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The U.S. Troops Are Loser-Defeatists, Too
Hilzoy notes that reality has joined the sad ranks of loser-defeatists who are pessimistic about the Iraq war.
And according to the latest Zogby poll, America’s soldiers are dangerously close to becoming loser-defeatists too:
An overwhelming majority of 72% of American troops serving in Iraq think the U.S. should exit the country within the next year, and nearly one in four say the troops should leave immediately, a new Le Moyne College/Zogby International survey shows.
The poll, conducted in conjunction with Le Moyne College’s Center for Peace and Global Studies, showed that 29% of the respondents, serving in various branches of the armed forces, said the U.S. should leave Iraq “immediately,� while another 22% said they should leave in the next six months. Another 21% said troops should be out between six and 12 months, while 23% said they should stay “as long as they are needed.�
72% of the troops think the U.S. should leave within a year? That sounds dangerously close to setting a timetable for withdrawal! That’s the most loser-defeatist position ever! You might as well support John Kerry’s plan to make everyone in the Army get gay married! Hey assholes, why don’t you just change America’s motto from “In God We Trust” to “Sacré! More brie, please!” and be done with it!
Well that does it! We clearly need a different brand of soldier in the military, one who won’t question the President’s pledge to stay the course and remain in Iraq until 2150! If any recruiters out there need help in locating such upstanding young patriots, I can recommend more than a few who post over at this site:
Hmmmmm. On second thought, they look a little soft to be in the Army. Oh well, at least they can keep fighting terrorists on the home front… by blogging!!!
Dan Someone said,
February 28, 2006 at 17:32
Why do the troops hate the troops?
MCH said,
February 28, 2006 at 18:09
Dammit! You beat me to it, Dan.
I’m afraid my younger cousins are going the Way of the Wingnut. Seeing a college kid with his nose in a Sean Hannity book is enough to chill the blood.
Though those are not hi-res pics (to be fair), it seems that Clearasil deprivation and the resultant social difficulty may be a cause of wingdom. (Perhaps that’s WHY the pics are low-res, to be unfair.)
Reagan’s Children? Were any of them born before Reagan left office?
I remember liking Ronnie when I was in second grade. But simpleton politics is something one is supposed to *outgrow* with age, wisdom and learning.
Jefe said,
February 28, 2006 at 18:16
Who’s the toolshed with the flag and the Bible?
Actually, toolshed is an understatement. He’s a tool store. He’s a Home Depot.
Evil Progressive said,
February 28, 2006 at 18:41
“An overwhelming majority of 72% of American troops serving in Iraq think the U.S. should exit the country within the next year,…”
So far, the rightnuttery is not commenting. It’s a bit difficult — even for the Bushites — to call the troops traitors, terrorist-lovers, and America-haters, when said troops are in Iraq…
Hysterical Woman said,
February 28, 2006 at 18:50
If they’re around the same age as me, they shouldn’t remember much of Reagan. My first political memory is Clinton’s first election in 1992. I don’t think their memories of Reagan are much more than seeing some old guy on the television while their parent’s watched the evening news.
Lamia said,
February 28, 2006 at 18:57
The blond one’s hair offends my eyes.
Virgin Ben looks like a Harry Potter mutant and the redhead looks like a Weasley that resulted from inbreeding.
And the flab with the flag? Pbbth.
suburban refugee said,
February 28, 2006 at 19:04
The redhead looks like the dweeb who made a pass at me, and the dork with the flag has the kind of face that leaves me with the irrestible urge to hit him.
Woodrowfan said,
February 28, 2006 at 19:17
is Pat Boone not selling that zit cream anymore??
Vladi G said,
February 28, 2006 at 19:20
I think the wingnut meme is that the troops want out because we already won. Why stay when we have nothing left to accomplish?
