These guys are getting tougher and tougher to parody:
Bryan Fischer, the “Director of Issues Analysis” for the conservative Christian group the American Family Association, was unhappy yesterday that President Obama awarded the Medal of Honor to a soldier for saving lives. This, Fischer wrote on his blog, shows that the Medal of Honor has been “feminized” because “we now award it only for preventing casualties, not for inflicting them.”
[….]Fischer’s take? “So the question is this: when are we going to start awarding the Medal of Honor once again for soldiers who kill people and break things so our families can sleep safely at night?”
“We have feminized the Medal of Honor,” Fischer wrote. He also quoted General Patton: “Gen. George Patton once famously said, ‘The object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other guy die for his.'” (Actually, Patton doesn’t say anything about the other guy: “The object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other bastard die for his.”)
Give this guy a Kaplan opinion column.
ruemara
I could believe in god more if he’d start smiting fools like this. Isn’t there a lightning bolt handy?
Joseph Nobles
1. Salvatore Guinta did kill a couple of insurgents while saving his fellow soldiers in Afghanistan, so I don’t understand this cretin’s problem.
2. Slandering the Medal of Honor like this is sickening.
3. Fuck goddamn fuckity fuck FUCK!
Linda Featheringill
Another extremist Christian supporting death and damnation.
We do grow some lovely people over here in this lovely little country, don’t we?
Koalaholik
Does anyone know if this guy served in the military or was he someone with depression or a cyst that disqualified him from serving?
lacp
I think he’s got the Medal of Honor confused with the Genghis Khan Ribbon of Merit.
Captain Haddock
In defense of Bryan Fischer, the winner “Salvatore Giunta” is probably a few shades darker than snow, hence ineligible by law.
BGinCHI
Given Fischer’s stellar military record of saving lives and killing our enemies, we’re lucky he has weighed in on this.
OK, now, let’s see if the MSM can make it clear what’s wrong with this (spoken as if to a 6-year-old).
OK, media? Analysis? Push-back against offensive and stupid? Make sure this sticks to the guy and his group?
Hello?
cleek
i don’t about you guys, but to me, nothing says “family” like “WHAT’S UP WITH ALL THESE PUSSIES? DON’T WE KILL PEOPLE ANYMORE?”
Dave
Yeah, it’s not like we ever did that before…
Sorry for the long pull, but Fischer is full of shit. The MoH has been awarded numerous times for saving lives. Fuck him and fuck the AFA.
Guster
He’s right. My five-year-old daughter crossed Baghdad for her My Little Pony–twice. (She forgot the sparkle-saddle the first time.)
What they should do is remove the subjectivity of the medal. Like if you bring in the right number of ears, you automatically get the medal. That way, there’s no favoritism.
JohnB
So we should invalidate these?:
Hospital Corpsmen who received the Medal of Honor
lacp
Anyone else here have the suspicion that Bryan Fischer is another Doughy Pantload, a bloodthirsty keyboard warrior?
cleek
remember, Fischer is the guy who not only said :
but also:
Dennis SGMM
At long last, have they no decency?
bemused
Holy shit. That’s just wrong.
mikefromArlington
Put this guy and the Medal of Honor recipient in a room with brass knuckles and lets find out who’s the tough guy.
Tony J
So all of those other guys who recieved MOHs for risking their lives while getting wounded comrades out of danger were all ‘Girly Men’ who should have returned the decoration out of shame?
Something tells me that Bryan Fischer, the “Director of Issues Analysis” for the conservative Christian group the American Family Association, should express this opinion as loudly as he can within the hearing of anyone who ever wore a uniform, and someone nearby really should use their phone to show us what happens.
It’s like the American Right hired the Phelps Family as speechwriters.
ChrisB
How very Christian of him.
Pangloss
What would “going too far” look like to these guys? Just wondering.
Bruuuuce
Give this guy a
Kaplan opinion columnrifle, a uniform, and a free trip to Kandahar.I think I like this idea MUCH better.
Mike in NC
Since WW2 (or possibly even during) the medal has often been given to the G.I. or Marine who threw himself on an enemy grenade to save the lives of his fellow soldiers. It has seldom been awarded merely for slaughtering the most bad guys you come up against.
