Associated Press
It's hard to see Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.) as much of a partisan. As he wraps up his first and only term in the Senate, the centrist Democrat hasn't developed a reputation for being especially ideological; he doesn't seem to care for the usual political games; and he's generally been a non-presence when it comes to hitting the campaign trail, even for his allies.
So when Webb appeared alongside President Obama in Virginia Beach yesterday, it raised eyebrows. When the senator delivered a blistering, almost angry critique of Mitt Romney, it was even more surprising.
Introducing President Obama in Virginia Beach, retiring Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.), condemned Mitt Romney for failing to mention veterans or the military in his GOP convention speech.
The omission was all the more damning, Webb suggested, because Romney is of an age where he might have served in Vietnam but did not.
"If nothing else, at least mention some word of thanks and respect when a presidential candidate who is their generational peer makes a speech," said Webb, a former Navy secretary and decorated Marine who served in Vietnam. Romney was exempted from the draft, first as a student and then as a missionary.
"This was a time when every American male was eligible to be drafted. People made choices," Webb said. "Those among us who stepped forward to face the harsh unknowns did so with the belief that their service would be honored."
Webb proceeded to connect Romney's indifference to national security to the Republican's infamous "47 percent" remarks, in which he indirectly suggested veterans who rely on benefits are lazy parasites, dependent on government handouts. "In receiving veterans benefits they are not takers -- they are givers," Webb said.
But it was of particular interest to see the senator reflect on the Vietnam War era, and the decisions made at the time. The Romney campaign released a photograph this week of Romney in 1968, laying on a French beach alongside a giant "I Love Ann" sign he'd drawn for his future wife in the sand. It's a nice photo, and some wondered why Team Romney hadn't released it sooner, perhaps to help "humanize" the widely-disliked candidate.
The answer, I suspect, is the historical context -- while Romney was writing love letters in French beaches in 1968, Jim Webb and a whole lot of other men were on a very different foreign soil, engaged in a very different activity.
And though it hasn't been a campaign issue, Webb seemed eager to remind folks' memories yesterday.
Though the emotion of the delivery may not come through in the transcript, take a look at these remarks Webb made yesterday -- in a part of Virginia home to large veteran population -- before introducing the president.
"Governor Romney and I are about the same age. Like millions of others in our generation we came to adulthood facing the harsh realities of the Vietnam War. 2.7 million in our age group went to Vietnam, a war which eventually took the lives of 58,000 young Americans and cost another 300,000 wounded. The Marine Corps lost 100,000 killed or wounded in that war. During the year I was in Vietnam, 1969, our country lost twice as many dead as we have lost in Iraq and Afghanistan combined over the past ten years of war. 1968 was worse. 1967 was about the same. Not a day goes by when I do not think about the young Marines I was privileged to lead.
"This was a time of conscription, where every American male was eligible to be drafted. People made choices about how to deal with the draft, and about military service. I have never envied or resented any of the choices that were made as long as they were done within the law. But those among us who stepped forward to face the harsh unknowns and the lifelong changes that can come from combat did so with the belief that their service would be honored, and that our leaders would, in the words of President Abraham Lincoln, care for those who had borne the battle, and for their widows and their children.
"Those young Marines that I led have grown older now. They've lived lives of courage, both in combat and after their return, where many of them were derided by their own peers for having served. That was a long time ago. They are not bitter. They know what they did. But in receiving veterans' benefits, they are not takers. They were givers, in the ultimate sense of that word. There is a saying among war veterans: 'All gave some, some gave all.' This is not a culture of dependency. It is a part of a long tradition that gave this country its freedom and independence. They paid, some with their lives, some through wounds and disabilities, some through their emotional scars, some through the lost opportunities and delayed entry into civilian careers which had already begun for many of their peers who did not serve.
"And not only did they pay. They will not say this, so I will say it for them. They are owed, if nothing else, at least a mention, some word of thanks and respect, when a presidential candidate who is their generational peer makes a speech accepting his party's nomination to be Commander in Chief. And they are owed much more than that -- a guarantee that we will never betray the commitment that we made to them and to their loved ones."
To put it mildly, this was not a standard introduction to a presidential appearance.
We haven't talked about this since June, but there are legitimate, unanswered questions about Romney from that era, and there's some evidence to suggest the Republican has been far from honest with the public about his actions.