Kathleen said,
February 28, 2006 at 19:37
I think the line is going to be that it is the media’s fault. The soldiers are clearly not being informed as to how great things are going in Iraq. Damn the NY Times.
teh l4m3 said,
February 28, 2006 at 19:42
MCH: No joke? I remember loathing Ronnie Raygun in elementary school — esp. when that whole GRIDS (ha!) thing started up in the S.F. Bay Area. But then, I was attending public schools crippled by his earlier governorship, my parents were both active in labor unions, and my Grandmother was a communist and Black Panther supporter to boot, so what did I know?
Anne said,
February 28, 2006 at 20:13
I think the line is going to be that it is the media’s fault. The soldiers are clearly not being informed as to how great things are going in Iraq. Damn the NY Times.
No, it’s the libs’ fault because we didn’t do whatever enough.
MCH said,
February 28, 2006 at 20:41
Teh: Let me hasten to add:
–I was seven. It was 1981. The age of reason is apparently an approximate figure. I no longer support the kind of gym shorts I used to wear then, either.
–I’ve since made a full recovery. It was close.
–I come from a place far away from the Bay Area, though we do have a Bay.
–Dad’s answer for all things lefty is “Chappaquiddick!” He hated unions when he belonged to one.
–We went to Catholic Mass every Sunday, a very moderate Vatican II guitar-mass congregation, and I had to attend religion classes every week.
–My seven-year-old take on Ronnie was that I liked him better than Carter based on the TV. Little did I know that I was thinking like much of the electorate still does. I drew a picture of Ronnie and mailed it to him, and got a letter from him in reply. It’s around somewhere, in a box. Dad framed it; he was proud. He now thinks I’m sort of radical. Well, he thinks the DLC is radical…
And this was a moderate, blue-state upbringing. So I can empathize (oh-so-slightly-empathize, that is, with an infinitesimal iota of empathy) with those crazy red-state kids. It’s how they were raised. It’s the culture all around them. Not everyone can go it totally alone, and many kids NEVER hear a progressive viewpoint on anything that’s not pre-distorted through blaring rightwingophones.
If my peers and I didn’t have great public school teachers who taught us to think independently, I’d probably be eating a lot more ranch.
g said,
February 28, 2006 at 20:44
The one with the book and the flag is the ever popular DEAN! The Dean rules!!! Chris Flickinger, the Dean of Academic Bias exposure!
I’d personally like to ask the Dean just what his Deanship duties are. How much of his time is spent doing what real Dean do, like mediate academic personnel policy issues, formulate academic budgets, write strategic plans, serve on boring adminsitrative committees to set institutional policies, and wooing egotisical donors……Just wondering.
JiuNoon said,
February 28, 2006 at 21:02
The flag and bible I can live with. It’s that grin - emphasized by the Sears photo background - that turns my stomach. I just see him doing horrible things on 8mm film with that same creepy smile.
Oh, and remember, the troops are only upset because we aren’t ignoring their well-being and pushing them back into the ring, bloody and bruised. If all my time trolling Newsbusters taught me anything, it’s that the troops need to be reminded that they signed up for this - no take-backs - and that talking about getting them out of harm’s way is more dangerous than not supplying them with body armor.
GuinnessGuy said,
February 28, 2006 at 21:27
The Troops are committing treason- Send the dissinters to Gitmo!
Pere Ubu said,
February 28, 2006 at 21:27
The flag and bible I can live with. It’s that grin - emphasized by the Sears photo background - that turns my stomach.
I still say, that grin makes him look like Mommy just told him what a good boy he is for doing poopy in the toilet where it belongs.
There’s some big issues there, fersure.
GuinnessGuy said,
February 28, 2006 at 21:28
On second thought- Gitmo won’t hold them all…
I have it! Have the troops invade Cuba, then build themselves a bigger prison to be held in!
teh l4m3 said,
February 28, 2006 at 21:30
MCH: Well breathe a little easier, compadre — those dolphin shorts (paired with striped, calf-high tube socks) are making a real come-back.
