Do you suppose that the draft scare was the other smear-story that they were gearing up to push when Rathergate blew up in their faces? I guess we will just have to wait and see if Joshua Jacob Jingle Heimer Schmidt-Marshall announces that it is the, "Scoop of his lifetime!"

This is one of the things that really frosts me. Dems keep pushing this garbage about Bush's secrect plans for a draft when the only people who have made any attempt to revive the draft are those Democrat hacks Rangel and Hollings, who want to bring it back not to make us safer, but so folks will protest, riot, and otherwise undermine our security at home.

These are not serious people. Oh, they are serious somethings, all right, but not serious people. National security is a game to them.

Pathetic. The sooner this degenerate party is swept into the dustbin, the sooner we can build a responsible second party and get back to having a choice.

It is to laugh. The only ones talking about the draft are Dems. And the American people know it. How stupid do they think we are?

C'mon, Ben -- you already know the answer to that question, right?

I first heard about this latest CBS gaffe hours ago, and it still astonishes me. When even Snopes is admitting the bill to reinstate the draft was introduced "by Democrats seeking to make an anti-war statement," even CBS should know better than to run such a story.

The fact that they don't means they really don't care. Rathergate has faded into the background -- what are the odds we'll ever hear from that "internal investigation"? The world has moved on, Rather got away with it -- and most likely, a host of viewers still believe that Bush defied a direct order to take a physical. CBS will not retract this story, either -- just watch.

Charls Krauthammer and others have opined that the Democrats are going to need intensive therapy and medication if Kerry loses. Reading the recent polls, many on the Left have already gone 'round the bend and are willing to do whatever it takes -- no matter how insane -- to try and damage the Republicans and/or Bush.

Fasten your seatbelts, kids. The runup to the election is fast approaching the surreal. By the time we get to vote, we'll all feel as if we just stepped off the Wonkatania, and not just because of Kerry's newly ruddy complexion.

Quote from the interview:
-------------------------
SCHLESINGER (voiceover): But Beverly's not buying it. She's a Republican, but she's also a single issue voter.

(on-camera) Would you vote for a Democrat?

COCCO: Absolutely. I would vote for Howdie Doody if I thought it would keep my boys home and safe.
-----------------------

Well, there is a reasoned and intelligent voter. (That is sarcasm by the way.) One issue that is in the Democrats basket and the Republicans are getting blamed for it. Interesting. I just wish that sometime these people would actually do a little research instead of playing chicken little.

Here comes some more sarcasm:
"Oh, My boys will be safe but the continuing murder of american citizens is ok by me."

What would she say if the next terrorist attach killed her son at college? I suppose she'd be screeching that the President didn't do enough to protect him.

Just another Zombie group without a spine or a sense of morality.

It's the old, "as long as I'm ok the rest of the world can go to hell."

This is especially puzzling since Kerry is the one supposedly promising big military expansion (40,000 troops, double SPEC-OPS). Wouldn't you expect the guy planning on adding more than two divisions to the military would be the one needing a draft?

But if anyone had any doubts that the MSM was in the tank for Kerry, this clinches it. The draft scare has absolutely no basis in reality, and is nothing but a cheap political ploy by Democrats. The amateurish and transparently deceptive way they put the "story" together proves that they had nothing but some contrived testimony to support a DNC campaign tactic.

Instapundit is right. The only people still watching CBS are the bloggers waiting to fact check them.

Is the Beverly Cocco in the CBS story the same Beverly Cocco who's the People Against the Draft / Parents Against the Draft Philadelphia Lancaster/Bucks County affiliate contact?

from

http://www.nodraft.info/contact.html

Philadelphia Lancaster/Bucks County affiliate: Parents Against the Draft

Beverly Cocco, babby61754@comcast.net

conelrad:
According to RatherBiased, yes.

Two words: early retirement.

I've shot down the email at the center of this silliness at work several times. The ironic thing is, the versions I have seen include hotlinks to websites with verbatim copies of the House and Senate bills, which clearly reveal the sponsors.

While I think the worries over a draft reinstatement are absurd, I have to draw criticism to this comment by Lee:

"What would she say if the next terrorist attach killed her son at college? I suppose she'd be screeching that the President didn't do enough to protect him."