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Mitt Romney's presidential campaign is unraveling before our very eyes, badly damaged and leaking oil because of Mitt's inability to understand the basic structure of the American economy or have any comprehension of how American live from day to day. Mitt's campaign is doomed so long as he continues to insist that half of the country is ungovernable and are worthless victims. Voters are not going to stand for this kind of rhetoric. Romney is losing grips on the race and on reality. Time to give it all up... - progressive
Activist - We really can't be angry with Rawmoney, not only was he born with a silver foot in his mouth, he doesn't seem to be capable of empathy for "others" less fortunate then himself. It's like the tea-baggers, whose failure to grasp and understand facts and apply logic & reasoning to any discourse- it's alien to them and I'm not exactly sure what it will take for them to wake up.
Robme's elusiveness is ingrained and he's probably oblivious to it by now. It's okay, after we send him home on Nov.6 - he'll have plenty of time to figure it out.
That thing you do... with the puns and the near non-sequitors. It isn't pretty, smart or funny. That over-confidence, thinking that it's in the bag. It's fatal. Don't be like that, that is what they say you are.. you can be better than that. What's the point of preaching to the choir anyway if it poisons the divide you'd have otherwise distinguished opposition cross to join you in mutual improvement.
I don't mean to deride but it's just a little disappointing when I find people who are ideologically on my side of the aisle come off a little like Rush Limbaugh. If i could be permitted to level one last piece of advice it would be this. Remember please that it's piss easy to be a democrat right now. For the most part we're on the right side of history, civics, liberty and justice. Be aware though that they had their party hijacked in a class war and they're coming for us too. By hook or by crook they'll try.. just, be aware... it's this lack of temperance that provides sufficient avenue to disenfranchise people from their own interests.
I don't believe that anyone in the DEM party is over-confident, most know we must work to assure that President Obama wins this election and most also know that we need to continue working to get down ballot Dems elected - and I mean all the way to the bottom of the ballot.
I served during Vietnam - read most RW blogs and they are quite dismissive of anyone, including Vets. Is this the fault of Dem political leader's who don't speak for Veterans? My problem is that the GOP has tried to make everyone who receives any government assistant to fit into the "welfare queen" (a truly disgusting meme IMO) category. Why shouldn't Veteran's, including Sen. Webb, not come out swinging.
I can only suggest that most who are ready to ship military off to foreign "adventures" are doing it from their armchairs and have never been made the decision to put their own words into their own actions.
I applaud Sen. Webb for taking a loud and public stand on who and what Veteran's have done, are doing and will continue to do in the future. We are not "cogs" and that IMO is how Mitt sees us.
Veterans are not 'job creators', nor are they 'corporations', hence they are unimportant to Mr. Romney and the Republicans.
It really is just that simple.
If they were important, Mr. Romney would have said something about it during the convention, or would have had a major speech about it afterwards. He has done neither. What he has done is shared his real thoughts- they don't pay taxes, they get government benefits, so he feels they are freeloading parasites.
And that, IMO, is a shameful way to think of the men and women who have sacrificed for the freedoms that he seems to take for granted. (well, so long as he gets his he is happy, that is)
Veterans buy stuff so even if they are 100% disabled they most definately are job creators.
I imagine the Viet Nam era veterans would love to be able to buy American made clothing rather that crap made in....VIET NAM!
Of course the king of outsourcing and off shore accounts would balk at this idea.
Mr. Romney considers 'Job Creators' to be "those who make over $250,000 a year and are thus deserving of more tax breaks"
We all buy stuff, but that doesn't make all of us 'job creators', especially in the eyes of Mr. Romney and the Republicans.
I'd be curious to know where Romney expects to be spending the extra $500B(?) in defence money. I have a hunch it won't be going towards raising the pay for enlisted personnel so fewer have to rely on SNAP to feed their families. BAe Systems, Boeing?
It's probably one of those details he plans to hash out with Congress after the election.
