One of Michelle Malkin’s posts on CPAC included a quote from Joel Mowbray, with an added dig by Malkin at YearlyKos.
“At left-wing conferences, you leave hating America. At right-wing conferences, you leave loving America.”
That’s exactly how I felt at the end of the dinner after shaking the hands of the disabled vets who came by crutch and wheelchair from Walter Reed to spend a few hours at CPAC.
Since people don’t speak in hyperlinks, the meaning of linking to YearlyKos in Mowbray’s quote is 100% pure Malkin.
I actually wasn’t at the banquet Friday night that included the wounded veterans. I cannot speak to whether or not vets were brought in from Walter Reed, or how many of them there were, but there’s no reason to doubt that her description of vets at CPAC that night is accurate.
The only wounded Iraq/Afghanistan vet that I personally saw was a young man who was tabling with a rightwing, pro-troop organization downstairs in the vendor section. I forget the name of the group – Mike Stark might know. That said, during the question and answer session of the panel “The Left’s Repeated Campaign Against the American Soldier,” a good number of young veterans stood up to ask questions. I have no doubt that there were veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars at CPAC this weekend.
The larger point, though, is that both CPAC and YKos and any other political conference have some wounded veterans there and even more veterans who were fortunate enough to return home without physical injuries.. At the DNC winter meeting I spent a lot of time talking with a College Democrat who spent a year as a Marine in Iraq, came home wounded, and now walks on crutches. It’s stupid to suggest that either side has ownership of loving wounded veterans; it’s just not true.
Worst of all, posts like Malkin’s and statements like Mowbray’s make wounded veterans into trinkets to be displayed by rightwing bloggers to prove their case. If Malkin wanted to honor the troops beyond simply wearing an paratrooper pin on her lapel and claiming sole ownership of troop support, she’d recognize that just as our military serves to protect all of America and Americans of all political stripes support the troops, including those at YearlyKos.
Technorati Tags: CPAC, CPAC 2007, Michelle Malkin, YearlyKos
2 Responses to “Veterans At CPAC”
[...] The Right’s Field: Veterans At CPAC : Worst of all, posts like Malkin’s and statements like Mowbray’s make wounded veterans into trinkets to be displayed by rightwing bloggers to prove their case. [...]
Something to say?
Dude, I speak in hyperlinks.
Sorry, I meant I speak hyper-quickly.
Left by Elana
March 5, 2007 at 5:19pm