I think the point many people feel needs to be made is that yes, if a terrorist attack on our soil happens, we will blame the President because he chose to sacrifice funding that should be going to Homeland Security in order to fund a war that is doing nothing to keep us safe. TSA is a nightmare and not one mode of transportation in this country is being protected like it should. I think the point is many believe Bush's focus on "keeping us safe" is off base. The CIA, fellow Republicans and even the soldiers fighting this war admit that Iraq is a complete mess. I think we're amazed every day at how incredibly behind we are in "turning the corner" with our commitment (over commitment) to Iraq.

And in regards to the draft issue and the reference to Kerry's military buildup, at least he's being upfront about the fact he intends to grow the military. While I don't think a draft will ever be necessary, the fear tactics being used are working because we are stretched so incredibly thin in Iraq and we need to refocus the TYPE of solidiers we have over there. We need more special ops. That's the point. At least Kerry has some vision of what our military force needs to look like to work when we send them overseas. Bush tells us everything is okay, when the CIA and other Republicans don't even think that. I don't want someone who sugar coats. I want the truth for once. And a plan on how to fix it. It shows how much the Kerry campaign has failed miserably. The only issue Bush runs on is Iraq and terrorism. And he's failing in both of those arenas.

MESS MESS MESS.

You might want to delete Beverly Cocco's email address. The urge to send her a nasty note is overwhelming, and I've never felt the need to do that.

Can't get to RatherBiased at all this morning...foul play, perhaps...? Heh.

In its coverage on mandatory military service Tuesday evening, CBS News failed to mention that the Senate and House bills that would reinstate the draft—S. 89 and H.R. 163—are sponsored and supported entirely by Democrats. Why did correspondent Richard Schlesinger fail to interview Charlie Rangel or one of the other 14 Democrats behind the legislation?

Here's the CBSNews.com story. Since RatherBiased.com is down at the moment.

I think that the RNC needs to deal with this right away. They need to call it a DNC hoax, and start screaming that the DNC is so desparate that they will say anything to win. Kerry is behind, and Kerry is not doing well with young voters.

The reason I'm saying this is that a friend of mine yesterday sent me an e-mail that's making the rounds in Ohio State University. Now we have a DNC operative in PA. These are important battleground states.

P.S. Here's the snopes page. Personally I find it hilarious (and/or tremendously sad) that CBS has reported an urban legend as a hard news story.

Gee Britton
Ever consider the possibility that the CIA is working against this adminstration? Why should I believe the CIA reports anymore than I believe Dan Rather's reports?

Likewise, I do not believe in your defeatist attitude, it goes against everything I believe.

OTT-When I hear politicans and news anchors proclaim how the war in Iraq is 'enflaming the Arab world', does this mean that Arabs are unhappy that 25 million Iraqis were liberated? Does this imply that Arabs were quite happy to have Saddam in power? Just wondering?

IMO-For well over twenty years I have heard how horrible it would be to 'emflame the Arab world'. Why?

My son is a college student.

His "American Government" teacher, an avowed liberal and Kerry supporter, told the class last week that Bush was planning to reinstate the draft.

You spared the rod, didn't you?

Hey, just because no one is actually saying anything, doesn't mean they aren't talking.

Uh, Steve, bud, we really need to get you some of that modern day education.

Everyone knows that far-lefty kooks use telepathic mental beams to communicate, so the "talk" IS there, but it's not "talking" in the technical sense.

I mean, how else can you have a hippy-dippy peace collective without telepathic mental beams? It's a virtual given.

Sheesh, Mr. Know-it-all.

Dan Rather and the kids at CBS clearly didn't get the memo regarding the memos: You can't pull this crap anymore, hope to get away with it and not get called on it.

So when is Gunga Dan going to run the story about the secret plan to impose a 5-cent tax per e-mail to fund the Post Office. He can probably get an interview with Congressman Tony Schnell to confirm the story.

I found the most interesting bit of the CBS link to be this quote: "I think we could do it in less than six months if we got the call," says Selective Service Director Jack Martin.

He may have said that (who knows?), but the Wall Street Journal had an article about this issue (Monday, maybe?) and he was extensively quoted (not just a sound-bite). The short story: The selective service's budget and staffing have been cut over the last several years and they're not getting ready to do ANYTHING, let alone draft people.