So far as being a Vietnam veteran who should be upset about buying "crap made in Vietnam", I am not upset. The Vietnamese are great people - they fought a war for independence from the Chinese Empire from 232 B.C. to 939 A.D. It was finding that history out that made me pretty certain we weren't going to prevail when I was there. We were on the wrong side of that history, as have been all other foreign forces. When we were there fighting, nobody in the American forces gave a crap for the cowards and scum in the so-called ARVN, but everybody respected "Charlie." The government they have was founded and run by the people who fought for independence against two empires - us and France. From what I hear from people who have gone back, they're doing just fine and (just as the Chinese "Communist" Party isn't very "communist" but is very traditionally Han Chinese) they are progressing in their own way. We Americans need to learn we don't know everything about how the rest of the world should live. In fact we mostly don't know squat, other than "what you got, we want," which is how we've been running our affairs since Jamestown was founded.
Hilarious piece on Romney and his comments from www.rossrants.com: "Romney Again Tells Half of America to Go @!$%# Themselves, This Time More Elegantly"
http://www.rossrants.com/Romney-Again-Tells-Half-of-America-to-Go-@!$%#-Themselves--This-Time-More-Elegantly.html
Here's a TinyURL.com link for your bowdlerized URL. Use the one without the preview on the front if you trust me not to lead you astray and want to go straight there.
http://preview.tinyurl.com/8eyrbdr
http://tinyurl.com/8eyrbdr
Hilarious piece on Romney and his comments from www.rossrants.com: "Romney Again Tells Half of America to Go @!$%# Themselves, This Time More Elegantly"
http://www.rossrants.com/Romney-Again-Tells-Half-of-America-to-Go-@!$%#-Themselves--This-Time-More-Elegantly.html
Agreed! Very funny!
Of the many easy arguments against Romney specifically and the GOP in general, this by far seems to me the most eloquent and elegant. Even more importantly, it will resonate with typically conservative voters. Well done.
Unfortunately Mormons are little interested in people of color for I am sure the Vietnamese people, many French speaking by the way, would have welcomed Mitt. He could have ridden on the chopper with me and baptized the dead.
For all his wealth, and for all his wealthy backers, Mitt Romney and his fellow 1%ers live in a puny world - one where nary a mention of blood, sweat and tears comes naturally, where judgments are made with partial cognizance of others, disdain for those deemed unworthy, and scorn for all who dare disagree!
Mitt Romney is fit to be President of Bohemian Grove, but not our nation! -Kevo
in re willard's 'non-service'. any way you cut it, this speaks loads about this man. time was that kind of record would made any candidacy for high office a joke. i have my own pet theory about it. daddy bush opened the can of worms when he put the cipher and service avoider, dan quayle, on his ticket. had he opted for bob dole, bill clinton would have gotten no closer to the white house than the official tour. having quayle on his ticket immunized clinton. how do you criticize him for doing no worse than what quayle did? at any rate, it made draft dodging a non-issue--for some of us. what rouses it again is when these cowards pronounce themselves eager to spend other people's blood. that's why i'm voting for the president.
That's funny, I remember Quayle as assassination insurance. His incompetence WAS the selling point.
The guy had just whipped Hussain's butt and turned a profit. 1992 was all about "Read my lips..."
Uhhh, actually. Bush I chose Quayle in 1988, not 1992. I know some of you youngsters were just out of plastic pants then and not aware of the world beyond your fingertips yet, so we'll give you a pass. :-)
How stupid are Romney's advisers? The convention speech wasn't off the cuff. Nobody in the campaign realized Romney's failure to mention veterans and our troops was a bad thing? They compounded their failure by refusing to make a serious effort to correct the oversight in the weeks following the convention.
When this story is done people will blame Romney as they should, but professional campaign advisors will know that he wasn't well served by his staff.
For people my age that lived through the Vietnam war, we were obsessed with ending it. We learned about the horror of that war through TV and every bad moment for the soldiers and our country was their focus. There was no Internet. Eventually we learned how terrible it was when friends died so young. We thought no president would make a choice to do this again. Revenge is a terrible thing. It changes the truth and so after 9/11 a President made a reckless choice to do this again, this time Iraq. So the best of us, the brave and the most honored Americans should be thanked for Vietnam, for Iraq and for what we have done.
You forgot to mention that "...reckless choice" was made by a president that avoided Vietnam too. Funny thing that.
Mitt's corporate campaign is looking like a....corporate campaign. If this is any indicator of how Romney/Wall Street will rule if elected, we should be concerned.
