Edwards Encourages Memorial Day Protests by Lisa De Pasquale (more by this author)
Posted 05/22/2007 ET



Last week presidential hopeful John Edwards set-up a website to encourage people to protest the war on Memorial Day. The website obsessively boasts that activities are to “support the troops and end the war.” The site states, “The troops in Iraq and their families continue to sacrifice today. So this Memorial Day Weekend, John Edwards is asking the American people to give some part of their weekend in return -- to honor and remember all those who have gone before in service to our country, and to let our government know we want to honor our troops by ending the war and bringing them home.”

Given the left’s track record, using the phrase “support the troops” is hollow and only serves to insulate themselves from criticism. From “botched jokes” to speeches on the House floor, the left insults the military and then insist they say those things because they support the troops. Much like the abusive husband that loves his wife too much.

I asked my mother, a 29-year veteran of the Air Force and Navy, what she thought about protesting at Memorial Day celebrations. She said this is a day for the military, veterans in particular, to honor those who have died serving their country. Telling them to “end the war” is telling them to abandon their duties. It’s up to the politicians to end the war. It’s up to the military to serve until the mission is done.

Edwards’ views on the war aside, the most offensive aspect of his call to action on Memorial Day, is that it is the Armed Forces’ most sacred day. It is certainly the most appropriate day to put aside the political differences on the war and simply “support the troops.” However, as millions gather throughout Memorial Day weekend with the purpose of honoring those who died during military service, the Edwards campaign is encouraging people to disrupt events honoring fallen soldiers by making political statements on the war. On Edwards’ website, there is a list of “10 things you can do over Memorial Weekend.” They include:

• Get everyone you know to sign a petition to your local government body -- for instance, your town or city council or neighborhood association -- to pass a resolution requesting that Congress use its funding authority to support our troops and end the war. [How supportive is it for Democrats to continually attach unrealistic timetables to war funding knowing that it will be vetoed?]
• Organize a prayer vigil for our troops at your house of worship. [Just make sure you’re nowhere near a school or public building.]
• At a picnic or with family and friends, make signs that say “SUPPORT THE TROOPS - END THE WAR.”… Then take a digital photo of yourself and your family or friends holding up the poster and tell us about it. We’ll include it in a “Democracy Photo Album” on our site. [In the spirit of democracy, I wonder if they’ll also post photos of those with signs supporting the war. Send in yours and find out.]
• Greet a vet. [I recommend they look for the vets with the “Rolling Thunder” t-shirts.]

Since 1868 (then called Decoration Day), this federal holiday honors those who have died during military service while serving their country. The American Legion was the first group to speak out against Edwards’ website. National commander of the American Legion Paul Morin wrote in a column on their website, “The families of those killed in war should not be led to believe that their loved ones died for a less-than-worthy cause. They died because they took an oath to defend this nation and its Constitution. The sacrifice is the same whether it’s for a ‘popular war’ or an unpopular one. Memorial Day should be an occasion to bring Americans together to honor these heroes.”

The American Veterans Center, which sponsors the National Memorial Day Parade in Washington, DC also believes Memorial Day events should be free from political statements. Tim Holbert of the American Veterans Center said, “Memorial Day events, like the National Memorial Day Parade, are an opportunity for all Americans -- both right and left—to come together to honor the sacrifices of our service members. Though it might be tempting to use the occasion to advance one’s personal convictions, on this one day we need to put aside our differences and treat the holiday with the dignity it deserves.”

The National Memorial Day Parade takes place on May 28 and includes a full-scale salute to the Armed Forces. Participants include actor and veterans’ activist Gary Sinise, veterans of the Band of Brothers, members of the Doolittle Raiders, Tuskegee Airmen and Flying Tigers, several Medal of Honor recipients and Adrian Cronauer, the disc jockey portrayed in "Good Morning, Vietnam". In 2005 the American Veterans Center brought the Memorial Day parade to Washington, DC after a 70 year absence. While Memorial Day parades were taking place on Main Streets across the country, there was no parade in our nation’s capital. As their website states, the local parades are now on the decline, “Sadly, in recent years, many of these parades have been fading away, as the true meaning of Memorial Day is being increasingly forgotten.”

This trend makes it more important than ever that Americans learn and appreciate the significance of Memorial Day and the sacrifices that were made for our country. Memorial Day honors those from the Revolution to the ongoing global war against terrorism who put their lives on the line for freedom. The Edwards campaign demeans those sacrifices by asking Americans to insert politics into public events honoring the fallen. We know what John Edwards and the left thinks about the war in Iraq and bringing those views to Memorial Day parades across the country doesn’t further their cause or respect the Armed Forces on its most sacred day. Can we at least get a cease fire from their constant calls for surrender on the one day that honors those who did everything but surrender their mission?


Miss De Pasquale is CPAC director at the American Conservative Union in Alexandria, Va. Write her at lisajanine1111(at)aol.com.


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Liberals are people that will believe anything twice.

Really Who gives a rat's ass how much someone spends on a hair cut?
That's getting into someone's private life..... Besides, he paid back the funds taken from his campaign and is paying out of pocket for the hair cuts.

