A Dishonorable Discharge...Flowing from the White House
Barack Obama's best case yet for his own ineptitude comes in the form of the White House's attempt to dig itself out of the deepening hole of the Bergdahl swap. This has become the public relations equivalent of a field latrine.
As most of you know, Bergdahl’s fellow soldiers, with whom he was serving when he deserted, have come out fighting against the White House propaganda campaign to make a hero out of a despicable defector and enemy collaborator. In none of the interviews I’ve watched has a single one of those paratroopers followed the administration’s line that Bergdahl served with honor and distinction. Rather, they courageously deny it, to a man, in spite of the fact that many of them were required to sign non-disclosure agreements by their superiors.
According to a usually supportive mainstream media source, Obama’s unicorn cavalry expected to ride their horned steeds in a ticker-tape parade led by their returned hero, the only POW of the Afghan War, himself marching at the head of the Rainbow Ranger Band. It just so fits the liberal image of how war should be – so deliciously Hollywood and Busby Berkeley.
As NBC’s Chuck Todd put it, the Obama administration were "caught off guard" when the Bergdahl swap turned out to be not dazzling fireworks, but more of a rolling live grenade. Perhaps if that bunch of buffoons had bothered to do a simple Google search prior to launch, they could have foreseen that Bergdahl’s release might be problematic; there were investigations in 2010 that showed that their honorable soldier was most likely a deserter in time of war, a violation of Article 85 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice that carries with it the possibility of capital punishment.
Now, with even some of their most loyal media lapdogs nipping at their heels, the Democrats are resorting to an old tactic that is truly despicable: attacking the honorable warriors who served with the Dems’ dishonorable deserter. John Nolte at Breitbart.com reports that Chuck Todd is saying that the White House staffers are now referring to the brave men who served with Bergdahl and are coming forward to expose the Democrat lies as "swift-boaters."
Democrats have never accepted that they almost elected a dishonorable traitor to the White House until John Kerry’s fellow sailors came forward and exposed Jean Fraud as just that: a fraud and military poseur who had inflated his résumé and who, to this day, has never released his military records. In the military community, it is widely believed that he cannot release these records because they will show that he received a less than honorable discharge from the Navy for his unauthorized treating with the enemy at the Paris Peace Talks as a still-serving Naval Reserve officer. It’s rumored that that discharge was later changed to honorable during the opening months of the Carter administration, when “Jimma” was busy pardoning every draft-dodger on the planet.
Those who saved the country from electing Kerry were the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, a group of warriors I was proud to support with my writings throughout the 2004 campaign. The Democratic Party and their lapdog media attacked these brave veterans mercilessly, with every form of lie and smear, but it did them no good; the public could see who looked into the cameras without guile and spoke honestly of their Vietnam experiences. The records-hiding Kerry looked like the deer in the headlights, and he lost, although not by as much as he should have due to the media’s smearing of the Swiftees.
The Democrats have never forgotten or forgiven. In their political lexicon, swift-boating is a pejorative, but as Nolte points out, “[w]hat ‘swift boating’ really means to Democrats is the use of facts against their phony narratives.” I would add to that “honest warriors exposing Democrat politicians guilty of stolen valor.”
It would be helpful if some Army officers who were in the command structure of the 501st Airborne Infantry at the time Bergdahl deserted came forward and supported their men, as Navy admirals did for the Swiftees. Of that, however, I am not hopeful, considering the lack of courage in today’s senior officer corps. Should the long-ago lieutenant-colonel who was battalion commander at that time read this, this old trooper would plead with him to remember the motto of the Airborne – "All the Way!" – and let his courage match that of his men.
So here we are, ten years later, dealing with an altogether different war, and once again, when American warriors speak truth to Democrat lies, they are viciously attacked. One has to wonder if, should the Gold Star Mothers who lost their sons, men killed while searching for Bergdahl, start speaking up against the administration’s spin, they will be dismissed for swift-boating poor Bowe. They’ll probably have to recall Hillary to active duty to do something that cold.
It remains to be seen if the media will be so easily led this time around. Surely, even some in the liberal media will hold their noses at this dishonorable discharge flowing from the White House and not let Democrats, desperate to defend their darling deserter, get away with scapegoating soldiers who did in fact serve with honor and distinction.