But a clown like Fischer couldn’t possibly bother to look that up, right?
david mizner
You didn’t quote the most awesomest part of his post:
“However, Jesus’ act of self-sacrifice would ultimately have been meaningless – yes, meaningless – if he had not inflicted a mortal wound on the enemy while giving up his own life.
The significance of the cross is not just that Jesus laid down his life for us, but that he defeated the enemy of our souls in the process. It was on the cross that he crushed the head of the serpent. It was on the cross that “he disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in it” (Colossians 2:15)”
Ha! Be like Jesus. Kill people!
soonergrunt
Apparently, Mr. Fischer feels himself qualified to question the masculinity of SSG Salvatore Giunta, who was awarded the Medal of Honor yesterday, and by extension the masculinity of the officers and NCOs who were also involved in that fight as well as the officers and NCOs who investigated and recommended SSG Giunta for the medal.
His issue appears to be that saving the lives of American Soldiers is not a masculine act. I can only note here that SPC Monica Lin Brown, a medic, was awarded the Silver Star for saving the lives of American Soldiers under fire, including dragging men heavier than herself from burning vehicles and using her own body as a shield for her patients.
If killing the enemy is your minimal standard for heroism, well, then you are a fool and a psychopath, but here is SGT Leigh Ann Hester, awarded the Silver Star for attacking and destroying a numerically superior enemy force in Iraq.
That’s two women, who, being women are probably actually feminine, and at the same time more masculine than this asshole. Bryan Fischer isn’t qualified to shine their shoes
Joseph Nobles
I can’t find the blog post at this Christianist’s idiot blog, but here’s the Google cache, dated November 16.
It must have been pulled doubleplus fast this morning, demonstrating that even with its hard right wing agenda, the AFA does indeed have a bridge too far.
ETA: No, here’s a direct link. It’s not being indexed anymore, but it’s right there on the website. The granting of a moment of sense to the AFA is rescinded.
david mizner
@david mizner:
link
http://www.afa.net/Blogs/BlogPost.aspx?id=2147500421
Alex S.
WE NEED TO KILL MORE MOOOOOSLIMS!
soonergrunt
@Bruuuuce: I don’t. There’s US servicemembers there, whose lives would be in increased danger with this asshole on the battlefield.
gbear
So has he been scheduled to appear on this sunday morning’s talk shows yet?
Brachiator
@Dave:
Thanks for the needed correction. The right is once again indulging in some lame revisionist history in which simpleminded murderous jingoism is the primary defining value of Real Americans(tm)
Paul in KY
Scum. That’s what they are. All of them. He isn’t fit to lick the smegma off Sgt Giunta’s syphilitic dog.
PurpleGirl
@ruemara: I so agree with you. Fischer is a douchebag, par exellence. He must be from a long line of chickenhawks.
Soprano2
This, a thousand times. I don’t usually advocate violence but in this case I think it’s warranted. What an imbecile. I wonder if anyone on the right will condemn him for this idiocy. I won’t be holding my breath…….
MikeJ
I think that the members of various sects should ask their governing bodies if the agree with the way the American Family Association belittles war heros. If they disagree, will they make a public statement? Will they work with them in the future?
kdaug
Wait – have we ever given the MoH for number of kills? So the fellas that dropped Little Boy and Fat Man got, like, suitcases full of them?
And has this jackass ever worn the uniform? Just wondering…
Violet
Salvatore Guinta? Is he Latino? Obviously Latinos can’t be as brave and deserving of medals as white people. Duh!
Okay, I need a shower after writing that. Even parodying people makes me feel sick.
lacp
@david mizner: “We’re gonna come in low over Golgotha; then when we’re about a mile out, we turn on the music.”
“Music, Lord?”
“Yeah, we play Wagner. Scares the hell out of the sinners. My apostles love it!”
apologies to Francis Ford Coppola
DanF
Not just any war porn will do – it has to be the right kind of war porn.
soonergrunt
@Joseph Nobles:
Here ’tis:
http://www.afa.net/Blogs/BlogPost.aspx?id=2147500421
pulled from my facebook page. This asshole has a facebook of his own, on which he posts links to his AFA blog. But he didn’t post a link to this particular blog post. I guess he didn’t want to put it somewhere that people would actually read it.