SCHMACK!!
You people just don't understand. Folks like Romney and his
frat brotherscampaign advisers are very appreciative of people who serve in the military. Just as they're always very appreciative of their servants. But heavens, a major part of any servant's job is to not be noticed so if you fail to notice them, it's the highest tribute possible to how well they're doing their jobs. So, really Romney paid our men and women in uniform the highest possible compliment by not noticing them in his acceptance speech.Honestly, the things you have to explain to the little people . . .
Thank you Sen. Webb for saying, elegantly, what many of us have been thinking about Mitt for a long time-he's a chickenhawk who loves the idea of sending our military to Iran, Lybia and Syria yet was too "delicate" to serve himself.
But, but, but...
Obama also dodged the draft! by being a pre-teen.
Plus, only US citizens are eligible for the draft, right?
Actually, no, non-US citizen residents were as liable for the draft as anybody else. We even had a drafted Canadian in our unit.
go Senator Webb
Romney and the right are fear mongers and war starters , because they know that they will not fight ; but in the same breath they use national security as a talking point and critique of the President. (who by the way the troops support, and who killed bin-laudin, and decimated most of alqueda and who has repaired relationships with a lot of world leaders and the list goes on), but; the mere mention of cuts to the military or defense budget and suddenly Mr. Obama is a muslim and weak on defense are you kidding me!? Why is it that none of that budget goes to increasing the pay of these soldiers ? Why are their families living in relative poverty ? and why does the right want to , in-fact , cut even more military veterans benefits!!!??? Their hypocrisy is utterly disgusting and untrustworthy. And at the risk of sounding xenophobic or anti-semetic myself, which i am absolutely not, but NetanYa-hooo should not be given a voice in an American election, period. Just because we are allies doesn't mean he can dictate our foreign policy; and furthermore why does he think the President of The United States should be at his beck and call ? We are the super power , we do not do the bidding of any nation.. to me the relationship between him and the President is difficult because of differing cultural ideas, meaning, Unlike the right and apparently Netan-Yahooo believe, Mr. Obama is not a house N-word...!
Romney learned how to de-humanize people a long time ago, he had to in order to clear his conscience for all the monstrosities he invoked on people, who lost their dignity because of him.
I have great respect for Senator Webb, but he is wrong when he says that many Vietnam veterans "were derided by their own peers for having served." He is perpetuating the myth that has been repeated so many times that everyone simply assumes it must be true: that the American people (especially those who were against the war) treated Vietnam-era service members with disdain.
Polls of Vietnam veterans taken in 1971 showed that 94% reported receiving a "friendly" reception from civilians their own age. If we're going to make accusations about who did or didn't support the Vietnam veteran, we ought to be specific in assigning responsibility.
It is important to remember the founding principle of the Vietnam Veterans of America: "Never again will one generation of veterans abandon another." Note that the VVA did not speak of abandonment by those who opposed the war or by civilians in general. Its founding principle reflected a belief that Vietnam veterans had been shunned by older veterans. These were the men who served in WWII and the Korean War, the men who made up the core of traditional veterans' organizations. While they strongly supported the Vietnam War, they believed this new generation of veterans was less worthy of the brotherhood. Somehow, their disrespect and disdain has come to be remembered as acts of scorn by opponents of the war. It's a terribly convenient, but inaccurate, recollection by today's conservatives.
A former Air Force officer and author of A More Perfect Military: How the Constitution Can Make Our Military Stronger
Thank you for your post. I was in high school and college during the Viet Nam war. I don't remember any widespread disdain for those who fought; the disdain was primarily for those who sent our soldiers to war for no real reason.
Thank you for your service, sir.
That's odd because I ran into plenty of disdain whenever I was out in public wearing my Army uniform in the U.S. I'm pretty sure that not all those folks who said nasty things to me were veterans of earlier wars, especially the ones that were the same age as me. I guess if none of it ever happened that it is just my memory is getting faulty in my old age. Or maybe Sen. Webb remembers it the same way I do
Just for the record, I was against the Viet Nam war, too, just like I was against that useless war in Iraq.
