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Harkin Attacks McCain for Having Served In the Military Too Much
abcnews.com ^
| May 26th, 2008
| Jake Tapper
Posted on 05/26/2008 3:56:05 PM PDT by The_Republican
In the Des Moines Register, Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, said that the worldview of Navy veteran Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who is the son and grandson of Admirals, has been shaped too much by the military.
"He has a hard time thinking beyond that," Harkin told reporters. "I think he's trapped in that. Everything is looked at from his life experiences, from always having been in the military, and I think that can be pretty dangerous."
"It's one thing to have been drafted and served, but another thing when you come from generations of military people and that's just how you're steeped, how you've learned, how you've grown up."
Harkin, like McCain, was a Navy flier, though unlike McCain Harkin never saw combat.
Harkin said "there's nothing wrong with a career in the military
but now McCain is running for a higher office. He's running for commander in chief, and our Constitution says that should be a civilian. And in some ways, I think it would be nice if that commander in chief had some military background, but I don't know if they need a whole lot."
Republicans have taken offense at Harkin's comments, saying they show how "out of touch" Democrats are.
Apparently Harkin has a Goldilocks view of military service, having heralded Sen. John Kerry's service in 2004 and having assailed Vice President Dick Cheney for not having done so.
"When I hear this coming from Dick Cheney, who was a coward, who would not serve during the Vietnam War, it makes my blood boil," Harkin said then, after Cheney attacked Kerry for being weak on terrorism.
"Those of us who served and those of us who went in the military don't like it when someone like a Dick Cheney comes out and he wants to be tough. Yeah, he'll be tough. He'll be tough with somebody else's blood, somebody else's kids. But not when it was his turn to go."
This wasn't Harkin's first broadside against McCain. In April the Register reported that Harkin criticized McCain's temper, saying "it can be scary. Flying off the handle without discussing things with people, working things out
Ive seen it a couple, three times here."
Last month, Sen. Jay Rockefeller, R-WV, a supporter of Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, criticized McCain for being "insensitive to many human issues." Rockefeller said that this stemmed from the fact that "McCain was a fighter pilot, who dropped laser-guided missiles from 35,000 feet. He was long gone when they hit. What happened when they [the missiles] get to the ground? He doesn't know. You have to care about the lives of people. McCain never gets into those issues." He later apologized.
The Karl Rove style of politics is to go after your opponent where he is strongest -- Kerry's military service, for instance. Are the Democrats trying this against McCain?
TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; Philosophy; Politics/Elections; US: Iowa
KEYWORDS: 110th; harkin; harkinlowlife; jaketapper; mccain
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Our Democrat Freinds wishing every Soldier well on Memorial Day!
To: The_Republican
I’ll take a career military man, regardless of branch, over any civy (myself included), any day. Dismissed.
2
posted on
05/26/2008 3:58:24 PM PDT
by
TheZMan
(Bitter backwoods east Texan Christian gun clinger with the AC at 72 degrees.)
To: The_Republican
3
posted on
05/26/2008 3:58:36 PM PDT
by
Diogenesis
(Igitur qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum)
To: The_Republican
And he says this on Memorial Day?
4
posted on
05/26/2008 3:58:37 PM PDT
by
InABunkerUnderSF
("Gun Control" is not about the guns. "Illegal Immigration" is not about the immigration)
To: The_Republican
Tom Harkin: is living prove that ALL are not created with equal BRAINS:-()
5
posted on
05/26/2008 3:59:58 PM PDT
by
geo40xyz
(McCain, Obama or Hillarybeast possibility of 4 Supreme Court Justices, Gore @UN. The WINNER is?)
To: Diogenesis
Woe! Look at the heroic admiration in all of their eyes........
6
posted on
05/26/2008 4:01:08 PM PDT
by
The_Republican
(Ovaries of the World Unite! Rush, Laura, Ann, Greta - Time for the Ovulation!)
To: The_Republican
He's running for commander in chief, and our Constitution says that should be a civilian.
point one; McCain IS a civilian, Point two; The constitution says no such thing.
7
posted on
05/26/2008 4:02:01 PM PDT
by
HEY4QDEMS
To: The_Republican
You're right.
Title change: "Harkin Attacks McCain for Having Served In the US Military Too Much"
There, fixed, it.
8
posted on
05/26/2008 4:03:01 PM PDT
by
Diogenesis
(Igitur qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum)
To: The_Republican
Harkin’s such a...what’s the word? PUTZ?? Yeah, fits just right...he’s a PUTZ!
9
posted on
05/26/2008 4:03:45 PM PDT
by
GRRRRR
(2008- A Year That Will Live in Infamy...)
To: The_Republican
Jake Tapper surprises me more all the time. I wonder if he’s having an ideological conversion.
