Further conversations with Hack

8/9/04 | Frumious Bandersnatch

[Frumious Bandersnatch]

Friend, you don't earn PHs. You got in the way.

You have a fixed psn and I can't do anything about where you are coming from..

Cheers, Hack

[Frumious Bandersnatch]

This is my latest in a series of email message conversations with Colonel Hackworth

Colonel Hackworth, You are still not addressing the issue. There are vets out there claiming that Mr. Kerry didn't get in the way. You have never answered that. You still persist in assuming that Mr Kerry did get in the way.

If I have a fixed position on this matter, it is that plenty of ad-hominem attacks are being made against Mr. Kerry's detractors, but little of substance is being offered to refute the charges they make.

As a person who is justly proud of your own PHs, wouldn't you want this entire thing cleared up?

As I've asked you before, why don't you encourage Mr. Kerry to release all of his military records? Thus far, you haven't answered me on that question either.

All you have done, is to slam the vets without determining if they are right or wrong. You have not been able to back up any of your assertions in support of Mr. Kerry's PHs. You assume that he was wounded (however slight) by enemy fire. Considering the charges made by the vets, you sir, as a reporter, assume overmuch.

Is it ethical for a reporter to assume, without any other evidence than Mr. Kerry's unsupported word, that he deserves his PHs, when there is an opposing view which says he doesn't? At the very least, give hard evidence that Mr. Kerry deserved his PHs. If not, at least state it as your opinion.

Basically, you are stating that Mr. Kerry was wounded (however slightly) while under fire from an enemy force. The vets are saying that Mr. Kerry inflicted a wound on himself in an action in which there was no enemy fire whatsoever.

For you, or anyone, to impugn any group or person on as little evidence as you've thus far given is to imbue your position automatically with prejudice without reason in favor of one side. IOW, as a reporter, you are not playing fair to both sides.

[cyborg]

Getting under the old coot's skin.

[gilliam]

Friend, you don't earn PHs. You got in the way.

He's right you know

[AZamericonnie]

Gee Hack, that really cleared things up.

[Frumious Bandersnatch]

True, but he still assumes that Mr. Kerry got in the way.

[Old Sarge]

This, FRiend, is why I've stopped trying to discuss or debate with people on either side of the poilitcal spectrum.

Neither side will move. Doesn't matter if they're left or right; neither will change.

The battleground, as always, will be The Sheep. And The Sheep break Left.

[wideawake]

I think you're missing an important psychological element here.

Among servicemen there is a feeling that the world divides into servicemen and civilians and that servicemen are "our team."

No matter what someone on "our team" did or didn't do, he's still a "teammate" and everyone else on the sidelines is a peon whose questions are meaningless.

It's a necessary mentality for prosecuting war successfully.

But it's a useless mentality for moral discussion.

What we see here from Hackworth is Scott Peterson's dad saying: "There's no way my boy did the horrible things you say he did. He's my boy!"

[FReepaholic]

...The battleground, as always, will be The Sheep. And The Sheep break Left...

Exactamundo! And sheep are always afraid and the Left always plays on their fears.

[AppyPappy]

More like Scott Peterson's dad saying "Scott couldn't have killed anyone. The Statue of Liberty is in New York".

Instead of answering the question, assert your position and then follow it up with an irrefutable fact. When called on it, swear you already answered the question with facts.

[Tailgunner Joe]

That doesn't explain why he's willing to call the Swift Boat Vets liars. This is nothing but pure partisanship. Hack is a Democrat.

[Radix]

The battleground, as always, will be The Sheep. And The Sheep break Left.

I think that it might be time to buzz a few sheep.

I looked for images to post from that Gene Wilder movie about the train, but my search was unfruitful!

[FReepaholic]

...No matter what someone on "our team" did or didn't do, he's still a "teammate" and everyone else on the sidelines is a peon whose questions are meaningless....

Then explain the Swift Boat Vets.

Sometimes the "team" wants to expose pretenders.

[ex-snook]

"He's right you know "

Beside the point. Kerry was not in uniform fighting in Vietnam. He found a way not to be there so he could not have been wounded or rescue anyone.

[wideawake]

Then explain the Swift Boat Vets.

They have realized that right and wrong trump the team mentality.

[dc-zoo]

Kerry got in the way of some high velocity rice.

[Bob]

I find it incredible that McLame, Franks, Hack and a great many others, none of whom ever served a single minute with kerry, are so eager and willing to disparage so many of those who actually.

[gilliam]

No matter what someone on "our team" did or didn't do, he's still a "teammate" and everyone else on the sidelines is a peon whose questions are meaningless.

Is that why Hack released the Abu Grabe pics to the press right when Iraq started errupting in violence?

[Bob]

Make that:

...actually did.

'Preview' is a good thing but it really helps to read what's there.

[Undertow]

I'm not sure if he is a Democrat. I think it is more bitterness towards Bush. It was clear from the way Hackworth was talking and writing during the 2000 campaign that he was aiming for a spot in the Cabinet as either a secretary or an advisor of some sort.

When he didn't get it I think he probably felt slighted and is now acting like a spoiled child.

He probably feels he'll "get back" at Bush by coming out against the Iraq war and how it's messed up, crying about how the Afghan war was messed up, blowing the prison scandal out of proportion, calling for Rumsfeld's resignation and criticizing everything that Franks has done.

If I recall correctly, he also made a stink about Myers being promoted to CJC.

I could be wrong but there is a clear difference in his attitude of pre-Bush compared to now. Comparing his columns in Soldier of Fortune and his radio appearances (I remember him being on a KDKA radio show during the 2000 campaign ripping Willy and Algore a new one and all but endorsing Bush) then and now are like night and day.

[OldFriend]

As long as Kerry was perceived to have a connection to the Kennedy family he was safe from all the rules that applied to all the others.