touring through downtown Baghdad.*
More from publius, Kyle [E.] Moore, Kathy @ No More Mister Nice Blog and Steve Benen.
Flashback: Jon Swift asks: “Will Mitt Romney take Battlefield Earth to the White House?”
Via Memeorandum.
*Iowa, Indiana – same diff. *cough*
bastard.logic 
Eventually this primary season’s gonna get old enough for at least ONE of these gaffes to actually stick.
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Yeah, eventually. But how much you wanna bet the teflon stays on the GOP candidates, while the Heathers in the MSM go apoplectic over a half-hearted Democratic scream?
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No clue, I just hope it’s not forever. Last night during our liveblogging, we were watching the forum for the Democrats, and I think it was Mike who, during the foreign policy segment, asked how it was that Republicans were seen as the big rough and tumble party.
My answer? Got me, they crap themselves at the slightest mention of a terrorist. Not very brave there if you ask me.
But I just got an email from a columnist over at Iraqslogger. com, and she mentioned Romney, and you know her son is in Iraq right now, so she was offended, and despite his claim that the comment was taken out of context, she put it in lovely context. It didn’t get much better.
Further, she likened him to Bush pretty well. Bush doesn’t care, he can’t care. You can’t care about the troops if you gin up a reason to go to war, that’s about final on that subject.
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Last night during our liveblogging, we were watching the forum for the Democrats, and I think it was Mike who, during the foreign policy segment, asked how it was that Republicans were
seen as the big rough and tumble party.
My answer? Got me, they crap themselves at the slightest mention of a terrorist. Not very brave there if you ask me.
Perhaps it’s partially due to cognitive dissonance on the part of the MSM and the dead enders. See Festinger and Carlsmith’s 1959 induced compliance study:
(thanks, Isabel ;-))
Bush doesn’t care, he can’t care. You can’t care about the troops if you gin up a reason to go to war, that’s about final on that subject.
Agreed. I firmly believe that Bush and co. are directing the conduct of operations in Iraq under the sole consideration of partisan domestic concerns. Patrick Cockburn’s recent (dismal) report on the effect the ‘surge’ has had (short answer: not much, apart from delaying the inevitable long enough to allow the ‘stabbed in the back’ meme to become embedded in the public consciousness) belies the sincerity of the Bush admin’s dedication to both US troops and the citizens of Iraq.
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Heh, to follow on your study, have you read about Terror Management Theory? It’s some pretty enlightening stuff. Wikipedia gives a pretty thorough description there. But the general gist is that if you’re really scared, you will gravitate to people who reaffirm your world views as opposed to goal oriented folks who will actually do something about the danger of it.
Actually, I’m pretty proud of this post which covers a few elements of the politics of fear that has managed to make the fraidy cats seem like the big tough guys that will keep us safe:
http://commentsfromleftfield.com/2007/08/politics-of-fear
As for Bush, EL Doctorow’s The Unfeeling President is incredibly enlightening, and really brought about my own thinking on the subject. You shouldn’t be forced to show emotion when you make the decision to go to war, it should hollow you out inside. It should destroy you, and even LBJ who has some pretty dirty hands himself in the eyes of many, you could tell that Vietnam eventually started to eat away at him. This guy’s four years into the war still cracking jokes, still able to look himself in the face in the morning and that should be a clue. The fact that there are so many in the GOP field are so eager to pick up that standard and continue to bear it, that should frighten people…
Especially given the fact that this upcoming election will be far closer than it ever should be.
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You should be proud – that’s a great post.
The post-9/11 world is like a Woody Allen movie produced by Jerry Bruckheimer.
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