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(Cross posted on Texas Kaos.)
Now why would our distinguished junior Senator from the great state of Texas want to examine the military records of the Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, Lt. Col. Rick Noriega?
For what purpose?
I think we all can guess at the reason. Let's put it this way. Cornyn dodged the Vietnam War when he could have served in the military, but he instead actively sought a way out. Lt. Col. Noriega, on the other hand, enlisted in the National Guard in the 1980's in response to the Iranian hostage crisis. He later served in Afghanistan as a result of 9/11 and the war on terror.
But this is an election year and it obviously has dawned on Cornyn that he had chosen to shirk his walk while Lt. Col. Noriega has walked his. And so now we have a threatened and scared Republican Senator who will fabricate smear for the sole purpose of saving his own scared and sorry derriere.
I don't think any of us will ever forget the relentless and unconscionable swift boating of John Kerry in 2004, who unlike Bush, did serve in Vietnam. And Bush supporters smeared Kerry mercilessly for it. Yes, folks, this is the sick, twisted and toxic manner in which Republicans and their supporters thrive. The pathetic cowards will smear and demonize decorated war heroes. GOP smear mongers have no honor. They don't even know its meaning.
Like W., Texas U.S. Senator Cornyn did not serve in the Vietnam War. Both men were of military age at the time and as we know, both are right wing war hawks today. And yet neither was willing to fight in a war themselves when they had every opportunity to do so. While W. his behind his Daddy's clout and buddies to dodge Vietnam, Cornyn bailed out by using a loophole in the law.
Clueless about the hard and real consequences of warfare, an inept Mr. Bush distracted us from the real war on terror by fabricating an unnecessary debacle called Iraq. His equally oblivious and war dodging soul mate, Mr. Cornyn has blindly and routinely supported W. in his irresponsible quest that has undermined our military as well as our national security. 70% of Americans believe Iraq is a mistake and not worth the price. So much for putting chicken hawks in high positions of power that involve decision making about warfare, our military or our national security. Not to mention the inconvenient truth about our now busted and seriously overdrawn national piggy bank.
It is apparently so easy for swaggering war dodging chickens to send others off into the killing and maiming fields and squander our national treasure while the chickens roost safely at home completely insulated by bastions of personal financial protection and fortresses of political power.
A couple of months ago progressive bloggers, Vince Leibowitz, Hal Heitman, and I put our keyboards together to do a little research on Cornyn's military history, or rather, the lack thereof. We knew given Cornyn's age that it is likely he had to have participated in the mandatory Vietnam War draft lotteries of the 1970's During the time in which so many men Cornyn's age were drafted into military service we wanted to know why the Senator was neither drafted nor did he enlist.
Vince had discovered an article written in the San Antonio Express News on October 20, 2002 (Section A, page 12) that revealed Cornyn avoided the Vietnam War draft by obtaining a student deferment in 1970.
In 1970, Cornyn requested and received a student deferment from the draft, which was abolished shortly before he graduated in 1973.
"There was a lot of soul-searching going on and a lot of questions about our nation's role in the world," he said. "Ultimately, I turned out to be pretty much a chip off the old block."
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