Memo to Senator Byrd: Concerning "Desk-bound Presidents Who Assumes The Garb of A Warrior"

http://www.freerepublic.com ^ | May 7, 2003

[ladyinred]

Just remember, when a Democrat puts on the appropriate garb, it's OK...

Especially blue dresses from the GAP!

[Kay Soze]

The Demon-Crats are upset 'cause the most amount of attention Bubba ever got on a plane was when in '93 traffic was stopped at LAX so Christophe could give Bubba a haircut!

[Mo1]

I agree ..

[dfwgator]

How much did it cost us to have the US Coast Guard bury JFK Jr at sea?

[Mo1]

[Miss Marple]

I think it fascinating that so many pictures of Clinton are hard to find. Is it because they are busily scrubbing evidence with the help of the media? Is it that all unflattering photos are quietly being removed before she runs for office? Or is it like when vampires disappear under sunlight?

[Miss Marple]

Of course THIS photo is in the National Archives. Here are President and Mrs. Clinton waiting to greet that famous ally, Jacques Chirac. Note the rarely seen smile on Hillary's face. Note also the trappings of monarchy with which they surrounded themselves:

[Miss Marple]

Late yesterday I finally got through to the RNC, whose lines were tied up. I spoke to a young gentleman who at first misunderstood the purpose of my call (to offer support and to suggest that the RNC sell photos) and he immediately launched into an explanation that ANYONE who rides in a military jet must wear a flight suit.

This tells me that the Rats have been calling the RNC to gripe about the flight suit, not the cost! I rest my case: it is the flight suit which has driven them bonkers!

[auggy]

"One thing we must remember: "Democrats have no SHAME!!! "

One thing we must remember: "DemocratsCommunists have no SHAME!!!

[Howlin]

it is the flight suit which has driven them bonkers!

Well, you knew that was what it was as soon as you read Maureen Dowd's column last week!

[Sweet Hour of Prayer]

The mother of all photo ops had to be Clinton's unprecedented trip to Africa. He took hundreds of people with him and ran up how much?

[Howlin]

Just yesterday, somebody posted to me that there use to be a picture of Clinton inspecting the "troops" at Ft. Chaffee (???) in Arkansas, but now it is missing; she/he said that they had "scrubbed" all the pictures like that because he had on a military hat and looked goofy (big surprise, eh?) Now I can't find that post.

[harpo11]

Yes, it was in New York harbor. Wish I could find pic of it, as it stands out in my mind that it was another orchestrated campaign photo-op by the Clintons, for the Clintons, of the Clintons.

This visit was I think the only time the Clintons were in the USA on Indpendence Day during his presidency and solely for the purpose of bolstering Mrs. Clinton's campaign for NY senate seat.

[harpo11]

Oops, I wrote too soon, you posted a pic, thanks. That's it!

Clinton sure didn't look as cool and manly as Bush did walking off that jet on the USS Abraham Lincoln, being so warmly and honorably greeted by the young men and women on board ship. Of course, with Clinton, the sun in his mind always swirled around him and no others were as important as him.

Gosh, he looked like a movie star, like James Dean, or Paul Newman. I beamed in pride. He's my good noble President. I wish I was on that proud and gleaming ship that day, too!

[harpo11]

Patty Murray of Baghdad fame? Yuck, maybe she will get seasick.

[Howlin]

Here it is! Mo found it!

[Wolfstar]

Good day, Howlin. No, I didn't do that "Welcome to the White House" takeoff on a magazine cover. Found it on another website after doing a Google search looking for photos of Bill Clinton in response to your request. The mag cover takeoff just about captures it all, doesn't it.

[Saundra Duffy]

The following was found on the Geoff Metcalf web page.


Letter to Sen. Byrd
From Navy Cmdr Lewis M. McIntyre (Ret)

(Note: When I received this letter I called Cmdr McIntyre to confirm his authorship. He confirmed writing it and granted me permission to use it on the air and on line. His only request was that I include Senator Byrd's email address so YOU could write if you so choose. Here it is: http://www.senate.gov/~byrd/byrd_email.html

Senator Byrd,

As a retired Naval Officer, with two Gulf carrier deployments under my belt, I find your criticism of President Bush's visit to the Lincoln
offensive in the extreme! This is the first time that the Commander-in-Chief took time out of his busy wartime schedule to pay a visit to thank those who served in the line of fire, in way that was both dramatic and meaningful to those on the carrier. Perhaps if LBJ got off his fat ass to do something similar, our troops' morale in Vietnam might not have been so low.

As a Naval officer, I am extremely sensitive to styles of leadership. That is, after all, our stock in trade. And it was not lost on me that the President spent about thirty seconds shaking hands with the Admiral, CO, and CAG (If you don't know these abbreviations just look them up in your Funk & Wagnalls!).

He then spent the next forty-five minutes putting himself at the disposal of the people who make that ship work, the yellow shirts, the green shirts, the purple shirts, the chiefs, the sailors. If you don't know the significance of those colored shirts, look it up in your Blue Jacket's Manual. Not dressed out in formal uniform (I understand at Bush's request), but in their greasy, smelly, sweaty working uniforms... working a flight deck is hot, hard work. And yet he, in his flight suit, put himself at their disposal, this was their moment for 19 or 20 something year old kids a few years out of high school, to get a picture of themselves with the President of the United States, his arm draped around their shoulder.

That is a moment that those kids never dreamed would ever happen to them, maybe not even when they knew he was coming aboard. Surely, he would see the brass, not the troops. But it was the troops to whom he gave his time... and it was the most natural moment in the world. You might have thought it was a family reunion, and in a way, it was... Bush is one of them, the common man, and while he is still the most powerful man on the planet right now, he hasn't lost his touch for them.

Was it a political moment? What moment of a president's life is NOT a political moment? Was it grand standing, to come in to an OK pass to a 4 wire, a bit high in close, correcting, left of centerline? Well, hell, he didn't fly the approach anyway, though I understand from the pilots who flew him that he did a pretty good job at formation flying, tucked in close for a lead change.

You can always tell a fighter pilot, you just can't tell him very much. And apparently after thirty years, it all comes back, with a little coaching, I am sure. Frankly, I would have liked to see him come aboard in an FA-18, but the Secret Service vetoed that, and Bush accepted their judgment... again, a mark of a good leader. If you had spent some time in the service, instead of the Klan, you might understand the significance of that moment to all the men and women aboard the Lincoln, and indeed to all the men and women in the service who shared that moment vicariously. But you chose the bedsheet instead of the uniform, and so you don't. I am half-tempted to move to West Virginia just so I could vote against you in your next election.

Lewis F. McIntyre
CDR, USN (Ret)

For all those non Navy aviators that will receive this, when landing on a carrier you make the following call. Ships name (Enterprise was Climax), your call sign, your fuel, so they can "set" the arresting gear and: "I have the Ball." The Ball means the mirror landing system which looks like a bright yellow ball. It's been done that way since we bombed the Yamamoto. Now take a look at how the Prez landed on the Lincoln the other day. Nothing but shit hot......... S-3 "Navy One" was on final approach for trap aboard CVN ABRAHAM LINCOLN... the President made the radio call and said, "Lincoln, Navy One, 12,500 lbs, I have the balls," It brought wild cheers from all who heard it.