RNC Chair/ Senator Mel Martinez: Passing Troop-Rest Bill Would "Demean The Troops"

[seafan]

From TPM Election Central



In a speech by RNC Chair/Senator Mel Martinez (FL) on the floor today...

He's explaining why passing Senator Jim Webb's bill giving the troops more rest would "demean their service"...


Martinez:

"The reenlistment rates of those who have served in the theater are larger than those of any other. And, in fact, it is a testament to their courage, to their valor, and their sense of duty to their country. I think we would demean their service if we were to say to them that there had to be a parity between the time in service out of the country and the time at home. The goal ought to be for us not to have 15-month deployments. The hope would be that these would never be necessary. But the mandate from congress that this is how we must operate our armed forces I think is ill-conceived, it is dangerous and does not serve either the national interest of our nation nor the interest of the soldiers on the field whom it is intended to serve.

"We should not have a subterfuge of policy to change direction in Iraq heaped on the back of our brave young men and women in uniform..."

Greg Sargent at TPM Election Central goes on to say:

The argument here appears to be that because the amount of service our troops have performed shows that they are heroic, it would hence "demean" them to reduce that amount of service by giving them longer rest time -- because it would deprive them of more time to be heroic.

What's more, the argument also appears to be that this would be a disservice to the troops because it would be "heaping on their backs" the fact that it changed our Iraq policies. In other words, the fact that the troops would get more rest should be something to be ashamed of if it resulted in a change of said policies. One might suggest that if our Iraq policies had to be changed in order to not burn out the troops, the blame for this should perhaps fall on those who made those policies.

.....

Message from Republicans to American fighting men and women:

'Screw you. Screw your families. Now get your a$$es back to Iraq, you know, for the Corporation.'


How much longer....

[Gman]

1. I imagine there's quite a few guys in Iraq

that would like a piece of his ass.

[Demeter]

2. Mel Martinez--We'll Remember That Name

and the shame it casts upon the nation.

[MikeNearMcChord]

3. If I was a Repuke I would be very wary of hanging out

with GI's in Iraq, next time they the 'Puke wants to do a dog and pony show. If I was an officer I would be very quiet about being a 'puke, otherwise I may get fragged.

[shadowknows69]

5. "I wish someone would Lee Harvey Oswald his ass"

Actual quote heard in my taxi from a soldier about his own CIC.

[rusty quoin]

4. I watched his speech today and thought,

all these Republicans do is hide behind troops. They do it all the time. It's like, "Hey, these guys want to stay away from their families." Or, "Hey, these guys like going back again and again, eventhough the risk of their dying increases with more deployments."

[Cha]

6. mel martinez is full of SHIT.

Bat.Shit.Crazy.

[rateyes]

7. Martinez can go fuck himself. nt

[frogcycle]

8. these doubletalking fucks are going to regret this

The families aren't buying this. I could not believe the slimy little twit that was on tweety trying to shout down Wes Clark claiming such a restriction would hamstring the military, be disruptive. Nothing against grunts, mind you, but here is an ex-grunt probably getting paid by the RNC telling the former Nato Supreme Allied Commander how to run an army.

His premise was that when a unit returns, the people are disbursed, and might be transferred to a unit that is deploying soon. Then the deploying unit will not be "cohesive" if some of its members can't go yet.

So his solution is send the poor sod, tell his wife and baby tough shit.


I think I'll build a website with the photos of each rep senator who voted against it, with quotes like this, and link it to my kia website.

[MikeNearMcChord]

9. Do it! My local paper shows the joy of

troops coming home from Iraq after having their tours extended.
Come On Repukes, tell this GI he doesn't need to have his time home extended!

[frogcycle]

11. wow, what a picture

I'm a little hesitant about linking it to the KIA site though. I try to keep that site totally apolitical.

I took a bunch of photos last year of "welcome home" signs at Twentynine Palms Marine Training Center. Here's a couple one:



Heres the bunch of them:

http://www.dbc3.com/TwentyninePalms/Base_Troops/shell.html

they start with the one where you see my rearview mirror

[Cabcere]

10. ...The fuuuuuuck?

:wtf: That's one of the more ridiculous things I've heard today. Idiot.

[TwilightGardener]

12. Stunning stupidity. They're really reaching for ways to keep defending

the status quo, aren't they? Immoral fuckers.