Might I suggest the white with chartreuse piping?
And it’s interesting to note the obvious: That many Americans who vote do so as if they were 7-year-olds who watch too much teevee.
MCH said,
February 28, 2006 at 21:40
Actually, I was bigger on the red ones with the white piping, paired with the aforementioned tube socks, white, with blue stripes, preferably purchased along with “husky”-sized Toughskins at Sears during back-to-school time, while Joni Mitchell’s “Both Sides Now”, Chicago’s “Baby Please Don’t Go” or anything BeeGees played from the ceiling-mounted speakers.
Anne said,
February 28, 2006 at 21:46
I was in kindergarten in 1984 (the room number was not 101 as far as I can recall) and our school had a mock presidential election. I remember telling my parents over dinner that I would vote for Reagan. They were chagrined.
Stiff Mittens said,
February 28, 2006 at 22:42
Yeah, but that same poll also revealed that 90% of the troops think that they have been deployed in retaliation for Saddam’s involvement with 9/11. Clearly, the troops don’t know what the fuck they’re talking about and so their opinions about withdrawal can easily be dismissed.
Demogenes Aristophanes said,
February 28, 2006 at 22:47
Thank you, Brad R. Thank you for showing me the Reagan’s Children of the Corn Blog. I think that as a goldmine of scary-funny, Reagan’s Children of the Corn might be exceeded by the surfacing of a Carrot Top-Bill Buckley fisting video … and I emphasize the word “might”.
I’ve already cleared my Bookmarks of all other wingnut blogs and websites. I will only go to Reagan’s Children of the Corn Blog for material from this day forward.
Anonymous said,
February 28, 2006 at 22:50
The flag and bible I can live with. It’s that grin - emphasized by the Sears photo background - that turns my stomach.
And the hair helmet. Jesus, just looking at the guy you can tell he’s a douchebag.
Pooh said,
March 1, 2006 at 0:20
If he’s not an apostle for the Buddy Christ…
g said,
March 1, 2006 at 0:38
“a Carrot Top-Bill Buckley fisting video ”
AAAHAHHAHAH God, no. Please! Please remove that image from my mind!
Retired Catholic said,
March 1, 2006 at 0:56
They aren’t too soft anymore. We have a new, kinder, genter bootcamp now. They won’t even get yelled at. They can do modified push ups if they need to. They can even flunk the drug test.
teh l4m3 said,
March 1, 2006 at 1:13
Ha ha. I went to Macy’s. And it was Judy Collin’s version of “Both Sides Now,” as well as Linda Rondstadt’s version of “Blue Bayou” that played on the speakers as I shopped for underoos and my first Member’s Only jacket.
Ian B Gibson said,
March 1, 2006 at 2:27
Let’s face it - the guys who are now ‘the troops’ are the kind of people who beat the shite out of those guys in the photos (especially the one at the bottom) when they were at school. Now they want to get their own back.
punkinsmom said,
March 1, 2006 at 2:43
Between the Dean “doing horrible things on 8mm film with that same creepy smile” and Carrot Top/Bill Buckley in addition to husky-sized MCH in gym shorts with blue-striped tube socks, this post has overloaded on unwanted visuals. Please stop.
Pinko Punko said,
March 1, 2006 at 2:58
Why do I hear Homer Simpson or someone yelling “FLICK-IN-GER!” in mock sitcom frustration.
Andrew A. Gill, SLS said,
March 1, 2006 at 3:08
nearly one in four say the troops should leave immediately… 29% of the respondents, serving in various branches of the armed forces, said the U.S. should leave Iraq “immediately,”
Someone needs to learn what `nearly’ means.
MCH said,
March 1, 2006 at 4:36
“Blue Bayou” haunted me for ages. I could never stand that song. Recently, when I had a tooth extracted, the oral surgeon had some soft-70s station on, and there it was, the first time I’d heard it in over 15 years, and I still hate it…
I share Linda’s birthday, BTW. And Rembrandt’s, and Brigette Neilsen’s.