MikeJ
@Soprano2:
I also don’t advocate violence, but this person is literally asking for it. And when I say literally, I don’t mean figuratively like many people who use the word.
David Brooks (not that one)
PLease don’t make them trot out Matthew 10:34 again.
El Cid
One problem is that we still discourage our soldiers from killing any unarmed civilians, though thankfully plenty of occasions arise in which this happens.
If we would recognize how important that the score of unarmed civilians killed is in making America stronger, then we could put those numbers killed on a soldier’s record, and the medals we give away would have a much higher level competition.
Bnut
Both medics and conscientious objectors have been awarded the Medal of Honor. Sorry there were not battalions of AQ and Taliban for us to mow down on deployment. This guy doesn’t realize that as enemy body counts go up, so do ours normally. I was soooooo happy to hear of and see this event (the award ceremony), but now I’m spitting mad. I don’t think civilians can understand what the Medal of Honor means to those who serve, and this douche proves it in spades.
soonergrunt
@Dennis SGMM: No. SATSQ.
cyntax
Maybe Fischer should ask the guys SSG Guinta saved what they think, or maybe the families of those guys.
To call this guy a douchebag would be to slander the term douchebag.
Douglas
Does this mean that risking your life to save others is know considered feminine?
I’d totally approve of that. Certainly beats the old “blush, giggle and stay in the house” concept they trotted out so far.
PurpleGirl
@Violet: A quick Google confirms that he has Italian ancestors, as I thought. And he is the first living soldier since Vietnam to receive the MoH.
Bruce (formerly Steve S.)
He’s got issues, that’s for sure. I can just picture him staring for hours at one of those pictures of a mostly nude Christ on the Cross, agonizing over the feminization wrought by this figure’s passive sacrifice for the sake of all humanity. We could fill a book with this fellow’s issues.
Jim, Once
This young man – Sal Giunta – graduated from the high school where my husband taught for thirty-four years, and we’re very proud of him here in these parts. To read Sal’s comments on this honor – how little he deserves it, how he would give it back in a heartbeat if only his buddies could be alive and with him again – is to have renewed hope and faith in his generation. What this . . . (I can’t come up with an epithet strong enough for Fischer) . . . this thing has published makes me as sick as I’ve ever felt.
PurpleGirl
@El Cid: I often have to pinch myself in order to remind myself that you are a master of snark.
Linda Featheringill
@Joseph Nobles:
[#22]
http://www.afa.net/Blogs/BlogPost.aspx?id=2147500421
The blog post in question. LOVE the comments on the blog. It’s worth taking a moment to go there and read them.
4tehlulz
The only proper response to him is, “So, how many tours did you do?”
Google doesn’t seem to answer the question for me, for some reason.
Jay in Oregon
…I really don’t know what to say.
Fischer shouldn’t be able to walk down the same street as someone who has served in the military — particularly the soldiers whose lives Sgt. Giunta saved — without getting the shit kicked out of him. What a pathetic wretch.
TucsonGuy
@Koalaholik:
No. “Other priorities”, I suppose.
But apparently he did receive a “Friend of Life” award for his work encouraging wartime killings or something.
Here’s his bio on the AFA website:
http://action.afa.net/detail.aspx?id=2147486648
Linda Featheringill
@ChrisB:
I understand the sarcasm.
We should keep in mind, though, that anyone who would make a statement like this really is a Christian extremist and has very little in common with the teachings of Jesus or the people who try to follow those teachings.
ThatLeftTurnInABQ
Well all I can say is thank goodness that our contemporary temples don’t have any moneychangers in them.
freelancer
Kooks will be kooks, and haters gotta hate. This is shocking, but not a surprise coming from Fischer. They keep saying this is a Christian nation, and while I’m always quick to point out that it’s a secular republic, the caveat is that this country is about 80% self-described as “Christians”. Where the fuck are these people?! Police your whackjobs. Seriously, if Hitchens or Dawkins said stuff like this on a regular basis, atheists in this country, myself included, would rise as a giant herd of cats to say in once voice, “STFU, you don’t speak for me.” This largely happened to Hitchens around 2003 and 2004, when he basically advocated secular Jihad in the form of carpet bombing/nuking the larger Muslim world. And atheists aren’t that numerous, yet we still managed to find a way to denounce the violence that he was advocating.
