Well, I can't take credit for it. I'm just repeating the garbage I hear from my more conservative friends and neighbors: "how can Clinton be Commander-in-Chief when he's never served in combat?"
Oh how convenient. So now these mysterious "others" (your supposed friends and neighbours) think the barometer isn't just "served in Vietnam". No, now you say they say (for the sake of bolstering your untenable position) that it's because Clinton "never served in combat". Gee, I guess that Al Gore was a "draft-dodger" too, since he sat in a typing pool in Saigon, never seeing combat. Personally, I think it would be pretty lame to call Gore a "draft dodger", even though his Senator daddy got him that assignment.
"Are you telling me that orbiting a few miles outside Soviet airspace--well within range of missiles and interceptors--waiting for the "go" is just as cozy and safe as ANG duty in south Texas?"
No, I'm not telling you that, but that was never the issue (how conveniently you forget). The issue is one you chose when you tried to tell us that ANG duty in south Texas (and Guard duty in Indiana) constitutes "draft-dodging", remember? But examine the sentence you just wrote...."safe as ANG duty". DUTY. You admit that it's "duty". So how can one do this and also be a draft-dodger, like Clinton?
"True. Guard duty won't necessarily keep your buns out of the fire. But it sure worked for Bush and Quayle, didn't it? Would you say Quayle's service record is just as honorable as, say, John McCain's?"
So you admit Quayle has a service record?...you know, one of those things you get while wearing the uniform. Well, how can it be that Quayle has a service record if he's a draft-dodger like Clinton (who doesn't have one)? And why are you asking me if their service was honorable? The military decides that, and they decided that Quayle served honorably, just as McCain did, and Gore did, and Dole did, and Carter did, and Nixon did, and Reagan did, and Truman did, etc.. Are you asking me if Quayle's honorable service contains as much valor or heroism as McCains does?...of course not, but that's completely irrelevant to the issue of draft-dodging which is of course your original premise; that Guard duty (Bush, Quayle, my Korean War vet father) equates to draft-dodging (Clinton). You haven't even begun to try and justify the statement, which of course you can't.
"The fact that these men used their families' power and influence to secure their positions...if I were a reservist, I'd find that offensive."
I know some combat veterans who think Gore's securing his "Journalist" assignment due to his family's power and influence is offensive, but I can't recall any of them calling Gore a "draft-dodger". I know I certainly wouldn't either. Now, if I were to use YOUR tactics I'd say something like "Check the records and you'll find there were more F-102 pilot fatalities in that Texas Air Guard unit than in Gore's safe and cozy Saigon typing pool although admittedly Gore could have broken a nail on any given day". I mean, it would be as asinine as equating Guard duty with draft-dodging.
"By the way, I've managed to get through this thread without personally insulting anyone intentionally. I haven't said things like "you make me sick," "pretty lame of you," etc. Why are FlightInfo conservatives incapable of the same level of courtesy?"
C'mon, fair is fair. If you're going to report the news, report it accurately. Another example of bad reporting of aviation-related news.