Getting into someone's personal life is like caring if the president gets a blowjob.

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The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety may require it. United State Constitution, Art. I Sec. 9 Par. 2

"Dissent is the Highest form of Patriotism" -- Howard Zinn

Why bother with Edward's actions? Because his actions are in direct opposition to what he says. The guy is a phony hipocrite, Dank. Not only that, but he's a frickin' sissy as well. *lol*

Vi

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Liberals are people that will believe anything twice.

I don't think he's as much of a sissy as you think he is... He more down to earth than most of the others...

Social Responsibility is what he's about, but as long as you have the Ann Coulter's and the Rush Limbaugh's of the world spewing their hatred, there is always that distraction.

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The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety may require it. United State Constitution, Art. I Sec. 9 Par. 2

"Dissent is the Highest form of Patriotism" -- Howard Zinn

the dankster lives!

considering that you deem a man who pays $400 to get a haircut "down to earth" there must be some elegant gymnastics of supposition to answer these questions..

if he is about social responsibility how does he justify creating such expensive liability insurance premiums for health care providers? these undue expenses are of course passed on to society, a society that is apparently suffering because of high medical costs.

how does he consider profiting from tragic errors and unforeseeable medical complications as socially responsible?

would it be socially responsible for me to take money from welfare recipients and use it to subsidize the oil companies?





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"But even when you cease to be slaves, you are yet far removed from being placed on an equality with the white race."

- Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States of America, Hero to the servants of big government, Racist War Monger

"would it be socially responsible for me to take money from welfare recipients and use it to subsidize the oil companies?"
Funny you should mention this, as this is what conservatives, or as I calls em Neo-cons are all about, steal from the poor and give to the rich, kinda a robin hood in reverse. This has been the main focus (Besides destroying Iraq and killing people) of the Bush administration. The rich have certainly gotten richer under Bush and the poor poorer, and the middle class has been struggling to pay for it all. Being socially responsible has been the farthest thing from this administrations mind. Remind me sometime to give you a rundown on what socially responsible really means.

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Life is good, the water is sweet. The ground keeps moving beneath my feet.

Ahh, yes ... .there's the Robin Hood thingie again. Progressives are so fond of that little story of how Robin Hood stole from the rich in order to give to the poor. The truth is, Robin Hood stole from the government (The King) in order to return to the poor, the usurious taxes the King had extracted by force at the point of an arrow. Today, the Conservatives (Robin Hood) are still trying to return the taxes ... the only difference is, today taxes are taken at the point of a gun instead of an arrow.

Vi

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Liberals are people that will believe anything twice.

You always have to spin things. I think you should be a republican speech writer. You can take night and turn it into day, shit into honey, left into right. Instead of addressing the issue, you go off on a tangent attacking the left when the left is nowhere to be seen. I guess you are just a spiteful person and revel in causing caos and dissention. Your hatefulness toward any left leaning philosophy is extremely transparent. I at least entertain the premises of conservatism, just not the hateful ideals on neo-conism. You should maybe try to express yourself with less animosity towards the opposing views and see if you can alter ones thoughts. the way you attack an idea is not going to persuade anyone on the cusp. Other than that I have a modicum of respect for your Rants and your right to your opinion. For that is only what these ramblings are, opinions. BTW I think you should look up ther definition of progressive and maybe see it as not such a bad thing: of, relating to, or characterized by progress; moving onward or forward; So in opposition to this I'd guess you are for moving backward?

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Life is good, the water is sweet. The ground keeps moving beneath my feet.

about the steal from the poor statement, that's what Edwards has made a career of, a highly lucrative career. he makes the poor suffer because of the damage he and his vulture comrades do on a daily basis to the American health care system with their putrid assault on doctors and unfortunate medical situations.

because of people like him people like us have to go through many additional channels of approval before getting certain treatments, lots of people have to work to create and file expensive new paperwork and all important trust is replaced with skepticism in the realm of medicine!

offering tax breaks to oil companies is not stealing from the poor. the oil companies are already unfairly taxed and regulated, they are simply having less $$ stolen from them by our out of control federal government.

did you know that the federal government has taken more tax $ from the oil industry than oil companies make in profit themselves? why isn't that in the news? John Stossel said this on the air but exact figures were taken out of John Stossel's online transcript...

"Anyway, the government takes billions more in taxes from the gas you buy than we make in profits. If anyone's gouging, it's the politicians!"

ABC News: Gouged by Gas Prices?







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"But even when you cease to be slaves, you are yet far removed from being placed on an equality with the white race."

- Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States of America, Hero to the servants of big government, Racist War Monger

Med O'Donnell sez ...

BTW I think you should look up ther definition of progressive and maybe see it as not such a bad thing: of, relating to, or characterized by progress; moving onward or forward; So in opposition to this I'd guess you are for moving backward?

Look, Orwell is alive and well! The Left has just about mastered the art of Truth-Speak where white is black, black is white, war is peace and lies are truth. The term "progressive" usually means to move forward, but in leftist truth-speak it really means put it in reverse and traverse down the Road to Serfdom.

Med ... you continue with your stone-blindness.

Vi

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Liberals are people that will believe anything twice.