[luke warm]

now that kerry has pinpointed the problem with our military (too many dumb people in it who didn't study enough in school), i see that some democrats want the draft to be reimplemented...

is that a good idea? is there an inherent disadvantage to an all volunteer military (outside of the obvious intellectual inferiority of such an entity, per kerry)

[pigpenz]

what Kerry said what taken out of context
but a draft would def bring about more support for not being in Iraq, its amazing what happens when rich kids face the prospects of getting drafted

[hrothgar]

Grow up Jimmy:

Here the prepared text from Kerry's speach documenting the section in question:

"Do you know where you end up if you don't study, if you aren't smart, if you're intellectually lazy? You end up getting us stuck in a war in Iraq. Just ask President Bush."

It is quite clear that Kerry's comments were directed towards President Bush. Kerry was not insulting the troops. He simply botched the delivery of a rather poorly worded joke. That well known liberal commentator Andrew Sullivan has the following to say about the whole incident

"Now what do I next remember? I remember that the president vehemently went after Kerry, as did McCain. Now, when a president decides to do such a thing, his staff have examined the upsides and downsides every which way. They are paid to know any possible backfire for the remarks. And Rove is very smart. So this much I now know: knowing full well that he was deeply distorting Kerry's meaning, the president used the quote full-bore to impugn Kerry's commitment to the troops - and to help turn the base against the Democrats.

I know it's politics. I'm not naive. But it's also revealing about someone's character that he could authorize and exploit such a thing. Most fair-minded people will have to concede that, in retrospect, this was a very, very, very low blow. It hadn't sunk in for me till last night how low. In retrospect, this incident says much more about Bush than about Kerry. I'll bet I'm not the only one mulling that over this morning."

[DrTodd13]

I hear that Kerry meant to say that if you don't get an education then you may wind up sending people to go to Iraq...only he forget the "sending people" part which made it sound like he was saying only morons join the army. That isn't what he said this time but it is basically what he has said in the past and it is largely true but no one wants to admit it because they view these people as heroes and nobody wants to think their heroes are mentally challenged. Anyway, I propose that if a congressman votes for war that he has to go serve in an infantry unit on the front lines. We'll even let him name his own successor. If the war is that important then I think we have enough politicians that we aren't going to miss a few who die in the war.

[mike777]

Will our young bridge players not fight in Korea or Afganistan?

btw, what is up with women being able to vote for wars and vote for congresswomen who vote for wars but are not in front line units? Oh, well at least my sister is in the army....but my brother goes to the front lines? At least in some places there are no front lines....I guess.....

[helene_t]

Come on, Mike - everybody can vote for politicians that have an opnion about spending tax money, whether they pay taxes or not. Everybody can vote for politicians that have an opinion about education, whether they are teachers or not. Etc etc etc.

That's called democracy. Do you prefer a system in which only the soldiers can decide on military issues? Myanmar is a good example. There the military doesn't listen to the democratically elected (ex)-politicians.

As for Jimmy's questions: whatever Kerry really said and whatever he really meant to say, the draft goes back to a time when the army spent most of the government's budget and the goverment couldn't afford to pay soldiers. Things have changed. Slavery is somewhat oldfashioned, and forcing people to do an extremely dangerous job (and a job that to many will involve morally inacceptable tasks) is much worse than forcing people to picking cotton.

The army doesn't want the draft either. Drafted soldiers can't be kept for long enough to justify a modern military education. While the draft was invented for economic reasons, today it's more expensive than a voluntary, professional army.

If Kerry want soldiers with better hi school grades, there's a simple solution: pay the soldiers better.

[Winstonm]

These arguments sound a lot like elitists verses non-elitists - only those who are not smart enough to avoid it end up in the military.

Kerry's comments can also be construed as an insult to all those who voted for Bush as not being smart enough to vote for an intellectual.

To spin Kerry's comments as somehow anti-troop propaganda is consistent with Bush - Kerry could wind up an enemy combattant if he's not careful. I don't think anyone seriously gives credibility to anything coming from Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld other than die-hard right-wingers who echo his sentiments on Fox.

If there were a genuine war I would be in favor of the draft - as there is no real war anywhere in the world and no real threat of an invasion of American soil, a volunteer army should be more than enough to defend us. But I could be wrong - seems we couldn't stop an invasion by 17 Islamics with plastic box cutters - that is, if you believe the invasion story from Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld and the 9-11 Commission.

[mike777]

I just think if you are going to make congressmen go to war, then congresswomen should go to war too? How about those that vote for them, they need to go too?

How about sending those that did not bother to vote to war? If they are too busy too vote then maybe we can at least put them on the front lines?

As for those that vote against the war....hmmm not sure where we send them?
Do we draft them to rebuild the twin towers in NYC?
Do we draft them into the police and send them to police Iraq or Korea or afganistan?
Do we draft them into the UN army and send them to southern Lebanon?