A very interesting point, and I'm glad you wrote this. I don't remember that resentment against people who served in Vietnam, either, when they came home. I have known and worked with a number of veterans, in the 1970s and since then. Although an anti-war and anti-draft protester, I was only admiring of the many who served. But I do remember years ago, talking to one veteran who was astonished that I not only admired him but also wanted to hear about his experiences. He said it was common among his fellow vets to believe that many people looked down on them for their service in Vietnam and didn't even want to know what they had been through.
In any case, I hope those days are gone forever. And I am glad to hear that disdain was not felt by most vets. And I, too, thank you for your service!
The only "shunning" I ever received when I came home was the one and only time I ever made the mistake of walking into an American Legion hall and dealing with the old "professional veterans" - the guys who were mostly in the rear with the gear in their war. People who were actually out on the pointed end largely never join things like the American Legion or the VFW.
As a veteran who was deeply involved in the antiwar movement from the time I came home in 1965, I know that people were wondering what kind of people we were, but I don't know anyone who was ever spit on.
Sulray: your experience here in the country being out and around in your uniform are things that did happen. It was one big reason why we founded Vietnam Veterans Against The War, so people would find out that just because someone was in uniform didn't mean they were an idiot. And I can say for sure that here in "Duh Biz" where I work, we vets didn't mention that fact till after "Platoon" and "Full Metal Jacket" came out - uninformed people did indeed have this idea we were all crazy drug addicts.
Senator Webb WAS derided by his peers at Georgetown Law school after serving his Country. I remember my nephew, a classmate talking about it. A pilot friend of mine from that war applied to a different law school and was told "they didn't want people like him" in their school. Thank you for your service, Senator Webb.
Back in the days of bush the Lesser, I would read about how virtually the whole republican't heirarchy had no military experience, having availed themselves of every exemption money could buy. I imagined these guys now deciding the military actions of the United States. Among themselves, how did they envision the motivations of those now serving in the military? A word came to mind: they think they're Chumps! Sure, as politicians they'll never admit it, but they'll use patriots as cynically as they use religious zealots to rally the voters.
He wasn't just a draft-doger of the legal sort. Lawrence showed us last night that Romney protested FOR the war, FOR the draft - wanted it and believed in it. Then grabbed his Mormon waiver and went to France while men of his generation died in the tens of thousands.
Now he is a candidate talking big surrounded by the crazy, war-mongering neocons and Black at his side.
He is far far worse than a draft-doger. He is truly a low form of life. Add this to the story above where he will re-establish torture (that puts all of our men and women serving in serious danger) and he is ...... There are no words...
As a Viet Nam era veteran and a retiree who paid into Social Security since I was 16, Romney's ducking military service, disregard for veterans and accusation that retirees who do not pay income tax are freeloaders outrage me. I was also outraged by his suggestion that people should go to college by 'borrowing from their parents if they have to'. I am sure that this out of touch rich guy would never understand that the reason I paid Social Security taxes right through college was because I had to work. My widowed mother would no doubt have loaned me money for college ... if she'd had any. It does not reduce my outrage that I was drafted because I had to drop out of college for a couple of years to save money to go back. And I'm sure Romney would also begrudge me the money I got from the GI bill to attend college after I got out of the Army. He is beneath contempt and I cannot believe anybody other than his rich friends would vote for this guy.
How nice that Romney can lounge on a Beach and write Love letters in the sand.
Here at home my Friends were dying ,18 and 20 years old young men dying in Vietnam never to have a girl to come home to. My own husband enlisted but was a very different man when he returned.We were married two weeks when he left and five months later he was in Vietnam. Never once did he complain nor did his fellow soldiers. He has always been disappointed by the greetings America had for our returning soldier from that War. Romney should not be proud of his draft dodging time in France, hiding behind his Religion. He contempt for everything not profiting him.
Is there any aspect of Mitt Romney that does not reek of hypocrisy? Sen. Jim Webb's speech was able to point out yet another one. Is it possible that Mitt Romney was a weasel in his past life? Holy smokes. Ridiculous.
Mitt posing in the sand with a message to Ann sounds quite a bit like a scene at the beginning of The Master. At least now we know who'll play Freddie - oh wait, Mitt - in the movie based on the campaign. Can Joaquin Phoenix pull it off? Probably - he plays crazy better than just about anyone in the movies. At his best, he's almost as hard to watch as Mitt is.