Yes, Judy Collins. Not Joni Mitchell. Sesame Street and an autoharp. Oh my.
FlipYrWhig said,
March 1, 2006 at 4:45
I think Dean Flickinger might be wearing dolphin shorts and knee-high tube socks under that spiffy rust-colored blazer. Kind of a “staff gets to keep the unclaimed items at the roller rink lost-n-found” ensemble.
Capt. Broccoli said,
March 1, 2006 at 5:57
‘Reagan’s Children’ is a fitting adjective for these cowards, as their St. Ronald also avoided backing up his principles in wartime.
spiiderweb said,
March 1, 2006 at 9:37
These guys don’t look very tough, but nearly 55% of deployable troops are support personnel who don’t have to fight.
The military can find a use for them.
Woodrowfan said,
March 1, 2006 at 13:30
Backpfeifengesicht - a face that cries out for a fist in it.
seems like it fits all of them to me….
waldo said,
March 1, 2006 at 14:36
I went over there to razz those guys, but they’re kids - really stupid, politically moronic, thoroughly brainwashed, but kids.
There’s plenty of major targets in this war; naive children aren’t on my list.
blowback said,
March 1, 2006 at 14:44
Brad - I don’t think that eating Brie will do much for the US soldiers in Iraq. On the other hand, if they were to call upon Vieux Boulogne, there would be no stopping them as they left that country.
Demogenes Aristophanes said,
March 1, 2006 at 16:07
“There’s plenty of major targets in this war; naive children aren’t on my list.”
Look, when stupid children like Ben Shapiro et. al. are rewarded by the wingnut media with book deals and syndicated columns, and excellent thinkers like Arthur Silber are reduced to begging for rent money … there’s a problem. And it’s a problem that runs deeper than just these particular brain-dead children, because it’s destroying the debate in this country that drives policy; indeed that drives our very national character.
So I do think it’s an important function for some of us to tear down the Reagan’s Childrens of the world, to try to get others to see their unsuitability for participating in the debate from any kind of bully pulpit given to them by the right wing noise machine.
Plus it’s lots of fun to poke sticks at dumbasses.
Charlotte Smith said,
March 1, 2006 at 16:38
Dear God, this is the funniest damn comment thread! If only it weren’t so deathly quiet in the office…
My first memory of Reagan, as a Canadian girl of about 5, was that having an actor for a president was really dumb. At least Brian Mulroney was a lawyer. Yeah, he sucked balls as a PM, but that’s a story for another day.
King Spirula said,
March 1, 2006 at 17:45
Seeing these pictures of Ronnie’s Kids seems to validate stereotyping, by sight, a wuss. And ‘Dean’ Flickinger is a poster child for polyester. Bet his mom was into tube tops or has a beehive.
Dan Someone said,
March 1, 2006 at 18:00
I keep reading “Flickinger” as “Fuckinger.” Does that indicate a problem with my brain?
Marq said,
March 1, 2006 at 18:06
Let us not forget, as was revealed at World O’ Crap a few weeks ago, that Chris “Dean” Flickinger sez of his photo that there are three things in it that liberals hate. I guessed the ugly, “poufy clouds” backdrop, him, and the “made in China” tag on the teensy flag he’s wearing, representing outsourcing. Others guessed things like his smile and suit. Turns out only one of those things is correct.
Dr. BLT, The Song Blogger said,
March 1, 2006 at 19:13
“72% of the troops think the U.S. should leave within a year? That sounds dangerously close to setting a timetable for withdrawal! That’s the most loser-defeatist position ever!”
Hmmm. Sounds to me like the troops could use a little boost in morale. I think I’ll arrange to go over there and perform for them.
Why do I feel like I’ve just set myself up for more insults? If I didn’t know myself better, in addition to plans to entertain the troops, I’d be entertaining the notion that I rather enjoy this abuse.