But wait--there's more! Bush secret plan to destroy Wisconsin's dairy industry: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6116149 Kerry also reveals that he used to fill milk bottles at his uncle's dairy farm, and that he used to travel with Jack Kerouac and once shared an igloo with Jack London. Further, he reveals that he is the whole horse, rather than just the horses ass, as some had speculated.

I bet we could get CBS to run the old urban legend about how Rod Stewart once collapsed and had to get his stomach pumped... if we could convince them Bush was behind it.

It's like having our own real-life Kent Brockman.

Just letting you know, that the Selective Service could get up and running in six months because of a law passed in 1993 that requires them to do so.

42 guesses at which pres signed it...

Watch thou this video. Mysteries and truth shall be eth explained unto you, and thou shalt, forsooth, busteth a gut in mirthful utterances. Forsooth, again.

Now y'all kaint blame Rangel too much. All 'at Crisco has soaked in on his brain an' drove him nuts.

Britton, I feel compelled to mini-fisk your post. Sorry in advance.

"TSA is a nightmare and not one mode of transportation in this country is being protected like it should." True.

"The CIA, fellow Republicans and even the soldiers fighting this war admit that Iraq is a complete mess." Where to begin... What sort of CIA reports do you have access to? Which Republicans- I know there are some, but saying fellow Republicans implies a majority, which is not the case. As for the soldiers, I've heard of about 4 of them who denounced the war, but read countless reports from the ME that contradict this.

"at least (Kerry's) being upfront about the fact he intends to grow the military." So you believe the CBS story that Bush plans to grow the military by reinstating the draft? He's said over and over that he listens to his commanders and gives them exactly what they ask for, not what armchair generals recommend.

"At least Kerry has some vision of what our military force needs to look like to work when we send them overseas." Right. Each soldier will have a magic hat, bulletproof horseteeth, and the charming ability to defame their colleagues upon returning to the states. That Kerry... what vision! Anyway, there will no longer be a need to send our soldiers overseas, since our buddies in France and Germany will do all the soldiering now, remember?

"The only issue Bush runs on is Iraq and terrorism. And he's failing in both of those arenas." You're not so off base on these claims, but offer nothing to support your case. Are you aware of terrorism on American soil in the past few years? What is the standard for "failure to contain terrorism"? Next, are you aware of Bush not meeting a double secret timetable for "fixing" Iraq? I grant you it could be better, but again, it's only W's detractors who say "he's failing"; because they want him to.

Try as I might, I can't see ol' Woodface John snapping his fingers to fix any of this. Hell, he hasn't said anything concrete about anything. You ended your post by saying MESS MESS MESS so I'll end this one by saying NYAH NYAH NYAH.

I don't think we are having any problem recruiting volunteers. I think the Dems are creating a problem where none exists in two ways:
1) Trying to keep the authorized size of the military from increasing.
2) Wanting to institute the draft as part of their efforts to turn our government into a 'Ministry of Equality', a la Vonnegut's Harrison Bergeron.

Their entire line about how only the disadvantaged serve is a load of crap. I became advantaged because I served.

A volunteer force is always better than conscription. I'd much rather go serve again despite my age than force someone to go who has no desire to serve his country.

Let's see. A Gallup poll just released shows Bush is now leading among younger, draft-age voters and this story emerges. A few weeks ago, CBS re-opened the TANG fable after Kerry was exposed as a serial liar about his war exploits.

So here, in the last election in which the left-leaning MSM will be relevant, the "reporting" is targeted towards specific demographics to help out their boy. This is more than blatant. It is pathetic. And it ain't working.

Saw the segment...

First of all Dapper Dan claims that the armed forces are currently stretched thin... where is his proof of this assertion? If it doesn't exist, the whole draft house of cards falls. I have read comments that claim we're OK this year... but just you wait until next year! Claims with nothing to back that up.

Second of all, people must realize that the folks at CBS are horrified that Bush may win the election. They are true liberal believers. It appears they are willing to sacrifice all of their ethics, repurtation, etc. in pursuit of the defeat of Bush. If Bush is re-elected, there is no tomorrow (except maybe in France???)

My feeling is look for more of this tripe as November 2 arrives.

Why did correspondent Richard Schlesinger fail to interview Charlie Rangel or one of the other 14 Democrats behind the legislation? -Scott

You have to ask? There's a growing list of reasons I refer to that network as cBS.