So, again, I ask you, where THE FUCK are the Christians?
gbear
@david mizner:
Wow, that Jesus, he was one hell of a multi-tasker.
MikeJ
@4tehlulz:
I don’t see how it’s relevant. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with civilians criticizing the conduct of war. Our military doesn’t have the best record of handling misconduct in war zones.
That said, this Fischer is an idiot. He’s not an idiot because he didn’t serve. He’s an idiot because god made him that way. Or it was a lifestyle choice, I don’t know which.
Jim, Once
@Linda Featheringill:
I held my nose and went there. The comments helped my nausea somewhat.
Pangloss
Here’s his bio:
http://action.afa.net/detail.aspx?id=2147486648
No mention of military service.
West of the Cascades
@freelancer:
Hey, Fischer, STFU, you don’t speak for me. Jesus was about life and love and not death and war. So stop calling yourself a Christian if all you can talk about is war and killing other people!
— a Christian
That’s what I believe. Is that good enough for you? BTW, he is not “one of mine” – my beliefs (which are very liberal Christian) are so far from his that it’s not really feasible to lump them under a single umbrella. It’s like telling the Firebaggers to “police” the Teabaggers.
emdee
This is where I miss the pit bull instinct. Why aren’t Democrats in the House rushing to the microphone to condemn this guy for insulting our beloved troops, questioning their bravery, and most importantly — bringing to the floor a resolution to condemn the American Family Association for their hatred of the troops?
You know the other side would already be holding the vote…
Sasha
Even money that he’s a chickenhawk.
El Cruzado
This overbearing need to constantly trumpet an oversimplified view of masculinity against all enemies real and imaginary…
Methinks his closet is full, and not of skeletons.
Triassic Sands
Perhaps it is time to rehabilitate Lt. Calley and give him the Medal of Honor he so richly deserves.
Ash Can
The first commenter on that TPM article had it right. When exactly did we stop committing people like Fischer to mental hospitals and start giving them microphones?
New Yorker
WHAT THE FUCK!!! My extremely nonscientific research of Medal of Honor recipients suggests that many of them did things like take machine gun fire to the face and crotch while covering for the rest of their platoon: i.e. saving fucking lives!!!!
Can Fischer please be caught smoking crack in a hotel room with a transsexual hooker while dressed in a pink tutu?
Legalize
I saw this fella and his mates on 60 Minutes last week. They were attacked in an “L” formation by fighters more numerous than them. But one of the men the men Guinta was brown-ish I think. So that’s probably why this doesn’t count.
Ruckus
@kdaug:
I heard Paul Tibbets speak once and met him briefly. I would imagine that if he had lived to hear this asshat Fischer he would have told him in no uncertain terms what an asshole he is. He was not proud of what he had to do but it was his job in the military and he did it. He did not expect any awards for just doing his duty.
I suspect that no MOH award recipient would bother getting their hands dirty on this asshole. But I also imagine the line to whack him with a baseball bat would be long and angry. Event announcer: One hit each, please only one hit, and keep moving there are thousands of people behind you.
I hope he keeps doing exactly what he is doing, exposing him and his group as the complete worthless shits they are.
canuckistani
I guess he’s all in favour of the 20 Medals of Honor awarded for the Wounded Knee Massacre. Lots of killing there.
4tehlulz
@MikeJ: Except that’s not what he is doing. He is denigrating someone receiving the Medal of Honor because he doesn’t see his actions as manly. I think “You don’t know jack shit.” is a perfectly reasonable response.
