Elizabeth [Edwards] questions Limbaugh's draft deferment

Politico ^ | 10/4/07 | Ben Smith

[Roberts]

An Air America producer just sent over some transcript from an interview their Richard Greene (not our Richard Greene) conducted with Elizabeth Edwards, in which she questioned Rush Limbaugh's Vietnam exemption:

My classmates went to Vietnam, he did not. He was 4F. He had a medical disability, the same medical disability that probably should have stopped him from spending a lifetime in a radio announcer’s chair; but it is true, isn’t it? If he has an inoperable position that allows him not to serve, presumably it should not allow him to sit for long periods of time the way he does. I think this is a serious enough offense for the people who fund him, who buy ads and allow him to be on the air, need to be asked if this is what they really stand for, do they think it is alright for someone who has never served to denigrate the men and women who have simply because they are expressing an opinion. Frankly, I thought that is what we are fighting for.

In the interview, Edwards also suggested that John Kerry shouldn't have conceded when he did in 2004.

RG: Were you disappointed that Senator Kerry conceded as quickly as he did?

EE: I was very disappointed, not just because we did not count the votes, but because we promised people that if they stood in line and fought for the right to vote, that we would fight with them. And I was very disappointed that the decision was made by the campaign, over John’s objection, not to fight.

[Kirkwood]

Correct about no new draft orders. My number was 5 and I was simply never called.

[Secret Agent Man]

Yknow, I get REAL effing tired of women who say if you’re not a woman, or blacks who say if you’re not black, etc etc you can’t speak about it.

So I’m going to turn it back on this liberal b1tch.

Liz, honey, you’re a girl, you’ve never had to worry about a deferment or being drafted in your wasted life. No draft worry, you don’t get to speak about this.

Hope ya like your own liberal logic being thrown in your ugly pug of a face.

[Kaslin]

She sure has a nerve. I did a search and I didn't find anything that the Breckgirl served in the military.

Can you say hypocrite? I knew you could

[Gondring]

It's kind of like "Peronie's Syndrome", Bill Clinton's medical problem.

For those who might want to look it up, it's "Peyronie's Disease," "penile induration," or "Induratio Penis Plastica (IPP)."

Although not terribly debilitating, under the rigors of the battlefield the posessor of a pilonidal cyst will quickly be reduced to working in non-combatant jobs.

And Peyronie's Disease doesn't generally provide an infection risk in unsanitary, "foxhole" conditions; a pilonidal cyst often does.

I am not a physician, but I don't think the Breck girl's wife is, either.

[Enduring Freedom]

Not sure, but I sure as hell don’t believe the ‘gust of wind blew my car over’ story.

There is much, much more to the death of Edward’s son.

[TigersEye]

If he has an inoperable position that allows him not to serve, ... I think this is a serious enough offense for the people who fund him, who buy ads and allow him to be on the air, ... - Elizabeth Edwards (Silk Pony's sack)

Let's get to the bottom line here (no pun intended). "inoperable position" AKA a medical condition. "serious enough offense" ???

Look closely at how a Marxist leftist proposing government run health care views a medical condition.

Off to Siberia with you, Rush, and your little followers too!

[TigersEye]

Get a load of this, comrade. (just practicing for the coming regime)

[muawiyah]

Peronie's probably doesn't constitute any sort of risk factor at all, but it's rare enough that should a "victim" be wounded in battle, it could distract the medics from caring for the correct parts.

One does imagine that Elizabeth Edwards has not had much contact with handicapped folks, or those burdened with birth defects.

All of her kids were perfect, or she had the money to make them so to the degree possible.

The woman is absolutely without sympathy.

[El Gato]

An 18 year old in 1972 would have been born in 1958. Is old lady Edwards really 60

18 in 72 means born in 54, not '58 and would be 53 now, not 60. I'm '68 myself, but had a draft sequence number in the 60s in 1970. That motivated me to do what I'd wanted to do anyway, but was reluctant (fear of the unknown and not measuring up). So I'm also AFROTC '73 commissioning group..

One guy that I was in field training with in '71 got his draft notice while at the training. In those years at least, 2 year program people did not actually join the reserves and were not committed until returning from field training, so he was still technically not in the military...until the day he got the notice, and then they signed him right up, in the first couple of weeks of the six weeks of training. Somewhere I've got a picture of him reading his draft notice while sitting on his Air Force issue cot, and wearing his 1505 uniform (khakis)

[TigersEye]

Amen. Give them all the rope they want.

[beckysueb]

And when did her little sissyboy serve in the military!

[TigersEye]

He makes them big stacks of cash, even if he charges confiscatory ad rates.

Now now such language. ; )

It's not really confiscatory if

a.-No one forces you to buy the ads and
b.-You make a seriously healthy return on the money invested.

But that's beside the point. They should still be charged with hate crimes.

[Gondring]

[...]it could distract the medics from caring for the correct parts.

Need a "Don't ask; don't tell; don't look..." policy, eh?

[El Gato]

The daughter of a decorated Navy pilot, Mary Elizabeth Anania was born on July 3, 1949.

