While visiting the AWESOME WWII memorial in DC Bob Dole was there

[greenbriar]

of course our tour group being from Kansas, our principal went to him to ask to have our picture taken with him.


Although I don't like his or Liddy's politics, it was kind of cool to shake the hand of a man that ran for president.


He generally was a nice guy especially to all the Vets there.

Said Kansas had a program that would fly WWII vets to see the memorial at no cost to them.


He looked like he was already embalmbed tho...kind of gross

[roody]

1. Maybe he IS embalmed,

good thing he has that Viagra.

[mac2]

7. He probably notified the press but no one came for his

appearance at the Vet Memorial. He's probably in DC to go to his bank where he takes out $1000 at a time (forget it is illegal). He bribes with it.

What important bill is before the Senate? It should be illegal for lobbists and former representatives to be on the Senate floor during a debate.

[Tesha]

15. Are you suggesting that he's a stiff man in more ways than one? (NT)

[mac2]

18. Sure.

Read about the Riggs bank and Dole. When you withdraw large sums of money (especially cash) the bank records and reports it (to prevent money laundering, etc.). He was withdrawing thousands in cash to carry around in his suit pocket. Good payoff in that cloak room for late night bribery.

The bank said, they ignored it in DC since so many Congress people did it. Congress people money launder and do criminal things? Good god what are we becoming? Bush, Inc.

The Riggs bank was merged to cover it's criminal activity. Someone did a lot of research on this site about Riggs bank.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x7280

Dole used $3 million of Kansas tax payer dollars for his "library and education center" at Kansas University. It has his name on it of-course.

[GetTheRightVote]

2. He has to be getting up there by now, he has been retired for about 10 years now

it is amazing how the years are going by now. I still remember him running for the office of the President.

[hvn_nbr_2]

33. Well, according to the commercials, he's getting up, "there"

:hide:

[MADem]

3. I really dislike that Memorial. It looks ... GERMANIC to me.

If someone left the earth in the mid forties and came back to DC today, they'd think Germany won....

[mac2]

4. I saw a similar one in a travel story.

Can't remember where but I thought at the time...hey she copied it.

[kwassa]

6. well, the designer was Austrian

He was an architecture professor at the school I went to, here in the US.

Fredrich St. Florian.

I don't like it either.

[mac2]

8. I thought it was a Asian American.

I was wrong eh?

[MADem]

11. You're thinking the Vietnam Memorial. Her name is Maya Lin. NT

[mac2]

12. Yes...

That WWII memorial is just plain big and ugly.

[MADem]

10. I think they used a German building company, too....

Heck, if they were going to go with the vanquished, I think a Japanese theme might have been a bit more restful!

Actually, I think they should have morphed the whole thing into the FDR memorial (which FDR said, plainly, he did NOT WANT--so much for paying attention to peoples' wishes, eh?) over at Haines Point. It would have made for a nicer site, certainly. I hate this cluttering of the mall they're engaging in--it's ruining a lovely open space. They need to stop.

[mac2]

17. Not until they have one for me!!

[northzax]

31. hey now, there is no evidence the general contractor

used Jews as slaves during WWII. oh wait, yes there is.

[leftchick]

14. exactly my thoughts too when I saw it

I told my husband it was the most gaudy, disgusting display of nationalism I have seen yet. Much like Germany way back when. The added touch was the plaque showing it dedicated by pResident gw bush in 2002! :puke:

[kwassa]

5. He was very badly wounded in WWII

and took years to recover. He still only has partial use of one arm.

One interview of his that I saw had a line that has stuck in my mind. During his recovery Dole's surgeon said to him "You know where you find sympathy in this world. In the dictionary listed between "shit" and "Syphillis".

I went down there with my dad, who was in that war, too. Cold as hell.

I don't like the memorial, I think it is stark and ugly. The design reminds me of fascist architecture. Of course, that was December.

[mac2]

9. A granade exploded in Dole's hand.

[CBGLuthier]

29. No, it was machine gun fire

If a grenade had exploded in his hand, well, he wouln't have much of an arm left.

But anyway, acording to wikipedia, it was german machine gun fire in Italy. Sad thing is it was in April of 45 just a few more weeks and he would have survived Europe intact.

He is not my favorite guy in the world but compared to today's crop of republicans he is one hell of a great guy.

[mac2]

34. Maybe that was changed but Dole himself said on CSPAN

that's how it happened. Machine gun fire makes him more of a hero.

[mac2]

39. Dole's first injury confused on his CSPAN appearance?

"Dole's first wound. It was in the first of these night patrols that Dole received the wound for which he was awarded his first Purple Heart. He ruefully confesses in his 1988 autobiography that his wound was self-inflicted: "As we approached the enemy, there was a brief exchange of gunfire. I took a grenade in hand, pulled the pin, and tossed it in the direction of the farmhouse. It wasn't a very good pitch (remember, I was used to catching passes, not throwing them). In the darkness, the grenade must have struck a tree and bounced off. It exploded nearby, sending a sliver of metal into my leg -- the sort of injury the Army patched up with Mercurochrome and a Purple Heart." The wound was so minor that he led another patrol two nights later. He does not mention that others were also injured by his misguided throw -- which Woodruff's account attributes to an enemy machine gun."

http://www.tedellis.net/dole-article.htm

You judge.

