“I’m a veteran so I voted for Bush”
I have heard a number of people (both in person and in TV “man-in-the-street” interviews) equate their being a veteran with their support for G.W. Bush. Since two of G.W.’s main opponents (John Kerry and John McCain) have been not only veterans but combat veterans, I find this very interesting.
G.W., after all, spent his Guard service in Texas while the two John’s risked their lives in Vietnam. While half a million US servicemen were fighting in Vietnam, the Guard spent thousands of US tax dollars training young G.W. how to fly a fighter jet. But not so he could participate in the ongoing war since the Air Guard was never sent to Vietnam. G.W. could have volunteered to serve in Vietnam but he chose not to. He stayed home to defend us against the long awaited invasion from Mexico. And hung out with local politicians, flunked his flight physical and basically turned his Guard service into a no-show job. Paystubs and dental records are the only proof he even existed during that period.
So where does this “I’m a veteran so I support Bush” stuff come from. Quite frankly, the antipathy of some veterans to McCain baffles me but their dislike of Kerry is somewhat easier to understand. I get the impression that it is Kerry’s antiwar activism upon his return from Vietnam that offends them. G.W. may have deliberately avoided service in Vietnam (heck, he avoided service here in the US of A) but he never challenged the justification for, or the conduct of, the war.
Back in the 60’s there was a popular bumper sticker that read “Challenge Authority”, I doubt that the veterans who support G.W. would be likely to have that slogan on their bumper. They’d probably prefer that the abuses at Abu Ghraib and the Halliburton scandal had been covered up. They don’t want to doubt the competence, wisdom, and motivations of our leaders. Such thoughts make them very uncomfortable. Unfortunately; as a result of their inability to challenge authority; it is now their children who are now being used as cannonfodder in a poorly planned and unnecessary war.
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