President Responds to Kerry

[SMASH]

PRESIDENT BUSH:

The Senator's suggestion that the men and women of our military are somehow uneducated is insulting, and it is shameful. The members of the United States military are plenty smart, and they are plenty brave; and the Senator from Massachusetts owes them an apology.

I won't hold my breath waiting for that to happen.

Tire Not. Engage.

[Steve Schippert]

Wynton has engaged. He's locked horns with John Kerry ‘Swiftboats' The Democrats.

The military bloggers are already in Def Con 1.

The snide, hyper-elitism dripping from Kerry's words is arresting. But swirling beneath the surface of his comments is something deeper, something conservative critics have long identified and attacked among those they say belong to the "Blame America First" crowd, as former U.N. Ambassador Jeanne Kirkpatrick so artfully once put it.

And that is this: What, if anything, will liberals fight for? What threat, if any, would be worthy of sacrificing one's educated comfort in order to use aggressive, American military power?

As said to Wynton in an email regarding his article and the politicization of the War on Terror...

Words mean things. We should all be listening intently.

The stakes are too damn high. Consider this:

al-Qaeda's Political Warfare: Isolating America

I say enough. Enough already. They are telling us precisely who they are. The podium can be pounded all day long, but words mean things.

Note: I feel compelled to say that it matters not what color your jersey, Blue or Red. It matters not what letter it bears, 'R' or 'D'. What matters is the security of this nation, the single responsibility solely tasked to the Federal Government of the United States of America in its Constitution. We are engaged - not by our choosing - in a war that will span many election cycles and perhaps many generations. It will not be won by ceding the indispensable weapon of 'Will' to the enemy who so clearly seeks to destroy us.

Defeating the enemy and National Security should be of primary concern. All else - Social Security, Abortion, etc. - are but debates about the luxuries that this security provides for. Period.

RE: Kerry

[Dadmanly]

How could I have missed the opportunity?

If it weren't for George W. Bush, Kerry'd be able to say what he really means. Instead,

"It's that damned...Johnson!"

Details here.

For those who miss the reference, click here.

RE: John Kerry

[Dadmanly]

Today’s John Kerry news. The man can’t help himself. He has to get body parts moving, one way or the other. Either he gets his foot caught in his mouth, or his hindquarters get a swift kick, or both at the same time. You have to wonder if he works for Karl Rove.

Here’s again is what he said, courtesy of MILBLOGGER Andi:

“You know, education, if you make the most of it, if you study hard and you do your homework, and you make an effort to be smart, uh, you, you can do well. If you don’t, you get stuck in Iraq.”

Here’s his right this minute rebuttal.

Key graf:

I’m not going to be lectured by a stuffed suit White House mouthpiece standing behind a podium, or doughy Rush Limbaugh, who no doubt today will take a break from belittling Michael J. Fox’s Parkinson’s disease to start lying about me just as they have lied about Iraq. It disgusts me that these Republican hacks, who have never worn the uniform of our country lie and distort so blatantly and carelessly about those who have.

Okay, Senator Winter Soldier. I’m an Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) III Veteran, enlisted, smart as hell and twice as angry. I’ll lecture your sorry behind.

You are a disgrace. You offend the uniform you wore with such disdain, and you denigrate the service of your betters who have served in the military, without the dishonor you showed, during Vietnam, immediately thereafter, and in your complete dishonesty about your record then, and your votes as a US Senator related to Iraq.

We are not “stuck in Iraq.” Don’t want to take National Security seriously? That’s your prerogative, but don’t ask to represent me, in any fashion. Your party has chosen to abandon any responsibility for Iraq or the wider war on Terror, after voting time and again to approve of actions taken by this President you loath and insult.

You voted for it, before you voted against it. And now this. Even if you believe the idiocy that comes out of your mouth, do you have any idea what a moron you sound like? How much you manage to enrage your fellow veterans?

If you can’t buy a clue, keep your clueless hole shut. If not for our good, for your own.

(Cross-posted at Dadmanly.)

PR Campaigns

[Dadmanly]

The week before critical US midterm elections, and the architects of a couple of high visibility public relations (PR) campaigns must be pretty satisfied.

Yes, Al Qaeda and the Democrats have every reason to be pleased.

Let’s talk declared enemies first. That’s right, Al Qaeda and their Media War.

These guys know what they’re doing, it’s pretty hard to argue with their success. They have an avowed PR Campaign, and captured documents reveal a complex and multi-faceted information operations (IO) effort, aimed at the instruments of Western media and their willing (if unwitting) practitioners.

What a result they’ve achieved.

All the news outlets are trumpeting “highest in a year” US Soldier deaths in Iraq, the very month before midterm elections. They did better than they hoped, no doubt, not just beating the year’s best, but moving ahead of the psychologically significant 100 per month figure. And coverage has been wall-to-wall, almost universal across all major media outlets, print, radio, TV, and cable.

