Reader Jeremey Winer emailed me this lovely tidbit from a Wesley Clark interview:
“We’ve got a president who will go halfway around the world for a photo opportunity but won’t go halfway across town for a funeral for an American serviceman.
“I’ve been to those funerals. I’ve comforted families. … I don’t think you can make good policy at the top if you don’t understand the impact at the bottom of your organization.”
Bush has on only two or three occasions met with the families of fallen servicemen and women, most recently at Fort Carson, Colorado, and he has not attended funerals or greeted caskets returning from Iraq.
WHAT… A… JERK… And as a military man, he has no excuse, he should know better. For chrissakes, how many times are we going to have to debunk this damn meme?
Is there some sort of competition between the Democratic candidates to see who can make the most outrageous statement? Or is that was a Democratic primary is anymore?
Mito
Nonetheless it would be good to see Bush go to funerals. It would have been good to see his predecessors go to them as well.
There is a tendency for presidents to avoid this as it casts a bad light on their decisions but this seems wrong.
If Bush started doing it then others after him would feel obliged to do the same and everyone would be better off.
Parker
Question for Mito – have you given any extended thought to what this would entail on a practical level?
YOU try going to ALL the funerals for a population of over a million – and then explaining why you picked one over another, and apologizing for disrupting some, and not having time to do the job you took an oath to do, and explaining the cost of taking so many people to so many places.
The commander in chief pays homage to ALL fallen military on Memorial Day – as former military, that suits me down to the ground.
Dean
I suppose generals should do it, too.
Then, you’d avoid those incompetent, war-mongering ones—like Patton.
HH
Bush has met with the grieving families before… but because he doesn’t actually go to funerals, a rarity among presidents, suddenly he “doesn’t care.” But going to visit the troops was a “photo opportunity.” If Bush started attending funerals, we’d immediately hear it was a “photo-op” with conspiracy theories that the casket was plastic and he wasn’t actually there.
JPS
Lot of offensiveness packed into that article. More than the funeral cheap shot, the assertion that he would have caught bin Laden by now got me mad. (Actually, this is kind of fun. Let me try: If I’d been SACEUR, we would have got Radko Mladic by now.)
And of course, the self-righteous statement of what he would respond if Bush questions his opponents’ patriotism. ‘Cause, as we all know, Bush has been doing that right and left.
Bruce
President Bush today (18th) will visit with wounded soldiers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, DC. He will also deliver remarks to the medical personnel at Walter Reed and thank them for the outstanding job they do.
Ricky
Bold words from a general who was fired from his position.
Dean
Ricky,
All generals who are fired from their position are, of course, correct.
Hence, Shinseki and Clark join the ranks of MacArthur and Patton among lib-Dems as being clarion calls of truth and accuracy.
Rich
As a Navy veteran (1991-2000) I have only foul and vicious things to say about Bush’s failure to appropriately honor the brave men and women who gave their lives for this country and Bush’s mad mission.
It is the Commander-in-Chief’s responsiblity to show respect for our people in uniform. If showing respect would give the Democrats a partisan opening, tough luck! If a fellow wants to be the big cheese in a democracy, putting up with (or even better, listening to) criticism is part of the job!
If this president has time to make it to fundraisers, he’s got time to make it to funerals.
Dan
Wow. Ok, looking at your “debunking,” we have:
-LBJ attended funerals
-Nixon met with family
-Carter went to memorial service
-Reagan went to memorial service
-HW Bush maybe went to some funerals
-Clinton attended memorials and “publically grieved” with family members.
By comparison, Bush has given a few speeches. He has met with families of dead British troops. He has met with a few families. But he has yet to attend any sort of service, which most past presidents have. No one is saying he has to go to every funeral. But something beyond Memorial Day might be nice, since Memorial Day is every year, it might be good to have something more then that while we are at war.
JadeGold
THE DEMOCRATS WILL TAKE BACK THIS CRAVEN AND COWARDLY COUNTRY! REPUGS CAN BE HUNTED DOWN AND DESTROYED VERY EASY!
To hunt and trap an conservative male (aka sister and sheep fucking redneck), you
Thumper
Yeah, but what would I want with a Repuglican, male or female?
Abb
Little to no class. Way to make your party look good Democrats. Don’t you ever disrespect some one because of their political beliefs it’s our right to have an opinion and just because it differs from yours doesn’t mean it’s wrong. Those last posted were the trashiest and most embarassing I have ever seen, I am ashamed ot be a democrat.