“two self inflicted wounds later?”

I’m speechless. Christ on a cracker with cheese, who the fuck does he think he is, besmirching anyone’s military record with no proof or basis?
Is this guy out of his g’damn mind?
Maybe this means every blogger that leans even slightly left should revive the “coke addled CIC never-showing-up-for duty” meme.
Oh, yeah we have morals.
What a tool.
I need a Patrick O’Hearn CD and a scotch, and I need it now.

I’m sure Kerry’s bronze star was self inflicted as well.

lemonheads – the whole “self-inflicted” meme started back in ’04, if not earlier. I remember that Michelle Malkin went on some program and started floating the idea that Kerry had wounded himself just to get recognition. The host of the show, (Hardball I think?) instantly called her on it, wanting proof. She backpedalled, saying something to the affect of “well, I heard that somewhere.”

Let us also not forget that at the Republican Convention, they were handing out band-aids with little purple hearts on them. Awww, did the little sailorman get a boo-boo? Don’t disparage the troops! Unless they’re democrats. It’s sickening the talk they talk and the subsequent walk they walk.

Major thumbs up to TS in Dan’s comment thread:

“Give Dan a break, people. I’m sure he’s busy ignoring a dying relative and doesn’t have the wherewithal to think clearly.”

I remember the talking point, Strange, now that you’ve jogged the memory. I just didn’t think it would continue (naive me). The brazenness of factless assumptions as these make me wonder if the American public can no longer separate fact from complete bullshit. I know half the population is easily manipulated, which means the smart politicos will split the difference and get half each. But it’s the half of us that pay attention and give a shit I’m worried about. If we can’t garner more than half of thinking people, what’s the point? Secession of the blue states is becoming an attractive option to my jaded spirit.

One of the many lessons of Viet Nam was that most people do not want the government of the US to use the military to invade countries and require the people of those countries to submit or die. Most people trust their government more than is wise. Most people don’t realize how many other people think that they have the right to demand that the rest of the people submit or die. The only good that I see may come out of a horrendous amount of bad is that most people are learning to recognize authoritarians for what they are.

Dan Riehl makes Dean Esmay look like a 50 pack of hinges.

And wasn’t Kerry there for something like 16 months? I thought he was there for a full year’s tour and then part of another.

But I’d hate for something as inconsequential as a fact to get in the way of Dan’s drooling. He has little enough in his pathetic life.

Dan Riehl reminds me of the Rush Limbaugh readin son of the owner of a private hunting ranch in texas stocked with endangered species I went to boarding school with.
His nickname was DORK!, and he was such a wannabe even a token lefty like me had status over him. On dull weekends we’d invite him down to play video games, then lock in him a closet for a few hours. The amazing thing is he kept falling for it for months.
There was also a guy named Rich White in my year. No joke.
All of which is to say, just remember Dan Riehl has to go to these lengths of idiocy, otherwise the cool kids won’t keep him around for laughs.

CatStaff, most of what Riehl is recycling here is right from the “Swift Boat Veterans for the Truth” and it has been debunked.

HOW THE FUCK DID RIEHL GET ON TELEVISION?!?

I don’t watch the idiot box, so I had no idea, but JESUS! You mean he’s not just some grade-Z mouth breather, with a modem and an IQ of 60?

It’s Fox. You don’t have to be smart or accomplished to appear, as long as you’re a wingnut.

The Reihlworldview.com. I can’t imagine the misinformation that site contains. I won’t go there for fear of the chupacabra. It’s complicated, but trust me, fear the chupacabra.

Kerry should have learned from Aaron Sorkin’s mistake.

