Blind squirrel finds a nut

I’m sure you remember WIlliam Arkin, the guy that told us almost two years ago that the troops should be more grateful to the American people and that they enjoy “obscene amenities” while bleeding for their country. I’d link to his entire article, but it appears the Washington Post has taken it down. Well, today Arkin evaluates the impact on the troops of the announcement yesterday by Colin Powell that he’ll support Barack Obama for the Presidency;

The U.S. military is probably one of the few sectors of society where Obama support flags, and as president the national security neophyte will undoubtedly go through a Clinton-like hazing, particularly if he has the audacity to suggest that the military needs to tighten its belt for the sake of the economy.

Colin Powell’s endorsement certainly must sting for McCain and the administration, but will it help with the military? I say not one bit. The political general has already lost his bond with today’s military, and his very partisan endorsement runs against a pretension on the part of many in uniform that they are above politics. If would be nice if they were, but they’re not. The Powell endorsement in fact just muddies these waters.

Although he’s correct about the military’s support for McCain, his disdain for the troops is still apparent. Like his “particularly if he has the audacity to suggest that the military needs to tighten its belt for the sake of the economy”. Yeah, the military is always expected to tighten it’s belt under Democrats. Like when we tightened our belt in the Carter years and my pay jumped 20 whole dollars a month when I was promoted to sergeant. Or when we jumped from the tailgate of duece-and-a-half trucks driving down the middle of Sicily Drop Zone because there was no money for paratroopers to jump from actual planes. If Jimmy Carter had won four more years, we’d have fought the Gulf War with Vietnam Era equipment since it took almost the entire 80s to refit with modern equipment.

And Bill Clinton bragged that he’d made government smaller than it had ever been since World War II when all he done was slash the military personnel and cut our medical care.

Of course, the astroturfers are out in force to mute any discussion that might make it seem as though the troops won’t follow Powell blindly over the cliff (too many rodent metaphors?). We saw an example of that yesterday with our new best friend JoeSixSixSix/Anonymous who trolled this forum yesterday claiming to be a disaffected Republican and veteran…then ran for the hills when he was accused of being an astroturfer.

Yeah, Powell’s defection didn’t have the desired effect so the knuckleheads are out in force.

Category: Politics