You have to hand it to the headline writers at The Jeffersonian. For the September 25, 2007 Party Line column, where every other week the Democrats spokesman, James Kehl, trades penning columns with the Republican Party County Chairman, Chris Cavey, they wrote Support troops not just with a yard sign. I was hooked. I wanted to know how this was going to be twisted.
The first sentence recalled the deaths in Iraq of two young men serving in the Marine Corps. The local community continuously honors these soldiers, these defenders of our freedoms, lest any of us forget what they did for all of us. I wish I could provide a link to the item, but it is not included in the newspaper's archive.
I smiled as I read about the author's memories of sacrifices and his feelings. By paragraph two, I was grinning, and paragraph three started me thinking about the Jonathan Swift solution for the Irish problem: eat the children. There were typical misstatements of fact. While asserting that the United States military is under civilian control, he concludes that each of determines when members of the military can be placed at risk. Yes. We elect the congress and congress has the sole authority to declare war, it is the President, the Chief Executive and Commander in Chief, who holds the ultimate responsibility for placing soldiers at risk.
Kehl describes the Selective Service (neglecting that a Democratic Congress under a Democratic President) that once drafted citizens to serve. He becomes even fuzzier as he walks through the logic that the draft was discontinued resulting in an all volunteer military resulting in the placing of a burden being borne by a small percentage of the population. I wondered what his point was. This was unchanged during the last four administrations, two of which were headed by a Democrat. What was wrong? He did not make me wait.
With no more warning than that, Kehl was spinning into a bizarre land of make believe, and I assumed, satire. Let me share with you:
The current administration does not want a draft because that would affect a large segment of the population. Since the lives of their family members would be at risk, these citizens would pay close attention to the actions of the government. Unfortunately, people tend not to pay attention to the actions of their government if they have nothing at stake. It is easy to call a right-wing talk show or put a sign on your lawn that says "Support Our Troops, Support Our President" when other people have their lives at risk.
Mr. Kehl is certain that a draft would address a larger segment of the population. Is that because we would draft more people from more families than the volunteer effort generate? It is nonsense. He goes on to say that members of the administration do not pay attention to what our government is doing. More nonsense. The last assertion, that people putting fictitious (these signs are a figment of his imagination) signs up will exempt your loved ones from risk, is part of what convinced me that this was a satire by Kehl. Why would he write a column advancing Republicans or the President? I read on.
Kehl went into the party screed about the unjust and immoral invasion of Iraq before stating, "It has not protected our country from terrorists. " he ended the paragraph with, " Why should terrorists come to America to kill Americans when all they have to do is go to Iraq." All right, I admit that I was seeing this as more than a jest. It was more untruth masquerading as truth given the credibility of being a regular column in a twice per week newspaper. Terrorists successfully attacked on our soil at the beginning of the Clinton Administration and at the beginning of the Bush Administration. They have tried to attack unarmed, non-combatant civilians here at home but have been thwarted. Kehl wants us to believe that terrorists would rather attack armed soldiers in Iraq than attack civilians. Kehl went from humorous to dishonest here.
The close to Kehl's column went back to the military members and families he started with. He then called all Americans who disagree with his anti-war stance irresponsible. People who listen to talk radio hosts without family members serving in Iraq are irresponsible for not acknowledging that this war is not a "necessary part of the war on terror".
So what, you might ask. Different strokes for different folks, right? The September 27, 2007 Jeffersonian put the Kehl commentary in perspective Two mothers honor fallen sons. On the front page, above the fold, a picture of two smiling women, each holding a two-foot by three-foot photograph of their son, one of them in country with an Iraqi youth and the other hugging his wife of three weeks, both men in uniform. It was the same two boys being lamented in the anti-war column from the week before. However, this article was far different from Kehl's spin.
These mothers miss their sons dearly. They would do anything to have them back, safe, in the family home. They were celebrating the lives their sons had lived. They were also talking about the upcoming scholarship fundraiser (October 12, 2007, 7:30 to 11:30 PM, Martin's Valley Mansion, 594 Cranbrook Road, Cockeyesville, MD Call (410) 473-4657 for tickets or to contribute). Please forgive me lengthy quote from the article (page A6, Night for sharing memories, which, unfortunately is not available online at this writing.
Lance Cpl. [Norm] Anderson and Cpl. [Josh] Snyder said their presence in Iraq deterred terrorist attacks in America. Today, their families say the United States should not withdraw its forces prematurely.
"To Josh, our country was like our family farm. He would do anything for it," Doris Snyder said. "He said that he'd rather fight the enemy over there than over here."
The mothers, who keep in touch with many of their sons' friends from Hereford [High School] as well as Marines from their units, recently broadened the scope of the Anderson-Snyder Memorial Fund to include military families in need.
Previously, money went solely to scholarships – five, totaling $6,000, so far – for Hereford High School graduates.
"We think the boys would want us to help their family – the Marine family," Snyder said. "We haven't given any money to any families yet, but we'd like to."
Robyn Anderson had the last word in the article, "The next time you see a soldier in uniform, just walk up and say 'Thank you.' Nothing would have made Norm and Josh happier."
James Kehl invoked the images of Norm and Josh in his anti-war, anti-Bush administration, anti-Republican diatribe that was factually inaccurate, and attempted to use those who disagree with him, but cannot speak for themselves to support his attacks. Norm and Josh have far more credibility here than does Kehl. The Democrats who hold Kehl out as their spokesperson are smeared with the filth that he wrote. For the sake of civil discourse, I pray that thinking Democrats find a new columnist. Until then, thinking people will read him critically and make decisions about whom and what deserves their support and who and what does not.
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