People who try to go from politics to comedy just makes fools of themselves…

Nothing is more ludicrous than one of these right wing sissies reading chickenhawk Rove’s swiftboating playbook and thereby trying to make light of John Kerry’s very genuine combat experience. When they do that they’re obviously too ignorant to know how ignorant they sound to someone who has actual combat time. In fact, one of the stupidest things they obediently recite is that Kerry “only” spent 3, 4, 5 or 6 months (pick one) in combat, which, to them, snug in their ignorance, must mean that it’s not such a big deal. First, they should get their numbers straight. Then, if these naive clowns REALLY knew anything about combat–completely unlikely, of course, since (despite their wonderful macho/rambo-patriotism and transcendant bravery) they all wiggled out of military service back when it was still mandatory–they’d keep their mouths shut, so as to not embarrass themselves any further. A few “talking points”: (1) combat is utterly terrifying. Anybody who says otherwise doesn’t know what the fuck they’re talking about. (2) 30 seconds in combat can feel like 3 hours in combat–time plays tricks on you when you’re pumping adrenalin and thinking you’re about to die while trying to kill the guy who’s trying to kill you. Trust me. (3) TWO “self-inflicted” wounds? TWO?! What has this guy been smoking? In addition to being preposterous that claim doesn’t even make the smallest amount of sense.

As a young Marine NCO I spent the better part of a tour–in combat–in Vietnam. My military career abruptly ended the day I was shot in the head during the Tet Offensive. I was rated 100% disabled as a result. I never ran into Bush, Cheney, Perle, Wolfowitz, Limbaugh or the shithead Dan Riehl. I will be happy to answer any right-winger’s questions about combat, but said answers will be based on this thing called “the truth” and not the kinds of bullshit the right wingers have all been feeding to each other for the past several years. Semper fi y’all. Terry Kindlon

I find it interesting that the Bush administration and its lackeys wants to focus on the words of a Senator on the campaign trail in California while virtually every intelligent observer believes that the “stay the course” effort in Iraq is putting our troops in harms way.

If the President is actually concerned for our troops, why doesn’t he admit his administration’s mistakes and focus his energy on crafting a new war strategy rather than a new political strategy…but that would require him to be less concerned with political power and more concerned with protecting our troops…troops he enjoys waving around like a cheap campaign sign when he thinks that will win him votes…the same troops that died in near record numbers in October in a war the President declared we had won more than two years ago.

Read more here:

http://www.thoughttheater.com

He looks like a big, strong, strappin’, studly type, why isn’t he over there where all the action is?

You know you’re being all silly, rkrider. Chickenhawks direct, they’re the shop stewards of the world, the shift supervisors, the middle management.
The real work is never done by jagoffs like him.

First of all…”Godwin-defying hairdo” … that deserves a first-ballot enshrinement in the world famous Blog Snark Hall of Fame whenever they get around to finding a town obscure and inappropriate enough to build it in. (Personally, I’m voting for Grand Island, Nebraska, because when you think of blogs…)

If Riehl ever actually made it all the way through an issue of Sgt. Rock or “G.I. Combat Featuring the Haunted Tank, I wonder what he’d have made of the traditional D.C. war comic coda: “Make War No More.”

Ah, yes, one of Kerry’s “self inflicted” wounds was from a grenade launcher. How he could self-inflict with a grenade launcher was never explained. (Unlike Max Cleland’s loss of his legs, which Ann Coulter insisted happened while he was at Fort Dix and drunk, playing with a grenade–none of which are true, but that never mattered.)

So Kerry’s four medals and many commendations are completely questionable, but Bush’s incomplete and contradictory National Guard records are beyond reproach because “he has an honorable discharge–end of story.) I believe Kerry still carries some of the shrapnel in his thigh. I always wanted him to confront one of these assholes by dropping pants and inviting them to inspect it up close while they kiss his ass.

How come no one ever mentions Riehl’s real-world experience?

He was once editor of his college newspaper. Then he was a marketing and sales manager for a Fortune 100 corporation. After that he worked as the marketing manager for an established technology company. Then he got a teevee show.

Surely an extensive real-world background like that counts for something when considering the depths of his knowledge.