MikeJ
@4tehlulz: I agree he’s an idiot. But it’s not the fact that he’s never been in the military that makes it so. I’ve never been in the military I think the guy who got the medal is swell. I think awarding medals for self sacrifice is peachy. The validity of my opinion has nothing to do with my military service or lack of it. Neither does his.
cursorial
The idiocy of his entire criticism aside, I like the Patton quote. Or misquote. But since this guy’s experience of war apparently comes from watching movies on TV with the dialogue overdubbed, someone should point out to him that it’s 2010 now, and the other bastard’s country is the one our guys are dying for.
kdaug
@Ruckus: Between this guy and Fred Phelps, I feel sorry for the true believers out there.
But I suppose feeling compassion and empathy just highlights my “feminization”.
gnomedad
@cleek(68):
Awesome post.
Donald G
I’ve got this mental image of Jesus chasing Bryan Fischer around a megachurch brandishing a table over his head shouting “My temple should be a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves. Get out! Get out!”
Apsalar
Did this piece of garbage actually read what Giunta did? He saw that 2 Taliban soldiers were dragging his wounded friend away from where they’d been ambushed, ran after them without any cover, killed one and wounded the other, and then ran to his friend and tried to save his life. Plus everything else he did during the ambush.
Yeah, totally a pussy.
kdaug
@Donald G: I actually read that in some MEGA-CHURCH in Colorado, in the lobby there were tables set up by credit card companies (next to the Starbucks and souvenir shops). No doubt the cards all have crosses on them.
Jay in Oregon
@emdee:
You forgot a step; the Democrats need to call on the AFA to “refudiate” Fischer’s statement. THEN you hold the vote for the meaningless resolution.
Better yet, if they get money from the Federal Gubmint via the Department of Faith-Based Initiatives, maybe it’s time to do a review. Defund the AFA!
cleek
@gnomedad:
tanks!
Ruckus
@kdaug:
Thing is I have no compassion and empathy for this asshole. Or his group.
And BTW we’re back to fucking manly now? Is that were men are men and women are pregnant and barefoot? WTF! I thought we got over that when the Marlboro Man ad campaign died.
@soonergrunt: has it right. It doesn’t take a man to be a solder. It takes training, nerve, pride, desire and probably others. None of those are manly traits, they are human traits that not everyone has. Some have them in larger quantities and do much more with them. Some have none of these quantities and prove it on a regular basis.
Linda Featheringill
@Triassic Sands:
Very good!
soonergrunt
@cleek, in re your post on your blog:
The safety on the M4 that Jesus is holding is on FIRE. That’s not a good example for the Lord and Savior to be setting. Who would Jesus negligently discharge at?
Chris Grrr
@cleek: The quotes you shared belong on Landoverbaptist.org …
Are there no veterans in the AFA? Or are the majority of them cowering under their Barcaloungers because of dem skeery muslins?
Steeplejack
__
I will note that the phrase “kill people and break things” (as the definition of an army) is a specific Rush Limbaugh coinage dating from (at least) the first Gulf war. So this guy is on message with the wingnut Wurlitzer.
And the idea that anything we are doing in Afghanistan now is helping us sleep safely at night is monstrous.
Tsulagi
Since Obama was presenting the award yesterday I was wondering what the walking braindeads would find to criticize. Predictably at Red State there were a few in the comments who imagined some slight from the president; most didn’t. But this “Christian” really takes it. Tried for a minute or two to come up with a fitting epithet, but failed. All you can really say is he is a serious waste of air and many clicks down the scale of worth from toejam.
Loudly and proudly displaying his retardation as a sign of his “masculinity.” Of the four MoH awarded in Iraq, three recipients chose to dive on and cover a grenade with their body to save the lives of others in their unit. The fourth died while providing fire enabling wounded to be carried to safety and keeping an aid station full of wounded from being taken.
Don’t know the numbers, but I’d guess the large majority of past MoH recipients were awarded the honor because or at least in part due to their actions saving the lives of fellow service members. Most giving their all for others. Something Bryan Fischer has no chance of ever understanding.
Andre
First bears, now soldiers. Who is next on Bryan Fischer’s hit list? Librarians? Bus drivers? Monkeys? Wasps? WASPs?
soonergrunt
@Steeplejack:
“kill people and break things”
We were saying that in the infantry 20 years ago.
Drill Sergeant: Private, what is the mission of the infantry?!
