Free Republic

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) -- Connecticut Attorney General and U.S. Senate candidate Richard Blumenthal is defending himself against a report he misstated his military service in Vietnam. Blumenthal's campaign on Monday night called a report on the New York Times website, which includes video of him at a 2008 event saying he had served "in Vietnam," an "outrageous distortion" on his record.

SAN DIEGO A man who deserted the Marine Corps during the Vietnam War was arrested as he entered the United States from Mexico, authorities said Friday. Victor Aguirre, 63, was wanted on a 1966 felony warrant for desertion, according to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection bureau. He was arrested Thursday at San Diego's San Ysidro border crossing. Aguirre will likely be taken to Camp Pendleton Marine base, about 50 miles north of San Diego, for processing and release, said Capt. Jay Delarosa, a Marine spokesman. He will likely be discharged without facing formal charges. The circumstances of Aguirre's desertion...

Chuck Hagel is Partly Right , but… Senator Chuck Hagel has been drawing favorable reviews from the “Mainstream Media” for a change - because the Nebraska Republican says Iraq has become another Vietnam ; and that we should just get out of there – the sooner the better. I respect the Senator’s opinion. He is a combat veteran, and knows more about war than most of us would ever care to hear. Moreover , he is voicing an increasingly popular sentiment . Most of us would like very much for this whole thing to be over : a sentiment that...

In not untypical fashion, the faithfully left-leaning National Council of Churches (NCC) has issued a poisonous little July 4 greeting to the American people. The statement from the NCC Governing Board is not a celebration of two centuries of American democracy and religious liberty, with gratitude to God. It is instead a screed against the "dishonorable" war in Iraq. "It has become clear that the rationale for invasion was at best a tragic mistake, at worst a clever deception," the statement generously opines. Although comprised of denominations totaling over 40 million mainstream Americans, the NCC has for 40 years been...

The reelection of President Bush has sent the Democratic Party reeling. How could a President with so many perceived negatives win with such relative ease? The economy is not fantastic, the War in Iraq is not universally popular, health care costs and fuel prices are rising, President Bush smirks and stutters, and the Redskins lost! Why is John Kerry not President today? Additionally, why, in a supposedly ideologically divided electorate, have Republicans defied political convention and steadily increased their majorities at both the Federal and State levels? The truth in undeniable. Americans are beginning to no longer vote in line...

The Siren of Defeatism The visionless Kerry is his own worst enemy. One of the reasons John Kerry is going to lose the foreign-policy debate Thursday night in Coral Gables, Florida, is that he is a pessimist and a defeatist. His recent broad-side attacks on President Bush’s war against terrorism are right out of the Vietnam-era: Blame America. Blame the commander-in-chief. Blame the military. Assume we will lose. Prime Minister Allawi of Iraq seemed to grasp the danger in this when he spoke in the Rose Garden last week: “When political leaders sound the siren of defeatism in the face...