Strange Forces said,
March 1, 2006 at 19:42
Doc, I’ve never listened to any of your tunes, but you kind of left the door open for this one:
I think I’ll arrange to go over there and perform for them.
If you do, I think 100% of the troops would want to leave RIGHT THEN.
Thanks! I’ll be here all week!
Dr. BLT, The Song Blogger said,
March 1, 2006 at 19:50
“Doc, I’ve never listened to any of your tunes, but..”
Not a problem, Strange Forces. That’s never stopped anyone at this site from insulting me and/or my music before.
Timmah420 said,
March 1, 2006 at 20:40
*Sigh*
I really had hoped we’d gotten rid of sammich once and for all…
Gem from a Kos diary, from a guy that lived with the dean in college:
“In closing, let me tell you about the Dean that I remember. Again, I was a junior when he was a freshman. Here’s all you need to know, especially after seeing Flickinger refer to himself as a Goliath: He had an embroidered pillow on his bed. I’m not kidding. It had some smarmy slogan like “The Best is Yet to Come” on it. No, really.
Most people in his freshman cohort that year were busy trying to get me to buy beer for them, as I had already turned 21, but the Dean was busy polishing up his regional Emmy speech. He appeared very put together. But I think it was more of a façade, as he seemed rather fake to me, an empty suit. All rim and no wheel, so to speak.
Dr. BLT, The Song Blogger said,
March 1, 2006 at 20:50
“I really had hoped we’d gotten rid of sammich once and for all…”
“How can you have your pudding if you haven’t eaten your meat?”
-Pink Floyd- The Wall
mmm...lemonheads said,
March 1, 2006 at 21:00
I commuted to college so I didn’t have to deal with these insufferable clods then, but in retrospect I remember the type from as early as high school. Always got decent grades, were reasonably social and popular, but you always had the feeling their personal mission of networking and being pseudo-charming was way more important than having a good time on a Saturday night.
raj said,
March 2, 2006 at 0:06
ReagansChildren are probably nothing more than ChickenHawks. Nothing more that the 101st Keyboard Brigade.
They learned well from the Repubican ChickenHawks during the Vietnam War.
Biff Usually said,
March 2, 2006 at 2:12
Ahem.
The actual Pink Floyd lyrics:
“If you don’t eat your meat, you can’t have any pudding. How can you have any pudding if you don’t eat your meat?”
The Crapture said,
March 2, 2006 at 2:30
I swear to jeebus, Flickinger looks like a doughy version of that 80’s guy “Taco”
i see his picture and all i can think of is that awful, synth-laden version of “puttin’ on the ritz”
Timmah420 said,
March 2, 2006 at 3:35
Ok, let’s combine all this:
Flickinger, singing “puttin on the ritz”, filmed on 8mm film stabbing a Brazilian girl to death, all the while smiling that creepy smile.
Oh and MCH in the background dancing in his husky shorts…
teh l4m3 said,
March 2, 2006 at 5:45
“I think I’ll arrange to go over there and perform for them.”
Exactly which orifice do you employ in your ping-pong-ball trick, and why should the USO pick you out of all the other candidates willing to service our servicemembers’ members?
“‘How can you have your pudding if you haven’t eaten your meat?’”
Okay, that does it. Doc, you have no place on a fresh, pure, and achingly Christian family site like Sadly, No!
Dr. BLT, The Song Blogger said,
March 2, 2006 at 15:29
“why should the USO pick you out of all the other candidates willing to service our servicemembers’ members?”
Because Jessica Simpson is booked up for the next six months.
In answer to your first question, I sing through my nose. It worked for Bob Dylan, and by God, it seems to be working for me.
Decon said,
March 20, 2006 at 21:59
This just shows how pathetic the credentials of the Republican motto “Support Our Troops” are. Support them now, bring them home.