[Aristus]

13. I shook the hand of a man who ran for President: John Kerry.

Guess I got the better deal there. Although, Dole does seem to have a smidgen more class than his knuckle-dragging, bottom-feeding fellow party members.

[mac2]

16. Kerry has lost his luster with me ever since the

man was zapped by the security police at his rally. He didn't do a thing to stop it. I'd be afraid to get close to him let alone ask the wrong question.

[MADem]

20. Well, he lost his lustre with me when he ignored the people of his state.

But I don't think he was aware that the guy got zapped until after it happened.

I thought that guy was an obnoxious little shit. Perhaps the taser wasn't justified, but he did provide 'the internets' with a classic retort for many months:

"Don't TAZE me, bro!!!"

[mac2]

26. He never said a word...and should have insisted they stop

so he could answer that question. It is his duty as a representative of the people to respond. Obnoxious? Then we should have Tazed the Congress and President.

http://www.democrats.com/node/3877

[MADem]

27. It is not his duty to interfere with the security personnel at an institution where he is a guest

speaker. He's not "the boss." It's not for him to "insist" or tell anyone how to do their job.

He doesn't "give orders." What, you think he's got Saddam-like authority, or something?

He's the representative in the Senate of the people of Massachusetts.

Geez, where do people get these ideas about our elected representatives? No wonder our government is so fucked up.

I didn't feel sorry one bit for that guy. He was told to STFU and he didn't. When the rights of others who assembled to hear Kerry speak were trampled on by this asshole refusing to allow anyone else to enjoy any interchange, it was time to get that guy gone. He was asked to stand down and shut up, he refused, so he was electronically encouraged. Perhaps if institutions got more federal funding, they'd be able to fully fund a human security force, and not have to augment their staff with tasers.

[mac2]

35. If he couldn't do that then he didn't deserve to be President.

[MADem]

40. Ohhhh Kay.... you subscribe to the "Superman Version" of Presidential power.

:eyes:

[mac2]

42. Maybe standing up to abuse?

[MADem]

44. Kerry couldn't even SEE the guy. Haven't you seen the footage?

:eyes:

The guy was making a disturbance. He was given ample opportunity to comport himself reasonably, and he was disinclined, for whatever reason, to so do. I guess you're one of those "Let one asshole ruin it for others, even when that one asshole has been given a shitload of time and taken away from the agenda of the rest" types.

I think the guy should have been zapped twice. He was an annoying little shit who thought HIS rights exceeded those of the rest of the group. He was also pulling a prank, by all accounts.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Florida_Taser_incident

According to eyewitness and police reports, the widely circulated video of the confrontation captured on Meyer's camera was not the first interaction between police and Meyer at the event that day. According to reports, Meyer was in line for access to the microphone, when it was announced by former Ambassador Dennis Jett, a University of Florida political science instructor and the forum's moderator,<8> that one more question would be taken from the microphone on the right as seen from the stage. Meyer then grabbed the second microphone, on the left, which had been shut off, and loudly demanded he be allowed to ask a question. Meyer reportedly yelled, "Why don't you answer my questions, I have been waiting and listening to you speak in circles for the last two hours." "These officers are going to arrest me", "You will take my question because I have been listening to your crap for two hours".<9> When an officer intervened, attempted to cut Meyer off, and attempted to escort Meyer out of the hall, Meyer then broke away and continued to shout. Kerry then intervened and requested that Meyer be allowed to ask a question. Meyer was then brought back to the microphone with police officers on either side of him.<10>

Meyer then handed his camera to the woman who was standing in front of him in line (later identified as Clarissa Jessup) and requested that she record him. Kerry then finished answering a previous question, Meyer was then recognized by Kerry to ask a question.

....According to The Washington Post, Meyer's question turned into "an increasingly agitated three-parter."<11>

Meyer spoke for approximately 1 minute and 20 seconds, beginning by citing the book Armed Madhouse and its author Greg Palast's description of the 2004 U.S. presidential election and reports of election irregularities.<11><12>

Meyer questioned Kerry's concession of the 2004 U.S. presidential election, Kerry's support or lack of support of the movement to impeach George W. Bush <11>, and Kerry's involvement in the Yale University secret society known as Skull and Bones <11>. After Meyer used the term "blowjob," (in reference to the impeachment of Bill Clinton) and while he was asking about Kerry's involvement in Skull and Bones, Meyer's microphone was cut off. Later, Steven Blank, ACCENT chairman, said, "We make it clear that any profanity and vulgarity by anyone asking questions will result in a cutting off of the mic." <13>