Greyhawk of Mudville Gazette highlights a highly successful “Astroturfing” campaign, in which activist groups with a political agenda simulate a “grassroots” effort by “disillusioned” active duty soldiers against the war. Except, this grassroots effort was orchestrated by others that then “recruited” the military front-men required, as reported by the NY Sun (almost exclusively). Hence the term, “Astroturfing.” As described by Wikipedia:

In politics and advertising, the term astroturfing describes formal public relations (PR) campaigns which seek to create the impression of being a spontaneous, grassroots behavior. Hence the reference to the "AstroTurf" (artificial grass) is a metaphor to indicate "fake grassroots" support.

The goal of such campaign is to disguise the agenda of a political client as an independent public reaction to some political entity —a politician, political group, product, service, event. Astroturfers attempt to orchestrate the actions of apparently diverse and geographically distributed individuals, by both overt ("outreach," "awareness," etc.) and covert (disinformation) means. Astroturfing may be undertaken by anything from an individual pushing their own personal agenda through to highly organized professional groups with financial backing from large corporations.

Furthermore, as reported by Greyhawk and Blackfive, major media and responsive columnists have willingly transmitted Al Qaeda propaganda, without contrast or rebuttal, and without any acknowledgement of sources or evaluation of credibility. One suspects, since the source was not the Pentagon, no reason to suspect press manipulation, right?

Al Qaeda has every reason to be pleased with their PR campaign to turn the US electorate against the war and change the political equation in Washington.

As for the Democrats, let’s review their PR campaign.

(For that review, go check out Dadmanly. No need to take up space here.)

Feedback

[Greyhawk]

Feedback on an earlier post:

Greyhawk,

Saw your comments on the Nature of the Enemy weekly update. We've just begun working on the Nature of the Enemy in this office, and any feedback -- even if it's negative -- is appreciated.

First of all, it is weekly, so the information is designed to be a quick read of brief blurbs on what is going in the global war on terror. Each day of the week, we send out a different product and post it on the net -- all of which can be accessed here, http://www.defenselink.mil/home/dodupdate/index-b.html. One deals with heroes in the global war on terror, another on recent news in Iraq, another summarizing what goes on in DoD each week. If the document was 10 pages as you suggest, I fear most people who receive it in their inboxes would delete it immediately.

Second, the audience of these products is diverse. We want to target those who are not as well versed in the goings on in the Global War on Terror. Those who well understand "the nature of the enemy" -- people like yourself as demonstrably indicated by your posts -- understand the stakes in this war. In short, you don't need convincing. Those who do not know anything or very little about the enemy's strategy, tactics and history are less likely to understand why this war must be won. We send it out to media, people around the building, and to staffers on Capitol Hill to establish a basic lexicon from which we can all proceed.

Any thoughts or input you may have would be greatly be appreciated.

Cheers,
Keith

Keith M. Urbahn
Writers Group
Office of the Secretary of Defense

A Military Full of Dummies?

[Andi]

Did John Kerry take a swipe at the men and women of our armed forces? A thread on Free Republic claims that Kerry said the following:

Tonight's "John Ziegler Show" on KFI 640AM in Southern CA played a clip from Senator John F Kerry's appearance at Pomona College with candidate Phil Angelides, Democrat for CA governor.

At the event, Kerry had this to say about our brave military volunteers:

"You know, education, if you make the most of it, if you study hard and do your homework, and you make an effort to be smart, uh, you can do well. If you don't, you get stuck in Iraq."

Old habits die hard.

I've tried numerous times to download the audio file, but to no avail. If anyone else is able to do so, please verify in the comment section.

Update: I like this clever comment:

"You know, marrying rich women, if you make the most of it, if you court hard and do your homework, and you make an effort to be smart, uh, you can do well. If you don't, you get stuck in Paris doing street mime for loose change."

There, that's better.

Do Not Call

[Soldier's Dad]

I got a recorded phone call from Jack Murtha today.
Some blathering about how he is a war veteran that understands something or other.
Jacks obviously has never been to one of my families picnics.
I must say...Jack helped me....I was considering a vote for Senator Cantwell.
Her opponent is a political unkown. Jack helped me decide.
Jack helped me to decide to help folks that need a ride to the polls get a ride to the polls.
Jack helped me decide to donate another few hundred bucks to various candidates.
Jack helped me to decide to put a sign up in my yard.

Jack, I was having a very nice lunch with the Mrs. The Mrs. and I don't often have an opportunity for a nice lazy lunch alone and undisturbed.

What is it that you do not understand about DO NOT CALL.

Go Blue!

[John Noonan]

I thought that I'd break out some of our campaign posters early. This one will be up at OPFOR tomorrow.

My logic is undeniable. Treat yourself. Join Team Air Force.

Update: Uh oh, one of OPFOR's Marine bloggers has betrayed me!