The Eggman has it in for John Edwards. Today he's linking to a piece about a sixteen-month-old speech, so that he can chortle that Edwards charged $55,000 to address the subject of poverty.
And yesterday he linked to a bombastic press release in which American Legion National Commander Paul A. Morin slams Edwards as an "exploiter" who has "blatantly violated the sanctity" of Memorial Day by calling on Americans to devote the weekend to urging the US government to end the Iraqi occupation.
What The Eggman did not link to was the fact that this Paul A. Morin person is a despicable liar who campaigned for the Legion's top post as a "Vietnam veteran," when in fact he got no closer to the conflict than did George W. Bush: Morin's entire "war" was spent at Fort Dix.
Before he lusted for the Legion's top post, Morin was content with describing himself as a "Vietnam-era veteran," which is what he is: he served in the US Army from 1972-1974, stationed the entire time at Fort Dix.
But when he launched his campaign for commander, Morin began identifying himself as a "Vietnam veteran of the US Army," speechifying like a grizzled 'Nam vet:
"When we came home, life was a little different. We do not want to see any veteran ever returning to what we did, so we'll be there to be welcoming them home with open arms."
As the Boston Globe points out:
Morin's description flouts long-standing and widely accepted protocol among veterans--that only those who served in the Vietnam theater between 1964 and 1975 should call themselves Vietnam veterans.
Max Cleland, who should have been our vice-presidential candidate in 2004, had this to say:
"For the national commander of the American Legion, who never even served in the Vietnam theater, to call himself a Vietnam veteran is a lie," Cleland said.
On to Edwards. In his press release, the lying Morin writes:
[O]ne presidential candidate has blatantly violated the sanctity of this most special day. I recently received an e-mail from a group called “Supportthetroopsendthewar.com.” It included a video of former Sen. John Edwards. He calls on Americans to use Memorial Day weekend as a time to “bring an end to this war.” Shockingly, the video is titled “A Memorial Day Message from John Edwards,” with the smoking gun note, “Paid for by John Edwards for President.” Moreover, the e-mail recommends that Americans bring signs with the message “Support the troops, End the War” to local Memorial Day parades. Revolting is a kind word for it. It’s as inappropriate as a political bumper sticker on an Arlington headstone.
(As an aside, the liar Morin is apparently also historically ignorant: in a very real sense, Arlington National Cemetery is one big "political bumper sticker": Arlington consists of land owned prior to the Civil War by the wife of Robert E. Lee, land that, once Lee turned traitor, was confiscated by the US government, then purposefully sown with corpses so as to render it uninhabitable by Lee or his descendants.)
The lying Morin, apparently intent on proving that the American Legion can at present be considered nothing but an arm of the Bush administration, then trotted out the Legion's "legislative director," Steve Roberston, to compare John Edwards to Fred Phelps:
Steve Robertson, legislative director for the American Legion, compared Edwards’s move to the Westboro Baptist Church’s controversial protests at the funerals of fallen Iraq war veterans.
“The only people I know who are doing what Sen. Edwards is advocating is that wacko group,” Robertson said.
Next, the Veterans of Foreign Wars elected to soil themselves:
Joe Davis, spokesman for the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW), said his group is also planning to pen an open letter denouncing Edwards’s call to protest.
“Memorial Day is a solemn occasion to remember the service and sacrifice of more than 1 million American servicemen and -women who gave their lives to create our nation, to save our union, and to help free the world from tyranny,” Davis said. “It is not a time to call people to protest the war under the guise of supporting the troops.”
Horseshit.
As Tim Goodrich, an Afghan vet not affiliated with any presidential candidate, told The Hill, Memorial Day is a perfect day to show respect for American soldiers by protesting their deployment in Iraq.
“It’s not really a day to protest, but I think it can be included in the messaging,” Goodrich said. “It’s really not about politics. It’s about doing what’s morally right.”
Damn straight. If it's not morally right to sow more corpses to be "honored" on future Memorial Days, than Memorial Day is the ideal day to voice support for the prevention of turning young American men and women into those corpses.
Responded Edwards campaign spokesman Eric Schultz:
“John Edwards called on Americans to spend Memorial Day weekend honoring our fallen soldiers and supporting our troops currently serving overseas by urging our government to end this war and bring them home,” Schultz said. “Edwards believes we must reclaim what patriotism means — the best way to support our troops is not doing whatever President Bush says to prolong the war, but rather ending the war and bringing our troops home to the hero’s welcome they deserve.”
The Edwards people seem to have done a good job on damage control on this one. As an example, here's the revised headline, with introductory note, from a post that appeared on USA Today:
American Legion commander 'sick,' but Edwards' call to action has supporters too
(Note: The original headline on this post was "American Legion commander 'sick' over Edwards' Memorial Day call to action." As we've done more reporting, we've added the thought that the candidate's position has supporters as well.)
Good work, people.
(NOTE: I am not an Edwards supporter: I currently support no candidate for president: it's too early. But I believe that, until the party settles on a nominee, it is important that ALL Dems push back against these sorts of despicable attacks against ALL our candidates. Here, any Kossacks affiliated with the American Legion might want to see what can be done about ousting that liar Morin, and the despicable Roberston, whose Edwards-as-Phelps remark is beyond any pale.)