Blue Mass Group

Reality-based commentary on politics.

Why no mention of the troops in Romney’s acceptance speech? ‘You Talk About the Things That You Think Are Important’

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Well, Romney has certainly put his foot in it this time. He must have read the bizarro world version of Dale Carnegie’s famous book, “How to Win Friends and Influence People” – his version was apparently titled “How to lose Votes and Alienate Large Segments of the Population”…

Romney answers question about his acceptance speech

In his defense of his latest blunder, he says that he did refer to the military, but the military doesn’t equal the troops. The military in this nation is an institution – like a corporation (“Corporations are people, my friends!”), the military won’t ever die, it lives on forever. That seems to be Romney’s point – he wants to make sure that the military-industrial complex continues to get all the government money possible, but to care about actual people? Bah…

On the other hand, troops put their lives on the line every day – they live, they laugh, they love, they fight and they die. They and their families suffer endless deprivations as they serve far from home – many never return, and many more suffer years of anguish when they return with grievous wounds both visible and invisible. I know firsthand – my Uncle Frank is still listed as MIA from World War II, and my dad suffered with alcoholism and depression from his experiences in an engineering battalion in Europe.

A military mom has written a post about this at DKos that’s well worth a read – here’s a snip, but I’d recommend reading the entire thing:

How DARE Romney even utter the words he uttered today. He has never served in our military, neither have his sons. He has never known the sacrifice or what it means to either serve or be a parent of a child who serves, and he will never know the heart ache, the worry, the tears, the pride, the part of you that is missing while your child serves hundreds or thousands of miles away.

I will never forget the night before our son entered the Marines, we were so proud of him, and yet at the same time our hearts ached in such a way that words cannot ever come close to describing.

Seems Mitt Romney would prefer they remain completely invisible – his speech marked the first time since 1952 that the Republican nominee said nothing about an ongoing war or the troops actively fighting it in his acceptance speech. I guess that’s what can be expected when your nominee is a draft dodging Mormon missionary…

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  1. But i will play your game. Here are some golden oldies that Demorats had to say about our brave military heroes

    “If I read this to you and did not tell you that it was an FBI agent describing what Americans had done to prisoners in their control, you would most certainly believe this must have been done by Nazis, Soviets in their gulags or some mad regime — Pol Pot or others — that had no concern for human beings,” Durbin said last week. That’s right, Dick Durbin of Illinois.

    In April 2007, as the surge was underway, Reid famously declared that the war already was lost and the surge already had failed:

    [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYZEGot-xU4]

    Reid also joined other Democrats who were questioning the truthfulness of Gen. Petraeus:

    [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QV4DIURvbwY]

    [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PR144kCjORc]

    In April 2007, Reid also joined with Russ Feinglod (D-Wisc) in introducing the Reid-Feingold Bill tocut off war spending in one year, and requiring that troop withdrawals commence within 120 days:

    Don’t forget John Murtha who was judge and jury for saying out marines committed a massacre. But what the heck, they were serving W. Bush, so treat our own as the enemy.

    Dont make me post what John Kerry said about our Vietnam heroes.

    • You said:

      “If I read this to you and did not tell you that it was an FBI agent describing what Americans had done to prisoners in their control, you would most certainly believe this must have been done by Nazis, Soviets in their gulags or some mad regime — Pol Pot or others — that had no concern for human beings,” Durbin said last week. That’s right, Dick Durbin of Illinois.

      I say torture is wrong – it’s illegal, immoral, and wrong. We prosecuted Japanese and German officers after WWII for the same things we did in Iraq – what we did was reprehensible, and it was Bush’s “leadership” that allowed that to happen. I’m sorry if you can’t handle the truth, but there it is.

      Reid’s words about the surge, Petraeus’ truthiness, and his efforts to cut off funding were in no way critical of the troops and have no place in this discussion.

