Posted on 05/16/2007 1:48:49 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Democrat John Edwards' call for voters to speak out against the Iraq war on Memorial Day weekend has drawn criticism from a leader of the American Legion, who called the effort "revolting."
In an e-mail message and on his Web site, Edwards asks supporters to honor and pray for the troops over the Memorial Day weekend and to send them care packages and treats. But the presidential candidate also urges supporters to use the holiday to denounce the war — an effort Paul Morin, national commander of the American Legion, decried as an attempt to "politicize" the day.
"Revolting is a kind word for it. It's as inappropriate as a political bumper sticker on an Arlington headstone," Morin wrote on the Legion's Web site. "Edwards is hardly the first politician from either political party to exploit this day, a holiday that was consecrated with the blood of American heroes. But the e-mail makes me sick nonetheless."
A Marine Corps veteran of the Iraq war, Jonathan Morgenstein of Arlington Va., said he disagreed with Morin's criticism even though he is not endorsing the Edwards campaign. The campaign offered Morgenstein's opinion as a contrast to Morin's.
"To me, the people who fought and died in the military — in Iraq, in Afghanistan, fighting Germany or Japan — they were fighting for political freedom and the right to agree or disagree with the current policies," Morgenstein said in an interview with The Associated Press. "As long as it's done tastefully and respectfully, whether they're calling for withdrawal or drawdown, whatever. Revolting? I disagree."
Late last year, Morin denounced Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry, the 2004 Democratic presidential nominee, for his well-publicized gaffe suggesting uneducated people were more likely to get sent to fight in Iraq.
But in an interview Tuesday, Morin said he was politically unaffiliated and that he had criticized politicians of both parties.
He said when his group speaks out on veterans' issues, they are more often in line with Democrats. "On the Iraq war, we are more in line with Republicans. It's the issues that matter, not the politics," Morin said.
The American Legion was chartered by Congress in 1919 as a nonpartisan veterans' organization.
Morin was particularly critical of Edwards' call for supporters to carry anti-war posters in their local Memorial Day parades.
"It's not about picnics or trips to the beach. It's not about making pro- or anti-war statements. It's not about supporting political candidates," Morin wrote.
Our first selectman did this last year. He chose to dishonor Memorial Day with politics.
GO Get ‘em Paul Morin! Bump!
ping
Edwards is a wretched human being.
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