Me: Drill, Sergeant, the mission of the infantry is to close with and…to repel…to… {BRAINFART}
Drill Sergeant: Do push-ups! The mission of the infantry is to close with and disrupt, demoralize, and destroy the enemy through fire, maneuver, and shock effect and to repel his assault by fire and close combat! Roll over and do flutter kicks! In the future, Private, if you’re too stupid to remember that, just say “Drill Sergeant, the mission of the infantry is to kill people and break things!”
debbie
Having read the very descriptive account of the battle in Sebastian Junger’s “War,” I’d like to ask Mr. Fischer to duplicate Giunta’s actions or STFU. Seriously.
Lancelot Link
“In 2004, he co-founded the Keep the Commandments Coalition in an effort to protect the Ten Commandments monument in Julia Davis Park in Boise.”
Apparently he didn’t bother to read the sixth one.
Bruuuuce
@soonergrunt: I know, his attitude would be horrid in the field. I’m not a veteran nor would I wish someone like this on other troops — but a term in combat might (note, not necessarily “would”) give him some perspective.
Sly
Greater love hath no man than this, that a man snuffs out a life for his friends.
Wile E. Quixote
What a cowardly fucking piece of shit. And not only is he a cowardly piece of shit, he’s an ignorant and cowardly piece of shit. You can find dozens of MoH recipients who received their awards not for killing enemy soldiers but for saving the lives of their comrades. They’re all impressive stories but some are more impressive than others, such as the story of Harry “Red” Erwin. Here’s his MoH citation.
Darkrose
@Donald G:
JCS for the win!
Draylon Hogg
That bible basher is full of it. If MOH’s were awarded on kills no-one would get one as you don’t do bodycounts.
William Shelton
@Joseph Nobles: Well stated. Your third comment sums it up well!
DavidTC
What a moron. To be blunt, no one can get a Medal of Honor for simply killing people. A Medal of Honor has to be ‘above and beyond the call of duty’,
And most ‘killing people’ is, in fact, actual duty. If you’re firing a tank gun or sniping or something and kill 400 enemy soldiers, well, good for you, hopefully someone write that up and put in your record, but that was your actual assigned job, you don’t get a Medal of Honor for that, no matter how well you did it. Might get some other award, but not a Medal of Honor.
If soldiers kill large numbers of enemy soldiers ‘above and beyond the call of duty’, something has gone seriously wrong with the chain of command, because soldiers are now apparently taking on large missions without any orders to do so or any support. Granted, sometimes this does happen, where soldiers are out of contact and an obvious ‘next step’ shows up in their mission, and they often get Medals of Honor from that when they do the action to save lives, but this is not some common thing.
A group of soldiers, or a single soldier, should not normally spontaneously decide to invade an enemy stronghold. That is not how wars are supposed to work.
Of course, that’s probably how wars work in his idiotic mind. A group of soldiers get a ‘team’ together, pick a direction, and run around shooting bad guys, who respawn for every mission. And people should get Medals of Honor for every 200 kills.
Mike 71
This is an extreme example of what would happen to our country if these extremists ever gained power over our government. There would be little difference between the United States and Afghanistan! With douchebags like this, I’d rather join the Taliban and be killing Christians!
Fuck Bryan Fischer, the American Family Association and all of the “Christian Taliban!” It is guys like Staff Sgt. Salvatore Giunta who put their lives on the line for this country. Pussies, like Fischer, never will!
“May God have mercy on my enemies, because I never will.”
— General George S. Patton
Death Panel Truck
A while back I was at Find A Grave, looking at the graves of MoH recipients. I was struck by how many of the Vietnam-era recipients gave their lives by throwing themselves on grenades to save their buddies. Quite a few of them were minorities – guys who had to fight the war because assholes like Dick Cheney and Tom DeLay had “other priorities.”
This.
Pissed off vet
And just what is HIS military record?
What’s that? He has NO military service?!
Why am I not surprised?
The loud-mouths and braggerts are usually the 1st ones to make sure their draft-deferments are all in order.
Like 5-deferment DIckhead Cheney, or Flush Limpdick, no balls to put their bodies where their mouths are.
Chickenhawks ought to be the 1st ones killed in a war.