Posted on 09/05/2008 10:33:39 AM PDT by Sergeant Tim
In response to my wondering if VP nominee Joseph Biden dodged the military draft after Vietnam's bloody Tet offensive, in part a reader wrote:
May Have”, “What if” -- [t]his article is presuming much. ... It is a bit refreshing though to see the same B.S. tactics employed against Biden as were/are against Sara Palin, who does have Foreign Policy experience, for no other reason than her State shares borders with two Sovereign Nations. Maybe B.S. is a bit strong -- yet it appears to be over reaching at the moment. I honestly can’t say I got my draft board notification in 1968 immediately after I turned 18 or not. I don’t believe I did because I wasn’t summoned for a physical until the winter of 69. I know I wasn’t dodging the draft for that year and half. My B.S. comment was in regards to the treatment Palin is getting, and if that happens to Biden, So (sic) be it ... tit for tat.
Overreaching? Perhaps. The reader's point is well taken, the delays between registering and classification physicals were often lengthy.
Yet let's remember the Associated Press' report:
Democratic vice presidential nominee Joe Biden received five student draft deferments during the Vietnam War, the same number of deferments received by Vice President Dick Cheney, and later was disqualified from service because of asthma as a teenager... "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.
My point here was not to suggest that we should drag out the records of the millions that received deferments or disqualifying classifications and grill them all on this subject. That said, Senator Joseph Biden is running to be a "heartbeat" away from becoming the Commander-in-Chief.
What is not clear from media reports, past and present, is how Joseph Biden was initially classified, medically fit or unfit, and whether that information was provided to the media by the Obama-Biden campaign. They say he was sent a questionnaire and then received four school years of student deferments, which would have ended when his law school did in the spring of 1968. But, on April 5, 1968, he suddenly received a physical from some unnamed doctor.
Which leads back to the question of whether he was initially classified as 1-A, physically eligible for the military draft.
If so, why did another doctor in 1968 find Biden’s asthma made him 1-Y — when the Vietnam War was at its peak? That same alleged asthma did not stop him from playing football in high school or apparently make him 1-Y at anytime back when Senator Biden was 18, 19, or 20-years of age, when relatively few American troops were in combat.
Those are fair questions, are they not?
If not, why was it fair for a political hack to forge military documents in order to smear President George W. Bush with them? Why did now infamous reporters continue to further the story even after the documents were found to be fake?
Why was it fair to question Richard Cheney and other prominent conservatives on their lack of military service during Vietnam?
The cheap shot attacks by Nancy Pelosi (who never served in the military) and liberal media that repeat such tripe have different rules for the D’s and R’s in or running for political office.
Tit for tat, as the reader pointed out.
The democrats only want to point out military experience or lack of when they think they have a true “reporting for duty” hero on their ticket. Now they are running against someone whose heroic contributions to this country are undeniable, of course they don’t want to talk about anyone’s 5 deferments at this point in time.
This is a red herring. I was classified as 1-A and never had a physical; 1-A was the default classification.
Not correct. The default was 1-H: Registrant not currently subject to processing for induction. I suspect you received a 1-A classification once you turned 19 and were subject to being drafted, with or without a physical.
In 1971, I registered for the draft within weeks of my 18th birthday, received a questioneer within a few months, and took a classification physical that year. Yet I did not receive my 1-A classification notice until after I turned 19.
Good call mewzilla and Joe Biden could have train for the navy to at least fly a plane.
More important, where’s Obama’s Selective Service registration?
For the first time in 68 years, in the United States, there is a Presidentian candidate and Vice Presidential candidate with NO military experience, and that is Obama and Biden!
There wasn’t one in 2000 either, in my opinion. I realize that President Bush served a bit of time in TANG and Algore was a journalist in Vietnam, but neither one of them was really in any danger or has any real “military experience” to speak of.
So was his medical status fake or real? There is no way it can ever be proven. Therefore, it is just gossip mongering to keep harping on it.
You can say it is no different than what is being done to Sarah Palin...but that does not make it right or effective.
What Biden did 40+ years ago is no different than millions of young men did at that time. So drop it. This will do nothing to draw anyone to the McCain/Palin ticket or to the Republican Party or to any conservative causes.
You are beating a dead horse here.
And just to add, it’s not like it’s necessary to have the experience to be president. President Bush has done just fine without it.
At the time Joe Biden would have been subject to the draft, there was a little bit of a problem. SO many young male bodies were available, that the draft had to be placed on a kind of lottery, to draw up the numbers that would be called in any given year. There were things like “low numbers” with a high probability of being called for the draft, and “high numbers”, with very low or no likelihood of being drafted. This was perceived as “unfair” by a wide spectrum of youth, and many tactics to find some kind of escape (school deferment, physical limitations, skip out to a foreign country). Plus there was a wide range of options available for the sons of privileged families, that just were not there for those of lesser means, so the Viet Nam war was perceived as being as fought disproportionately by the poor and disadvantaged.