Is this little shit even old enough to remember Vietnam?

the whole “self-inflicted� meme started back in ‘04, if not earlier. I remember that Michelle Malkin went on some program and started floating the idea that Kerry had wounded himself just to get recognition. The host of the show, (Hardball I think?) instantly called her on it, wanting proof. She backpedalled, saying something to the affect of “well, I heard that somewhere.�

Yes, it was Chris Matthews, and he actually handled the situation well. He pressed Malkinwald for proof that Kerry had hurt himself over and over, and all she could vomit up was “Well, I heard it from someone”. And she thought that should be good enough.

“…serving on the editorial board at Red State,…”

Red State has an actual editorial board? Now, THAT is comedy gold!

Americans Are Genuinely Sorry And Sincerely Apologize For Ever Believing That Any Chickenhawk Republicans Or Any Of Their Wholly-Owned Media Could Ever Be Trusted. It Will Never Happen Again.

People tend to give a lot of weight to the “bush got an honorable discharge” argument. For a little perspective, John Allan Mohommed also got an honorable discharge.

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,384299,00.html

You know, when riding a M4 Sherman tank on a parachute after being dropped from 10,000 feet through a cloud of Japanese fighters, I’m really going to have to come out an recommend that you hold on with at LEAST one hand.
I mean, come on people; let’s not get silly about this.

Duplicate.

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=John_Kerry

Kerry did serve twice in Vietnam. The first time:

On February 18, 1966, Kerry enlisted in the U.S. Naval Reserve. He began his active duty military service on August 19. After completing sixteen weeks of Officer Candidate School at the U.S. Naval Training Center in Newport, Rhode Island, Kerry received his officer’s commission on December 16.

Kerry’s first tour of duty was as an ensign on the guided missile frigate USS Gridley. On February 9, 1968, the Gridley set sail for a Western Pacific deployment. The next day, Kerry requested duty in Vietnam, listing as his first preference a position as the commander of a Fast Patrol Craft (PCF), also known as a “Swift boat.” These 50-foot boats have aluminum hulls and have little or no armor, but are heavily armed and rely on speed. (Kerry’s second choice was to be an officer in a river patrol boat, or “PBR”, squadron.) “I didn’t really want to get involved in the war,” Kerry said in a book of Vietnam reminiscences published in 1986. “When I signed up for the swift boats, they had very little to do with the war. They were engaged in coastal patrolling and that’s what I thought I was going to be doing.”

The Gridley sailed to several places, including Wellington in New Zealand, Subic Bay in the Philippines, and the Gulf of Tonkin off North Vietnam. The executive officer of the Gridley has described the deployment: “We deployed from San Diego to the Vietnam theatre in early 1968 after only a six-month turnaround and spent most of a four month deployment on rescue station in the Gulf of Tonkin, standing by to pick up downed aviators.” The ship departed for the U.S. on May 27 and returned to port at Long Beach, California on June 6. Ten days after returning, on June 16, Kerry was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant, junior grade. On June 20, he left the Gridley for Swift boat training at the Naval Amphibious Base in Coronado.

The second time:

On November 17, 1968, Kerry reported for duty at Coastal Squadron 1 in Cam Ranh Bay in South Vietnam. In his role as an officer in charge of Swift boats, Kerry led five-man crews on a number of patrols into enemy-controlled areas. His first command was Swift boat PCF-44, from December 6, 1968 to January 21, 1969, when the crew was disbanded. They were based at Coastal Division 13 at Cat Lo from December 13 to January 6. Otherwise, they were stationed at Coastal Division 11 at An Thoi. On January 30, Kerry took charge of PCF-94 and its crew, which he led until he departed An Thoi on March 26 and the crew was disbanded.

The contemporary documents all indicate that John Kerry served more than honorably and that he was admired by superiors, peers and subordinates alike. He received a Silver Star, a Bronze Star with combat “V” and three Purple Hearts. Admiral Zumwalt, the head of Naval Operations in Vietnam, said more than once that for the incident where Kerry received the Silver Star Zumwalt wanted to present him a higher award, the Navy Cross. Zumwalt opted for the Silver Star because he had approval authority for that medal and didn’t want to wait for the Navy Cross approval process, which would have involved sending the recommendation to the Pentagon.

