"Seventy percent of people surveyed said that criticism of the war by Democratic senators hurts troop morale"
I'm not worried that much about the morale of our troops. They will get the job done out of honor and loyalty to each other. What does worry me is the morale of the enemy which the Dems are aiding. Viet Nam redux.
I wouldn't dismiss the Vietnam comparison out of hand. At least the Dem meme that Iraq is like Vietnam.
Anecdotal story. Daughter comes by yesterday, towing along my beloved granddaughter and two young teens related to her husband.
She comes in breathlessly and says "Mom, I'm trying to teach them history. They think Iraq was like Vietnam. Why did we go into Vietnam?"
Now these young teens, freshly American, keenly fashionable, are somehow buying this Iraq and Vietnam thing. My daughter, who's only 29 but more on top of news than most due to my big mouth, had no info to offer to counter their claim.
Worst of all, -I- had no lengthy diatrabe to explain.
This is because back during Vietnam I didn't know anything. Back then we had Dan Rather and Walter Conkrite and no other news source. Back then the congress critters were running the war, something that should not be allowed. Back then our mission to help the Vietnamese to avoid Communist takeover was never made clear to the public. Back then there was a horrific draft that ruined my first marriage and left me carrying a bitterness for many, many years. I marched and protested and carried candles in the rain.
Now that I'm older, now that there's an Internet, now that there's talk radio, I've learned so much. I especially despise that I've been lied to for so many years.
So this Vietnam issue and comparisons, it might work.
Because too many people just didn't understand Vietnam.
Does anybody doubt that had there been an information atmosphere like there is today that Vietnam would have ended quite differently? So how to explain it to our children?