Which means she just turned 58, and probably graduated from high school in '67, college in '71, maybe '72. So yes, her high school classmates would have been near the peak of the draft...except that most of them probably went to college and were deferred until they graduated, or until the '69 draft lottery for inductions in 1970. Although they also got another year of exemptions, if they were college students. My draft number from the Dec. '69 draft was 34 (I looked it up, I'd remembered 60 something as I stated above. I guess low is low and it really didn't matter that much) but I didn't join AFROTC until the summer of '71.

[pandoraou812]

Ummm TE I don’t think I am going to be able to do the coming regime. I am going to have to pass....I doubt its going to be comrade..more like unit #’s or something equally unpleasant.

[Pan_Yans Wife]

Not necessarily. I had a cousin who had breast cancer for five years. She traveled the globe in style. It didn’t slow her down much.

I do think that Mrs. Edwards and Mrs. Obama would make a fantastic wrestling tag team! :)

[Razz Barry]

An Air America producer just sent over some transcript from an interview their Richard Greene (not our Richard Greene) conducted with Elizabeth Edwards, in which she questioned Rush Limbaugh's Vietnam exemption:

How many people are questioning her exemption? She should go home and bake cookies.

[ThisLittleLightofMine]

When my husband had cancer, we circled the wagons and drew close to each other and our immediate family. I find it odd and I just cannot understand the public display this family chooses to pursue.

[El Gato]

And since Eisenhower, the most militarily experienced men elected President were Jimmy Carter and George H.W. Bush, neither of whom are spoken among the all-time greats.

Nixon and Ford had as much real experience as Carter. All three were Navy officers. Ford was on a carrier, but not a flyer. Nixon served on active duty for almost 4 years from '42 to '46. Carter was a submariner but didn't graduate from the Naval Academy until after WW-II was over.

Nixon:

5 JUN 1942 Appointed Lieutenant (junior grade) in U.S. Naval Reserve 1 OCT 1943 Lieutenant
3 OCT 1945 Lieutenant Commander
10 MAR 1946 Relieved of active duty
1 JUN 1953 Commander in Naval Reserve
1 JUN 1966 Retired from Naval Reserve

Ford:

13 April 1942 Commissioned Ensign, US Naval Reserves
20 April 1942 - May 1942 Under instruction, US Naval Academy
May 1942 - May 1943 US Navy Pre-Flight School, Chapel Hill, North Carolina
May 1943 - June 1943 Outfitting and commissioning of USS Monterey (CVL-26) , New York Shipbuilding Corporation, Camden, New Jersey
June 1943 - December 1944 Assistant Navigator on USS Monterey (CVL-26)
December 1944 - April 1945 Athletic Department of Navy Pre-Flight School, St. Mary's College, California
April 1945 - January 1946 Staff Physical and Military Training Officer, Naval Reserve Training Command, Naval Air Station, Glenview, Illinois
January 1946 - February 1946 Separated at Great Lakes Naval Training Center, Great Lakes, Illinois
(Carter also separated as a Lt. Commander, but that was actually a quicker rise than Nixon, who started as a J/G rather than an Ensign, and separated about the same time.)

Carter

# 05 JUN 1946 - Commissioned Ensign, USN.
# 8 AUG 1946 - 23 JUL 1947 -- Duty aboard USS Wyoming (E-AG17).
# 23 JUL 1947 - 14 JUN 1948 -- Duty aboard USS Mississippi (E-AG128).
# 14 JUN 1948 - 17 DEC 1948 -- Duty under instruction at the Officer's course, USN Submarine School, Submarine Base, New London
# 17? DEC 1948 - 01 FEB 1951 -- Duty aboard USS Pomfret (SS-391)
# 05 JUNE 1949 -- Promoted to Lieutenant (j.g.)
# 01 FEB 1951 - 10 NOV 1951 -- Duty with Shipbuilding and Naval Inspector of Ordnance, Groton, CT as prospective Engineering Officer of the USS K-1 during precommissioning fitting out of the submarine.
# 10 NOV 1951 - 16 OCT 1952 -- Duty aboard USS K-1(SSK-1) Submarine was new construction, first vessel of its class # 01 JUNE 1952 -- Promoted to Lieutenant
# 16 OCT 1952 - 08 OCT 1953 -- Duty with US Atomic Energy Commission
From 1 MAR 1953 to 8 OCT 1953 he was under instruction to become an engineering officer for a nuclear power plant. He also assisted in setting up on-the-job training for the enlisted men being instructed in nuclear propulsion for the USS Seawolf (SSN575).
9 OCT 1953 -- Honorably discharged

So Carter did have more active duty time, but Nixon and Ford served during wartime.

[El Gato]

Oh, and GHW Bush served on active duty for less time than any of them. But he was also the youngest by far, and the only one to enlist. he served for 10 months as an enlisted sailor. He was the youngest navy pilot at the time.

GHW Bush:

13 JUN 1942 Enlisted in U.S. Naval Reserve
5 AUG 1942 Reported for Active Duty
8 JUN 1943 Honorably Discharged
9 JUN 1943 Ensign, U.S. Naval Reserve and continued on Active Duty
1 AUG 1944 Lieutenant (junior grade)
18 SEP 1945 Released from Active Duty under honorable conditions
16 NOV 1948 Lieutenant

So while Carter had the most military active duty, GHW Bush had the least.