      As to Murtha and the Haditha massacre, you might want to look at the actul history of the incident instead of the whitewash you prefer to believe:

      The Haditha killings (also called the Haditha incident or the Haditha massacre) refers to the incident in which 24 unarmed Iraqi men, women and children were killed by a group of United States Marines on November 19, 2005 in Haditha, a city in the western Iraqi province of Al Anbar. All those killed were civilians[1]. The dead included several children and elderly people, who were shot multiple times at close range while unarmed. It has been alleged that the killings were retribution for the attack on a convoy of Marines with an improvised explosive device that killed Lance Corporal Miguel Terrazas. Many news reports have compared the incident to the My Lai massacre.[2]

      An initial Marine Corps communique reported that 15 civilians were killed by the bomb’s blast and eight insurgents were subsequently killed when the Marines returned fire against those attacking the convoy. However, other evidence uncovered by the media contradicted the Marines’ account.[3] A Time magazine reporter’s questions prompted the United States military to open an investigation into the incident. The investigation claimed it found evidence that “supports accusations that U.S. Marines deliberately shot civilians, including unarmed men, women and children”, according to an anonymous Pentagon official.[4] At least three officers were officially reprimanded for failing to properly initially report and investigate the killings.[citation needed] On December 21, 2006, eight Marines from 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines were charged in connection with the incident.[5][6]

      In the course of the Article 32 hearings, conflicting testimony was presented, some of it rebutting the media-cited case made by accusers and prosecutors of the Marines. At one point in the hearings, the investigating officer told prosecution lawyers, “The account you want me to believe does not support unpremeditated murder.” He conceded that the central issue was who is to be believed and that he was disinclined to recommend a trial when he thought it was unlikely any Iraqi would agree to come to the U.S. to testify.[7] On August 9, 2007, Lt. Gen. James Mattis dropped the charges against Lance Cpl. Justin Sharratt, who has been accused of murder, and against Capt. Randy Stone, accused of failing to investigate the incident.[8] On August 23, the investigating officer recommended charges against Lance Cpl. Stephen Tatum be dropped as well[9] but on October 19, his commanding officer decided the charges should be lowered to involuntary manslaughter, reckless endangerment and aggravated assault.[10]

      By June 17, 2008, six defendants had had their cases dropped and a seventh found not guilty.[11] The exception was former Staff Sgt Frank Wuterich. On October 3, 2007, the Article 32 hearing investigating officer recommended that Wuterich be tried for negligent homicide in the deaths of two women and five children, and that charges of murder be dropped.[12] Further charges of assault and manslaughter were ultimately dropped, and Wuterich was convicted of a single count of negligent dereliction of duty on January 24, 2012.[13][14] Wuterich received a rank reduction and pay cut but avoided jail time.[15][16] Iraqis expressed disbelief and voiced outrage after the six-year US military prosecution ended with none of the Marines sentenced to jail. A lawyer for the victims from Haditha said, “This is an assault on humanity.” and he as well as the Iraqi government said they might bring the case to international courts.[17]

      Incidents such as these have been claimed to be one of the main reasons that U.S troops left Iraq at the end of 2011.[18][19][20] In 2011 the New York Times found classified transcripts of military interviews from an investigation into the Haditha killings. In these interviews Marines said civilians were killed on a regular basis and one sergeant testified that he would order his men to shoot vehicles that failed to stop at military checkpoints even if it were possible that children could be in the car.[21]

      Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haditha_killings

      Yes, I know it’s Wikipedia – it is also extensively footnoted and sourced, and is a much more accurate version than the fiction you choose to believe.

      Lastly, please read John Kerry’s testimony:

      https://facultystaff.richmond.edu/~ebolt/history398/JohnKerryTestimony.html

      He testified about war crimes, Dan – war crimes committed by and described by the perpetrators – your heroes.

      So, nice attempt at changing the subject – I guess Mitt Romney can disrespect the troops all he wants, because a Democrat once said something that didn’t fit in with your pre-conceived notions. Do you have any comment about your leader’s lack of respect for the troops in Afghanistan, or do you just want to point at Democrats and make false accusations by way of defending Romney?