10
posted on
05/26/2008 4:03:47 PM PDT
by
denydenydeny
(Expel the priest and you don't inaugurate the age of reason, you get the witch doctor--Paul Johnson)
To: The_Republican
11
posted on
05/26/2008 4:04:02 PM PDT
by
Darren McCarty
(Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in - Michael Corleone)
To: Diogenesis
Harkin and the woman look like they are at a Toga Party.
12
posted on
05/26/2008 4:04:09 PM PDT
by
SteamShovel
(Global Warming, the New Patriotism)
To: The_Republican
“He’s running for commander in chief, and our Constitution says that should be a civilian.”
Harkin and his fellow travlers don’t know a thing about what the Constitution says. To them it’s just so much toilet paper.
13
posted on
05/26/2008 4:05:22 PM PDT
by
Be_Politically_Erect
(If I didn't think he'd get emotionally attached to it, I'd tell Barry to kiss my A**!)
To: The_Republican
US SEN Tom Harkin (SCUMBAG-IA) = coward, lowlife, dirtbag, garbage, trash, lib-dem filth, junk, crap, traitor, seditionist, saboteur, leftist, commie, socialist, hate-America, sodomy-supporter, homo-enabler, punk, etc.
IMO.
To: The_Republican
Weren’t they harpin about GW not being in the military enough?? Guess you have to be in just right.
Pray for W and Our Troops
15
posted on
05/26/2008 4:05:58 PM PDT
by
bray
(If everyone hates you, you must be doin something right?)
To: The_Republican
"I think he's trapped in that. Everything is looked at from his life experiences, from always having been in the military, and I think that can be pretty dangerous." Same crap could be said for buffoons like Harkin spending all of their life as a politician in Washington. NOW THAT'S DANGEROUS! Throw the bums out!
16
posted on
05/26/2008 4:06:11 PM PDT
by
FlingWingFlyer
(De-Globalize yourself !)
To: The_Republican
I can only imagine the opposition that the dems "serving" today would have against General George Washington as President of the United States...
I'm sure Harkin would contend that Washington spent too much time in the military, and I'm sure that Rockefeller would complain that unlike McCain, who dropped bombs from the air, Washington actually killed men in hand to hand combat, making him completely inappropriate as President.
The more the dems talk, the more disgusted I get.
Mark
17
posted on
05/26/2008 4:08:21 PM PDT
by
MarkL
To: The_Republican
"He's running for commander in chief, and our Constitution says that should be a civilian." McCain's been a civilian for about 35 years, Tommy.
The Rats attack GOP nominees for not serving enough, for serving too much, and for actually killing the enemy while serving.
Yet draft dodging Democrat nominees are revered.
18
posted on
05/26/2008 4:09:36 PM PDT
by
Mr. Mojo
To: The_Republican
This coming from the man who lied about serving in Vietnam?
19
posted on
05/26/2008 4:10:16 PM PDT
by
Hoodat
(Bull Moose Party Member)
To: The_Republican
"Harkin, like McCain, was a Navy flier, though unlike McCain Harkin never saw combat."
Yes, and many of us may remember that Harkin is one of the "Stolen Valor" types of fraud-politicians who concocted a fictitious combat career to puff himself up. To serve is noble, to fraudulently give oneself combat experience that never happened is ignoble and contemptible. Period.
===========================================
Candidate Harkin Stretches the Truth
Vietnam isn't the only instance.
BY JAMES M. PERRY
"... the Iowa lawmaker has found himself accused of misleading reporters about the troubles of his deaf brother. In addition, the budgetary mathematics he weaves into his basic stump speech have been challenged on network television. And allegations about Mr. Harkin's truthfulness extend back well before the current campaign, back to his claims that he was a combat pilot in Vietnam....
...In Mr. Harkin's case, the questions that have lingered longest concern his Navy record. Mr. Harkin did serve in the Navy during the Vietnam era, but exactly what he did, and for how long, remain a matter of some dispute...."
Other issues covered in the article:
...Harkin claimed he flew combat air patrols over Vietnam. It turns out it was over Cuba...
...Harkin claimed he spent "eight years, eight months and eight days as a Navy pilot." His military record shows he served five years on active duty...
...Harkin claimed he spent a year in Vietnam, but he was really stationed in Japan...
...Harkin referred to himself as a "Vietnam veteran in Congress" but is actually only a "Vietnam-era veteran" and has never received the standard Vietnam Service medal or Vietnam Campaign medal which were given to all who served in the Southeast Asia theater.
...Harkin lied about his deaf brother's employment history...
20
posted on
05/26/2008 4:10:53 PM PDT
by
Enchante
(Barack Chamberlain: My 1930s Appeasement Policy Goes Well With My 1960s Socialist Policies!)
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