I recall watching in 2004 a “debate” on a TV news program between one of the misnamed Swift Boat Veterans for Truth and Jimm Rassman, the Army soldier whose life Kerry saved by braving enemy fire to extract Rassman from the water after he fell overboard during an enemy attack. This is the incident for which Kerry received the Bronze Star with “V.”

The Swift Boat liar claimed Kerry had written his own award recommendation for an event that didn’t happen, and that Rassman and Kerry had not been under enemy fire when Rassman was pulled from the river. Rassman was incredulous. He said (my paraphrase) “I will state as an absolute fact that I was receiving small arms fire and that it was still hitting all around me when John Kerry pulled me from the river. and I was the one who recommended him for the Bronze Star, he didn’t write it himself. Are you saying you, who weren’t there, know better than I do what happened?”

Incredibly, the Swift Boat liar answered “yes.”

What else do you need to know about the assholes who persist in smearing an honorable man?

Go to my blog and read Kerry’s Silver Star and Bronze Star with “V” citations. Then read the editorial written by his fellow Swify Boat officer, William Rood. Then tell me honestly that you don’t have a better appreciation for John Kerry.

‘A Riehl Cunt’ would be a much more fitting title.

Come into the light, John Cole.

I don’t want John Cole to become a Democrat. I want him to be a Republican in a GOP made up of people like him.

So, in other words Riehlfookinstupid is accusing people in the military of glaring incompetence in awarding medals to a guy who was so clearly undeserving? He’s saying that people who were actually involved in making those decisions have been shown to be a bunch of gullible chumps by some douchebags with websites a few decades later? Sounds like someone hates the military! Alert the media!

And maybe someone oughta tell him about another case of medals being given out to undeserving recipients, since he’s so outraged by such things.

It occurs to me that what the Democratic party really needs is a lineup of people (like TerryKindlon upthread — nice post) who are ready, willing and able to jump into the fray every time these bastards open their mouths and give them what for by shoving the facts down their throats. Immediately and eloquently. Yep. that’s what we need.

Mortician, that’s what the party’s needed for twelve years. And exactly zero have stepped up to the task. Excepting Bill Clinton, there’s been no one willing to call these bastards on their lies and bs. And until there is, the Democratic Party will struggle, despite the obvious opening they should be taking advantage of this electoral cycle. ONE guy or gal with some cojones could make a huge difference right now, but no one’s willing to step up to the plate. I know there’s a combination of charisma, Q rating and watching which way the wind blows that decides who the next savior is, but damn. Once in a while there needs to be a martyr that takes one for the team, and we have none.

shit, morty, we get all weak kneed when a hate-enabling asshole like john cole briefly steps into the light. we forget everything in our haste to drop our collective pants. republicans have been smacking us, and the country, for 40 fucking years. eisenhower was a great man, a decent politician, and someone who loved his country. he’s been followed by a succession of venal asshole lying thugs ever since.

as for our party, we either have allowed the above via our wimpiness or gone along with it via our venality. it pretty much fucking sucks, but there you have it. i’m sitting here in cali watching one lie after another on my tv masquerading as “information about ballot measures” sponsored by people whose livelihoods would be directly effected by them, and i’m supposed to call this the “democracy of an informed public”? when an oil company with billions of dollars to spend can express its speech rights with impunity? when SBVFT can simply call black white and our press can’t be arsed to tell them to go fuck themselves?

i love that matthews incident–he calls malkin on her shit, but then has her back on later on future shows. the press protects sources who lie to them, tries to “balance” lies and truth as if they are the two competing sources of information (on the one hand, bob, you’ve got someone who happened to be there getting shot at, on the other, a republican operative. wherever does the truth lie in all this?).

fuckity fuck. rant over. must adjust meds.

the dems will pick up maybe 10 seats on tuesday, 4 senate seats, and all bad props will win, and good ones will go down. and it is because of a shitty press and religion, to the two most evil forces on earth today.

rant apparently wasn’t over. now rant is over.

oh the sweet release of hydrocodone.

