Who in Congress seved in Vietnam? Do they support pos *?

[RamblingRose]

[Trajan]

1. The Chickenhawk Squadron is largely GOP ....

It is amazing to compare the two parties and their respective military service histories in times of conflict ....

The Democrats in government have a FAR more significant role in military service than the GOP ....

[coloradodem2005]

2. And in the case of Clinton where he didn't serve...

...he didn't insult the military careers of those who did serve. Such as going up against the elder Bush or Bob Dole.

[fknobbit]

3. Here they are

http://www.awolbush.com/whoserved.html

[fujiyama]

5. That site is great

Pisses me off so much that the republicans claim this monopoly on patriotism and defense!

I was really amazed by Lantos being in the anti-Nazi Hungarian underground.

I also doubt many knew about Davis's service in Vietnam.

[onenote]

4. Info hard to come by

Info on who served in Congress served in Vietnam is strangely hard to come by. The following website claims to have info from the 107th Congress, but I haven't seen anything on the current Congress. http://www.grunts.net/special/congress/107thcongress.html

Looking quickly at 107th Cong info, it appears that the split of members of the House who served in Nam is pretty even -- around 7 or 8 of each. However, the number of members of the House that claim any military service (not just service in Vietnam) tilts pretty decisively toward the Repub side, so I'd be careful throwing around general arguments about which party has more members who were in the military. In the Senate, the split of veterans (again, not just those going to Vietnam) was 15 each. I'm not trying to draw any conclusions about the relative nature of the service within these groupings. For example, I haven't had the time to sort out how many Dems and Reps served overseas during wartime in Korea, Persian Gulf, WWII. That probably should be done, since just counting the numbers doesn't distinguish between a guy who got shot at and a guy whose military service consisted of a desk job in DC.

onenote

[Trajan]

7. Disagree .....

The Democrats dont claim to be the most 'patriotic' party because of support of the military, the GOP does .....

So let's do a few call outs ....

Prominent Democrats
Representative Richard Gephardt, former House Minority Leader - Missouri Air National Guard, 1965-71. (1, 2)
Representative David Bonior - Staff Sgt., United States Air Force 1968-72 (1, 2)
Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle - 1st Lt., U.S. Air Force SAC 1969-72 (1, 2)
Former Vice President Al Gore - enlisted August 1969; sent to Vietnam January 1971 as an army journalist, assigned to the 20th Engineer Brigade headquartered at Bien Hoa, an airbase twenty miles northeast of Saigon. More facts about Gore's Service
Former Senator Bob Kerrey... Democrat... Lt. j.g., U.S. Navy 1966-69; Medal of Honor, Vietnam (1, 2)
Senator Daniel Inouye, US Army 1943-'47; Medal of Honor, World War Two (1, 2)
Senator John Kerry, Lt., U.S. Navy 1966-70; Silver Star, Bronze Star with Combat V, and three awards of the Purple Heart for his service in combat (1)
Representative Charles Rangel, Staff Sgt., U.S. Army 1948-52; Bronze Star, Korea (1, 2)
Former Senator Max Cleland, Captain, U.S. Army 1965-68; Silver Star & Bronze Star, Vietnam (1, 2)
Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA) - U.S. Army, 1951-1953. (1)
Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) - Lt., U.S. Navy, 1962-67; Naval Reserve, 1968-74. (1, 2)
Senator Jack Reed (D-RI) - U.S. Army Ranger, 1971-1979; Captain, Army Reserve 1979-91 (1)
Senator Fritz Hollings (D-SC) - served as a U.S. Army officer in World War II, receiving the Bronze Star and seven campaign ribbons. (1)


Representative Leonard Boswell (D-IA) - Lt. Col., U.S. Army 1956-76; two tours in Vietnam, two Distinguished Flying Crosses as a helicopter pilot, two Bronze Stars, and the Soldier's Medal. (1, 2)
Former Representative "Pete" Peterson, Air Force Captain, POW, Ambassador to Viet Nam, and recipient of the Purple Heart, the Silver Star and the Legion of Merit. (1, 2)
Rep. Mike Thompson, D-CA: Staff sergeant/platoon leader with the 173rd Airborne Brigade, U.S. Army; was wounded and received a Purple Heart. (1, 2)
Bill McBride, Democratic Candidate for Florida Governor - volunteered and served as a U.S. Marine in Vietnam; awarded Bronze Star with a combat "V." (1)
Gray Davis, former California Governor, Army Captain in Vietnam; received Bronze Star. (1)
Pete Stark, D-CA, served in the Air Force 1955-57

Prominent Republicans
Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert - avoided the draft, did not serve.
Former House Majority Leader Dick Armey - avoided the draft, did not serve.
House Majority Leader Tom Delay - avoided the draft, did not serve (1). "So many minority youths had volunteered ... that there was literally no room for patriotic folks like himself."
House Majority Whip Roy Blunt - did not serve
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist - did not serve. (An impressive medical resume, but not such a friend to cats in Boston.)
Majority Whip Mitch McConnell, R-KY - did not serve (1)
Rick Santorum, R-PA, third ranking Republican in the Senate - did not serve. (1)
Former Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott - avoided the draft, did not serve.


