Melanie Morgan

Lisa de Pasquale deals with the question that conservatives are most often hit with in the battle over Iraq. Why aren't OUR kids enlisting for war?

Perhaps the better question is why are THEIR kids carrying signs that say 'Support the Troops, Kill an Officer?'

Are We Hypocrites for not Enlisting?

By Lisa De Pasquale
Wednesday, August 15, 2007

Lisa De Pasquale is CPAC Director at the American Conservative Union. The Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) is the nation’s largest annual gathering of conservatives. For more information, visit www.cpac.org.

Last week we got another glimpse of the Left’s true feelings about our troops. At a campaign breakfast in Iowa, anti-war Daily Kos diarist Rachel Griffiths asked Mitt Romney why none of his five sons enlisted in the military. It’s a popular form of “gotcha” that the Left likes to play in order to bring out their favorite cat call – Hypocrite! Romney responded, “My sons are all adults and they’ve made decisions about their careers and they’ve chosen not to serve in the military and active duty and I respect their decision in that regard. One of the ways my sons are showing support for our nation is helping me get elected because they think I’d be a great president.”

Following his resounding victory at the Iowa straw poll, Romney expounded on his original answer and told Fox News Sunday’s Chris Wallace, “I didn’t mean in any way to compare service in the country with my boys in any way. Service in this country is an extraordinary sacrifice being made by individuals and their families… There’s no comparison. I’m very pleased and proud of my boys and the help they’re doing for their dad, but it’s not service to the country. It’s service for me. And there’s just no comparison there.

”Romney was right to clarify his response. Unlike the Left, he recognizes the courage of service members and their families and acknowledged that serving in the military is a job like no other. Griffith’s implication is that anyone and everyone are qualified to be in the military. The Left doesn’t view them as a skilled group of people, but rather faceless place holders that were duped into joining the military. To be qualified, the Left insists that one must simply be over 18.

At the July 2007 National College Republican Committee Convention, whining wannabe journalist Max Blumenthal asked attendees why they weren’t fighting in Iraq. The college kids in his amateur ambush video fumbled with their words and gave medical excuses like asthma and bad knees. They were young, nervous and in front of a jerk holding a camera. Guilt isn’t necessary. The reality is that most of us wouldn’t make the cut.

Military recruitment was a hot topic when KVI talk radio host Kirby Wilbur broadcasted from the Young America’s Foundation’s national college conference in early August. A military recruiter called into the program to remind listeners that the military is, in fact, an exclusive club. The recruiter estimated that only 1 out of 5 prospective recruits qualify for military service. Most are either physically-challenged, intellectually-challenged or morally-challenged. Or in the case of Max Blumenthal, all three.

Liberals don’t care whether a person is qualified because winning the war isn’t their goal. It’s not about victory for America, it’s about making conservatives pay politically. The military is just another prop in their bag of political tricks. Conservatives are often accused of using the military and patriotic themes to appeal to voters, but at least it’s for an American victory. When the Left supports the military, they do so by carrying signs like this one – “We support the troops when they shoot their officers.

”Liberals’ incessant calls to draft every 18-year-old College Republican is tantamount to the disrespect they have for the military. They demand that every person who supports the war join the military or send their children. If they don’t, they’re hypocrites. This isn’t going to be a winning strategy for the Left. Is every person that wears an AIDS ribbon, but doesn’t go to Africa (as Laura and Jenna Bush did) to help children with HIV/AIDS a hypocrite? Are vice presidents and celebrities that travel in private jets and SUVs while lecturing the little people on the proper amount of toilet paper also hypocrites?

In Treason, Ann Coulter wrote, “Instead of relentlessly attacking the military as immature or testosterone crazed – meaning ‘braver than me’ – liberals might have the good grace to realize they live in a country where big burly men are willing to protect them from bullies.” Thanks to those extraordinary men and women that persevered through the recruitment process and continue to serve, we all enjoy freedoms that we ourselves are not willing or able to fight for.