Leave it to a chickenhawk like Riehl to think that a four month tour in Vietnam is no big deal. The “self-inflicted” meme started, perhaps innocently, from someone claiming that one of Kerry’s injuries came from shrapnel after he fired an M79. They questioned whether Kerry deserved a Purple Heart, since the injury may not have been inflicted by the enemy. It was then pointed out that the Purple Heart covers injuries sustained while fighting the enemy, even if they were not directly caused by the enemy. Some GOP slime then took the possibility that the injury may have been accidently inflicted by Kerry discharging a weapon, and started a whispering campaign that it was deliberately self-inflicted. This is the kind of sick, twisted and evil behavior that people call “genius” when Rove does it.

Riehl will never have to worry about getting a combat wound, self-inflicted or otherwise. He’s too much a chickenshit chickenhawk. I’ll bet this wussy Riehl wouldn’t have the guts to insult Kerry’s war record to Kerry’s face.

that’s what the party’s needed for twelve years. And exactly zero have stepped up to the task.

I know, I know. But I just don’t get it. I mean, you get a couple dozen reasonably intelligent people together like the posters here at SN, who are fully capable of articulating, clearly and forcefully, the truth that proves all those bastards liars. The problem, obviously, is that we’re just hanging out here in this non-MSM blog where our arguments get no play (no offense, o wise and benevolent site-masters). I truly do not understand why there aren’t whole battalions of equally intelligent and articulate people “out there” where the big boys play — let alone the one or two or three who could do the trick. WTF is wrong with the public Dems? Are they that afraid of the Rovians? Don’t they realize that the people are starving for honesty, intelligence and courage?

Aaargh!

I’m guessing, hoping it’s part of the cycle of American politics. The pendulum swings, regardless of issues or candidates, and the populace swings with it (hey, we’re all swingers!). The pendulum will inevitably swing back, and with it the courage of a few charismatic Dems who will lead us, inspire us, and get us out of this freakin’ mess.
Or we’re in the last days of Rome, but I’d prefer to believe the former.

“HOW THE FUCK DID RIEHL GET ON TELEVISION?!?
I don’t watch the idiot box, so I had no idea, but JESUS! ”

Don’t look at me, I’m just an assistant…you need to take this up with the Big Guy.

To paraphrase Chris Rock: Keepin’ it Riehl–real, riehl stupid.

See, this is what happens when you eliminate the Fairness Doctrine, gut all regulations on media ownership, and use the FDA as a sinecure for the retarded children of cabinet officers.

Teh st00pid just keeps stacking up higher and higher, and even people of average intelligence start to repeat inanities and believe non sequiturs.

No shit, Doc. I mean, really, I take a gander at today’s NYT and right there on the front page is a piece by one of the paper’s “star political reporters” asking Hillary Clinton whether “Kerry’s bad joke about the troops” will hurt the Dems, and then when Hillary says, essentially, “what hurts the troops is the president saying he’ll keep Rumsfeld until 2009,” said stellar reporter calls it “politicking” and “changing the subject.” It takes more energy than I’ve got to dig through the layers of stupid that reporter is sitting under.

And everybody’s okay with this? (it helps if you read that last line in Nathan Lane’s meerkat voice)

I actually had that very issue of GI Combat. They parachute from an exploding plane, shot down the plane while in the air & then land on the foredeck of a US sub all in just the first couple of pages! That stretched the limits of my young self’s suspension of disbelief…

I know it’s already been said here, but I don’t think it can be repeated enough: “unmitigated asshole.”

One could say that he is a riehl dirtbag.*

*rimshot sold separately

Yeah, G.I. Combat was pretty cool, but I prefered Weird War Tales, especially the latter issues with G.I. Robot.