Secretary of Defense Don Rumsfeld - served in the U.S. Navy (1954-57) as an aviator and flight instructor. (1) Served as President Reagan's Special Envoy to the Middle East and met with Saddam Hussein twice in 1983 and 1984.
GW Bush - decided that a six-year Nat'l Guard commitment really means four years. Still says that he's "been to war." Huh?
VP Cheney - several deferments (1, 2), the last by marriage (in his own words, "had other priorities than military service") (1)
Att'y Gen. John Ashcroft - did not serve (1, 2); received seven deferments to teach business ed at SW Missouri State

Jeb Bush, Florida Governor - did not serve. (1)


Karl Rove - avoided the draft, did not serve (1), too busy being a Republican.

Former Speaker Newt Gingrich - avoided the draft, did not serve (1, 2)
Former President Ronald Reagan - due to poor eyesight, served in a noncombat role making movies for the Army in southern California during WWII. He later seems to have confused his role as an actor playing a tail gunner with the real thing.
"B-1" Bob Dornan - avoided Korean War combat duty by enrolling in college acting classes (Orange County Weekly article). Enlisted only after the fighting was over in Korea.
Phil Gramm - avoided the draft, did not serve, four (?) student deferments
Senator John McCain - McCain's naval honors include the Silver Star, Bronze Star, Legion of Merit, Purple Heart and Distinguished Flying Cross. Why did the Bush campaign smear him so? At least Senators Cleland (D-GA), Kerry (D-MA), Kerrey (D-NE), Robb (D-VA) and Hagel (R-NE) defended him.
Former Senator Bob Dole - an honorable man. http://www.bobdole.org/bio/wwII.php
Chuck Hagel - two Purple Hearts and a Bronze Star, Vietnam. http://www.senate.gov/~hagel/Information/bio.htm
Duke Cunningham - nominated for the Medal of Honor, received the Navy Cross, two Silver Stars, fifteen Air Medals, the Purple Heart, and several other decorations http://www.house.gov/cunningham/about_duke.htm#Biography
Senator Jeff Sessions U.S. Army Reserves, 1973-1986
Colin Powell. What are we to make of Powell? On the one hand, a long career as a military manager. On the other hand, accused of covering up the My Lai massacre. Back on that first hand, one of the seemingly sane voices in this administration when it comes to Iraq (or at least he used to be). On the other hand, a clear hypocrite ("I am angry that so many of the sons of the powerful and well-placed... managed to wangle slots in Reserve and National Guard units...")
Representative Wayne Gilchrest (R-MD), served in USMC in Vietnam; wounded in action.


Credit given where credit due .....

The fact is: The very democrats whom the GOP deride as the MOST 'liberal', like Harkin, like Daschle, like Kennedy - ALL served their country ... while the most DERISIVE of the GOP who insult the Democrats: like Gingrich, like Hastert, like Delay, like ASSKKKroft, like Cheney .... NEVER SERVED ....

Your admonition to 'be careful' is more of the same 'pink tutu' tactics that brought us where we are ....

The gloves are off ....

[onenote]

8. we actually agree

Someone asked a question about the number of members of Congress who served in Vietnam and I responded to that question (the info you provided, which is very good info, but which did not direct respond to the question, had already been linked to,so I didn't repeat it). I also gave some advice, which I would stick with...if someone wants to make an argument about political party affiliation and military service, they shouldn't base it on a simple count of who served (which was what the questioner was asking about). Rather, and this is where you and I are in total agreement, there is an argument that can and should be made about the chickenhawks based on the fact, if you compare that the military records of leading dems and leading repugs, the dems are going to come out looking a whole lot better than the repubs.

onenote

[JI7]

6. use to be chuck robb, bob kerrey, john kerry, john mccain, chuck hagel,

and max cleland. they always backed each other up when/if attacks on their service happened.

chuck robb and max cleland lost their elections to 2 of the biggest assholes in the senate. bob kerrey retired since he got tired of being a minority party in the senate. and it sucks since he was a safe democratic seat with pretty liberal leanings on some issues from a very conservative state.

and now it's of course mccain, hagel, and kerry. mccain and hagel both like kerry and have reasons to hate bush. but they seem to be playing good gop soldiers in going along with the party. i will be happy if and when they speak out against their party but i sure am not going to become dependent on them to do the right thing.