Therefore, Joe Biden falls into the “privileged” class and as such, is no better than Dick Cheney in that regard.
Of course, Joe Biden has a much different perspective on serving on the armed services, in that he does not agree with the application of military force as a part of foreign policy, therefore the military is not necessary to begin with. So technically Biden is not a “chicken hawk” but a true “dove of peace”, that is, in matters of showing a little muscle, he would make a pre-emptory surrender.
No way to protect the interests of the people of Georgia.
That's what I said....
Does Barack Obama have a selective service registration on file there?
The first lottery drawing was held Dec. 1, 1969.
Biden would have been outside the draw as he turned 26 in 1968. Biden graduated from college, June 1965 married in Aug. 1966 and graduated from law school in 1968.
The RATS called George Bush a “draft dodger” for 8 years, even though he served as a fighter pilot in the Texas Air National Guard. Meanwhile, Clinton, Dean, and Biden all actively dodged the draft. Typical RAT lies and liars.
Incorrect.
The draft lottery began on January 1, 1969; Joe Biden became no longer eligible to be drafted on November 20, 1968 when he turned 26.
I was unaware of the birthday. But thanks for the clarification.
But on another note, who in their right mind would want to be in a foxhole with a guy who seemingly can't stop talking?
You ask why should how Biden dodged the Draft in his youth matter now... It all goes back to the man’s character. Consider draft quotas were assigned by draft board. When one man evaded, someone else, often less educated or advantaged and always less eligible, served in his place. Additionally, because many of the more capable natural leaders avoided service, we often had to settle for the LT Cally’s of the world for leadership. Think of how many American lives could have been saved if leaders of Clinton, Cheney or Biden’s potential had done their duty. Isn’t it ironic how correct Clinton was when he used to say that “it’s the little guy who plays by the rules that always ends up taking it in the neck.”
As for Biden in particular, he was subject to the draft for most of the Vietnam draft era but continued to avoid service by applying (and it did require applying) for six separate deferments. Although in his best-selling memoir published last year, “Promises to Keep,” Biden recounted his active childhood, working as a lifeguard and excelling at high school football, but he never mentions asthma. Now he claims that “during the Vietnam War he got a draft notice but flunked the physical due to asthma.” I’m afraid I’d have to see the government documentation of his physical before believing it as, you may recall, Biden’s record of veracity isn’t the best. By the time Biden finally got his draft notice, he was already a lawyer so knew how to “manipulate the system.” Was his asthma “discovered” during his draft physical or did Mr. Biden bring in “documentation” from his “private physician” in an effort to establish a disqualifying feature after he received a draft notice. If the latter is the case, the entire matter should be presented to a disinterested panel of physicians now to determine if his disqualification was legitimate.
Having been Drafted and Inducted into the Army in June 1967 in Wilkes-Barre, the Armed Forces Entrance and Examination Station for Northeast Pennsylvania including Biden’s “hometown” of Scranton, I have a little first hand knowledge on how physicals were conducted. I had three disqualifying features detected during my Draft Physical including a “loose knee” from a wrestling injury that should have been surgically corrected. Instead of being disqualified, the doctor stamped my Physical “Waiver” but did warn me to “be careful with the knee in Vietnam so it didn’t dislocate again!” I was inducted later that afternoon and ended up serving an extended tour in Vietnam. I guess I might have “Taken Biden’s Place” in the War but never got so much as a thank-you from him!
I remember how Senator (and Medal of Honor recipient) Bob Kerrey put it in 1992 when he said “as I remember it, at that time if you could walk and chew gum, the military would take you.” Wonder how much Joe whined during his physical to get found “not physically qualified” because, I assure you from personal experience, it would not have happened without considerable whining!
Former Virginia Governor, current Senate candidate and Democrat Convention Keynote speaker Mark Warner was quoted in the 26 August Washington Post as saying: “(Biden) has real-world grass-roots, blue-collar appeal. He can go into a VFW hall or Kiwanis Club meeting and ….” He might be able to go into a Kiwanis Club but he definitely has NOT earned the right to enter a VFW Hall! If he was “unfit” to serve then when his country needed him badly, what makes him any more fit to serve now?
Then you can ask the same kind of questions about the character of Dick Cheney, Newt Gingrich, Phil Graham, Dennis Hastert, Karl Rove, Dick Armey, Tom DeLay, Trent Lott, Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney, can't you?
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