      • I am a Ron Paul guy when it comes to military intervention. Does it make you feel good johnt001, that soldiers are dying over there for no purpose? Keep waving the flag to whitewash the death toll of U.S. soldiers.

        • You’re unbelievable, Dan. Where did I whitewash the death toll in Afghanistan in my reply to you, or in my original post? You, on the other hand, engaged in wholesale whitewashing in your comment – whitewashing Vietnam, the Haditha massacre, torture, the surge in Iraq, etc. And you have yet to respond to the substance of my post! You are a piece of work, Dan.

        • I’m curious then if honesty about Afghanistan is a top priority than why are you backing Romney? The only candidate in the general election with the courage to return America home is Gary Johnson. At least Obama has a timetable for a withdrawal though I actually think itd help him politically to pull out now-especially since their army which we fund and train is attacking our troops.

        • He won’t even stake a position on the topic.

          In any case, when it comes to foreign policy (and most things) Ron Paul has zero experience or credibility. He actually advocated bringing back Letters of Marque of all things. Total crackpot.

          So just to be clear, what is your position on Afghanistan? Were we wrong to go in there in the first place? What exactly would you have done differently?

    • I really wish that I could read BMG without having to see the shallow, contorted attempts at point-scoring that this person keeps posting here. As one of your Vietnam heroes, please honor my service by finding some other sandbox to leave your excreta in.

    • Guess what? We are talking about today’s election not the last one. Continuing to fall back on material from past Republican victories is a sure sign that you are starting to panic about your own guy.

      The fact is that for some bizarre reason Romney decided to leave out any discussion of our men and women in uniform. It makes absolutely no sense to me. It makes it look like Romney neither cares nor respects the job that people in military service do for our country.

  3. Implying that he did, and that he just said military instead of troops, is a straight up lie. There was no “thank you military” or “members of the military” or anything like that.

    So, yeah, he said the word “military” in his speech. But he didn’t thank it or the troops within it.

    David Bernstein quotes his mentions of the military from his speech:

    http://blog.thephoenix.com/BLOGS/talkingpolitics/archive/2012/09/07/romney-tromps-on-troops.aspx

    No “thanks” at all.

    • While I am glad to jab Romney and the RNC over this, and I know Fox would’ve decimated a Democrat in similar circumstances, its also sad that the President gave no mention of how he will end the war in Afghanistan, what he will do with Syria or what to do when Iran inevitably crosses the red line. The GOP and the RNC Convention had ZERO foreign policy discussion and nuance (McCain and Rice cited vague neocon talking points-no specifics), and we had great speeches solidifying the massive foreign policy successes of the administration thus far. But its important to let the electorate and wider world know where we are going in the next four years not just where we’ve been in the last four. My best friend from 1st-6th grade and I just reconnected when he was in Chicago and we still have a lot in common and the ability to have a great time together, and our girlfriends became fast friends too. But just when I get to know him again he was called to go to Afghanistan and I hope and pray every night he can return home safely. He is moderately conservative and excited to go, but I really don’t want him to. There is absolutely nothing worth fighting or dying for over there anymore and its time to come home. This President should end the war tomorrow and I think it’d help him not hurt him politically (even if it hurt its the right thing to do).

      OBLs death shows how the Biden plan (small special forces, drones, and airforce footprint) is all we need to keep AQ down and at bay. Let the morally bankrupt Taliban and that corrupt double crossing Karzai duke it out over control of the mountains and goatherds and 12th century economy and lets pull out before any more Americans join the endless death count of Soviets, Russians, Macedonians, Mugals, Mongols Persians and British that came before.

      My biggest disappointment of the DNC is that no renewed promises were made on civil liberties, leading me to believe the President just doesn’t care about keeping them, and the lack of an exit strategy for Afghanistan. I dont care how awesome the speeches were, no progressive can defend the fact that we are still there and so is the Patriot Act and we are vast approaching the 11th year of this war without end-time to collect the peace dividend.

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