Removal and arrest
After speaking for one minute and twenty seconds, at the request of event organizers, Andrew Meyer's microphone was turned off, and two University of Florida police officers attempted to escort him away.<14> Steven Blank, ACCENT chairman, later said “They acted independently of Accent ." <13> Some members of the crowd began to cheer and applaud. This physical contact by the police occurred right after Meyer remarked, “Thank you for cutting my mic!” Kerry responded to the police action, "That's all right, let me answer his question."<11> , but two police officers continued to hold Meyer and attempted to escort him towards the exit. Meyer repeatedly asked why he was being arrested. He struggled for several seconds<12> shouting, "Get off me! What are you doing? What is going on?" while a third police officer kept a Taser aimed at the student. Meyer managed to get back towards the stage and stated, "I want to stand and listen to the answers to my questions!" A fourth officer joined in, and single-handedly managed to remove Meyer to the back of the auditorium while being escorted by the three other officers. Meyer was carried part of the way by officer King, holding Greg Palast's book up in the air with his one free arm and shouting, "Why are you arresting me? Help! Help!" Close to the exit Meyer broke free for a short moment and then was wrestled to the ground. Two more officers joined in and Meyer was now held down by four officers on the body and two on the legs. The officers managed to handcuff only one hand.

...After the incident, Meyer was arrested for inciting a riot and charged with resisting an officer and disturbing the peace and taken to Alachua County Jail.<18> Police recommended charges of resisting arrest with violence, a felony, and disturbing the peace and interfering with school administrative functions, a misdemeanor. Meyer spent one night in the Alachua County Jail and was released the following morning.<18><20>

Meyer's attorney, Robert Griscti, stated he will seek to have the charges dismissed.<20> Meyer later issued a public apology for his "failure to act calmly", stating that he "stepped out of line" and that his arresting officers "did nothing wrong".<21> The government plans to drop their prosecution of Meyer's case if he completes a voluntary 18-month probation.<22> He plans to return as a student in the spring of 2008.<23>.....News articles about the incident have reported that Meyer had posted on his web site numerous comedy videos.<33> It has also been pointed out that Meyer made arrangements to have himself filmed and have speculated that the incident may have been a stunt by Meyer. The reported behavior of Meyer when no cameras were present is also cited as evidence that the incident was a prank. According to the police report: "as was escorted down stairs with no cameras in sight, he remained quiet, but once the cameras made their way down stairs he started screaming and yelling again." Additionally, the report states that Meyer was "laughing and being lighthearted in the car, his demeanor completely changed once the cameras were not in sight." The police officers have said that during the ride, Meyer said: "I am not mad at you guys, you didn't do anything wrong, you were just trying to do your job."<3>

.

[proud2BlibKansan]

19. I met him a couple times

I am glad he isn't our senator anymore.

[slackmaster]

21. Bob Dole really is a nice guy

Too bad the GOP doesn't have more like him in control now.

[mac2]

22. A nice guy who was involved in fraud and vote buying.

He also betrayed his country more than once.

http://www.counterpunch.org/niranjan04282005.html

[slackmaster]

23. Yes, nice guys sometimes do bad things

I can think of a few who have cheated on their spouses.

[mac2]

24. What does that have to do with running this country as a Senator?

Cheating is a very common event in America but not war on lies, removal of freedom, and plain robbery.

[slackmaster]

25. I'm just saying as politicians go, Dole is a far better man than many who are in power now

:shrug:

Maybe that's not saying much. We are in a very sad state indeed.

[mac2]

41. Dole the lobbyist

http://www.talkleft.com/story/2006/02/24/699/42356

[MADem]

28. He's a crook, but he tells a helluva joke, IMO. nt

[northzax]

30. wait, there's an awesome WWII memorial in DC?

where? the only one I know of is the neofascist one on the mall.

[greenbriar]

32. I thought it was nice

and found exactly where my uncles were killed

[northzax]

37. my problem with it

and I used to bike past it every day, so I have seen it in every configuration and weather, is that it is it is not a 'memorial' as advertised, it is a victory monument. We might as well have built a triumphal arch over Pennsylvania avenue. I don't believe democracies should build triumphal war monuments. War sucks, and monuments should remember the dead, those that gave the 'last full measure of devotion' not celebrate the conflict that killed them. Everytime we build a war memorial, it should be with the hope that the next generation will never have to build another one, not out of a sense of obligation to a past generation we are made to feel inferior to. their monument was pax Americana, the slow summer of the cold war, 63 years and counting of peace in western europe a state unprecedented for a millenium, a democratic, non-expansionist Japan, unprecedented global peace and mostly prosperity. They also get all the little proxy wars that killed lots of brown people so Europeans wouldn't actually have to fight eachother, but that is another story....

A war memorial should make you stand there and say 'what the fuck, why do we do this to eachother' and make you aware of the shocking waste of pouring the blood of a generation onto the sands of foreign shores, not make it seem like the war was a good thing, no matter how justified the conflict.

[mac2]

38. I agree.

[kwassa]

43. They were killed at the memorial?

[mac2]

36. The WWII memorial was Dole's idea and project.

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3799/is_199905/ai_n8842269