Posted on 09/04/2008 7:04:38 AM PDT by Sergeant Tim
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After seven years of initial eligibility, Joseph Biden was removed from the military draft pool just when it was most likely he would be drafted and sent into the Vietnam War. The American death toll was rising rapidly -- 11,153 in 1967. Thousands more had died since the Tet offensive began in January, 296,000 men ages 19 through 25 would be drafted during 1968, Joseph Biden had run out of college deferments, and he would not be safe until November 20, 1968, his twenty-sixth birthday.
During the Democrat Party convention, Joseph Biden was spoken of in glowing terms on the pages of the New York Times on August 28, 2008:
As Democrats often do, [at the convention, Biden] paid tribute to Mr. McCain’s military service and his more than five years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam. That is not sufficient qualification for the presidency, Mr. Biden said in as direct a way as any Democrat this year has. “The choice in this election is clear,” Mr. Biden said. “These times require more than a good soldier. They require a wise leader,” he said, a leader who can deliver “the change that everybody knows we need.” ... The self-described “kid from Scranton” paid a moving tribute to his 90-year-old mother, Catherine Eugenia Finnegan Biden. He said she had taught him honor, loyalty and bravery. She also helped him overcome his stuttering, telling him, as he put it, “it was because I was so bright I couldn’t get the thoughts out quickly enough.”
Despite two runs for President, in 1988 and 2008, and 36 years in Congress, Senator Biden's 1-Y reclassification has never appeared in the Times, to include this Associated Press report from August 31, 2008:
Officials with Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama's campaign released Biden's Selective Service records at the request of The Associated Press. Less detailed records were available from a National Archives facility in Philadelphia [emphasis added mine].According to the documents, Biden, 65, received several deferments while he was an undergraduate at the University of Delaware and later as a law student at Syracuse University. A month after undergoing a physical exam in April 1968, Biden received a Selective Service classification of 1-Y, meaning he was available for service only in the event of national emergency.
"As a result of a physical exam on April 5, 1968, Joe Biden was classified 1-Y and disqualified from service because of asthma as a teenager," said David Wade, a campaign spokesman.
In "Promises to Keep," a memoir that was published last year and became an instant best-seller after he was tapped as Obama's running mate, Biden never mentions his asthma, recounting an active childhood, work as a lifeguard and football exploits in high school.
Along with some other leading Democrats, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has pointed out Vice President Richard Cheney's five draft deferments during the Vietnam War yet never mentioned those of Senator Biden.
The details of his April 5, 1968 medical examination -- to include who examined Biden and sent the 1-Y reclassification card to his draft board -- remain undetermined by the mainstream media.
Senator John McCain and Senator Biden are touted for their foreign policy experience that Senator Barack Obama and Governor Sarah Palin are said to lack.
The difference is John McCain entered the Naval Academy in 1955, served in Vietnam, spent 5 1/2 years being tortured in the Hanoi Hilton, and retired from the United States Navy in 1982. Neither Barack Obama nor Joseph Biden have served in the military. Sarah Palin "merely" served as the Commander-in-Chief of the Alaska National Guard.
Apparently, Congressman Pelosi and the New York Times do not want the American people to know that Joseph Biden may have dodged the draft during Vietnam.
No, Non-Sequitur is trying to warn you that wearing your underpants on your head and calling it a hat make make you feel special, but may not make the fashion statement you were seeking.
Biden offers plenty to criticize, but unless you can provide verifiable evidence that he has doctored deferment papers or a ginned-up physicians statement, you are only going to look foolish and petty.
Notice how he didn’t try to stop you however...;’}
Way back in ‘63 I enlisted in the US Navy. When it came time for the pre-enlistment physical, there were about 100 guys going through the process for all branches of the service - enlistees and draftees.
Part of the process involve walking up a couple of steps to a platform, face the doc so he could check out our feet.
Noting my flat size 11’s, he asked which branch of the service? Navy was my reply. Good to go, however, had I said Army, he would have marked me 4-F because of those feet.
A few weeks later, I took the oath (which btw has no expiration date) with 17 other guys and boarded a plane bound for San Diego Recruit Training Center.
One of the best decisions of my life and I’d do it all over again in a heartbeat.
-USN SFP2(DV) ... and damned proud of it
Always interesting with these politicians, especially the Demo’rats. When my brother younger brother was drafted in 1967, he was almost totally deaf in both ears. They accused him of faking it and drafted him anyway. Now they have to pay for his hearing aids for the rest of his life...small price to pay. Too bad he wasn’t a Demo’rat politician, he could have gotten out of it altogether.
“gracesdad, tell the truth. Who do you think would be more likely to have received a legitimate medical deferment, Limbaugh or Biden? It may be hard, but please tell the truth.”
I haven’t the slightest idea what either was like back then. And that’s the truth.
Limbaugh’s was without question a real deferment, although if he had REALLY wanted to serve, simple surgery would have solved the problem and he would have been eligible. I’m not criticizing him for that; I likely would have taken the same route (I wasn’t old enough to be drafted). But it’s also obvious he had no great desire to go to Vietnam.
Maybe Biden did get a fake medical deferment. If so, he’s part of a very large crowd.
“I don’t know any of our Republican leaders who were schoolteachers with the exception of Dennis Hastert (a high school coach).”
Maybe I misread your post but it sounded like you were suggesting that people who made sure they stayed in school, even if they took easy courses or kept getting more degrees, were all cowards and pu$$ies. If so, that would include a whole lot of people from across the political spectrum.
Asthma has no cure. Anyone ever heard of any asthma attack that Biden has had since?
I knew men whose father’s had influence to get them to an MD to write bogus ailments. I served in that war and lost a lot of men.
Biden is as bad as war potester Bob Barr.
Asthma has no cure. Anyone ever heard of any asthma attack that Biden has had since?
I knew men whose father’s had influence to get them to an MD to write bogus ailments. I served in that war and lost a lot of men.
Biden is as bad as war protester Bob Barr.
Sorry,I forgot about Senator Warner.Besides,I was quoting F.Lee Levin(The Great One)!
Not sure there is a lot here that wasn’t available to anyone during that era. He had college deferrments until 1965 [graduated in june] and was married in Aug. 66 which again would change his classification. Some where in there he took a physical and was classified 1-Y.
Not a man I know who served would put down anyone honestly declared medically unfit to serve.
You nailed it. BS meter way up. Hell, if asthma was true to begin with why even file for 1-S?
Excellent point. Thanks.
The fact that, at age 25, Joe Biden's classification suddenly changed from 2-C to 1-Y right after Tet and law school is glaring.
My estimate is that Biden dodged the draft; his political claptrap about his mother teaching him honor, loyalty, and bravery makes me want to spit. Until I see some reason to believe otherwise, I'm putting him down for it.
I agree. It’s just too convenient.
Like Lumper says: why keep grasping for a student deferrment when you’re medically ineligible in the first place???
This discussion is over...Sgt Tim and Lumper have nailed it.
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