Looks like dan blather and the crew at CBS(Communst Broadcasting System has,nt learned nothing from the last experiance and as the old song gose A FOOL NEVER LEARNS and frankly i hope it backfires on CBS this is one our most notorious news agentcies but by no means the only theres also the Communist News Network(CNN) and the various news papers like the New York Pravda(Times)

Ben: How stupid do they think we are? So stupid that we need a federal program to remind us to breathe.
That's how stupid they think we are.
/sarcasm off/

Mantic writes:

They are true liberal believers. It appears they are willing to sacrifice all of their ethics, repurtation, etc. in pursuit of the defeat of Bush. If Bush is re-elected, there is no tomorrow (except maybe in France???)

______________________________

I'm not kidding when I suggest there is a left-wing Jonestown shaping up in the United States for November 2nd. There will be some, and possibly many, of these fanatical nuts take their lives when their boy goes downs. I look for it among those already unstable, and among the young, but we might see some big names with toe tags the Morning After.

Anyone who is willing to sacrifice the remnants of whatever credibility they have left (Rather et al) is a candidate to go that additional step.

This is madness.

Jay:

Well, if they do off themselves, there will be an economic boost to the funeral industry. And it is possible (unless the losses are all in the living-in-mom's-basement-and-attending-Star-Trek-conventions demographic) that there could be a number of job openings, thus helping the unemployed.

[I'm joking, I'm joking...]

Mikey,

Indeed, there are certain Darwinian bonuses possible, but you still would have to pity the mush brains who decided they couldn't live in the land of the Bu$Hitler or whatever. Even this could be offset if enough Dan Rather types put a shotgun in their mouth, I suppose.

All kidding aside, I have never seen a significant segment of the American electorate this fanatical, and actually expect there will be a number of suicides reported November 3rd.

Yeah yeah, the Dems are so awful for using the draft as a political issue. Which was more to point to the socio-economic disparity in who is serving our country.

The Repugs never sink that low. Heard of FMA? What about the fact Repugs in the House today are trying to legalize ownership of semi automatic weapons and armor-piercing ammunition currently banned in DC? Which certainly makes sense considering the President lives in DC. The reason they are doing this is so House Dems will vote against it and they can paint them as bleeding hearts trying to take the Second Amendment away from the constituency in the various districts these House member represent, many of which are rural gun loving districts. Yeah those nasty tactics are reserved for the Dems. All 30 some odd days before the election. Or when Bush releases and ad saying Kerry doesn't support our troops b/c voted against the funding in Iraq...which he did because the original plan of rolling back tax cuts for the wealthy was yanked. It's spin people, get used to it. You love it when it works in your favor and you whine about it when it doesn't.

Let's just not pretend that Dems are the only folks who play the game.

As for Republicans who are criticizing the President's handling of Iraq...Hagel? There are others, but I think he's a relatively prominent figure in the Party. McCain has even shared his criticism of the handling. As has Pat Buchanan and numerous others who are not liberal bleeding hearts.

Britton, it would help your case a great deal if the facts backed up your assertions. Our all-volunteer military, the best in the world, is not "over-representative" of minorities or the economically disadvantaged. And even if it were, wouldn't that just be great? It's the American Dream in action, people: come from nothing, take advantage of an opportunity, work hard, and become a part of one of the most elite, effective forces in human history: the US military.

I can't recall anyone here saying that Republicans are above reproach in terms of playing issues for political gain. Personally, I get a huge kick out of watching Democrats squirm as their own tactics are turned against them.

But that's just me.

Britton,

You're hugely missing the point. The point is NOT that the Democrats are playing politics. The point is that CBS IS PLAYING POLITICS, thus disproving their objectivity.

And on your side issue: when the chips were down, Senator Kerry voted AGAINST funding the troops, yet now has the gall to complain that they're underfunded. He can't have it both ways.

Yeah yeah, the Dems are so awful for using the draft as a political issue. Which was more to point to the socio-economic disparity in who is serving our country.

Er... no. The dems are so awful for sponsoring a bill to bring back the Draft, and saying it's the Republicans who are doing it.

As far as serving the country is concerned, the only conspicuous disparity I've heard of is that support/logistics units are disproportionately minority, while combat units are disproportionately white.

"As has Pat Buchanan and numerous others who are not liberal bleeding hearts."

Pat Buchanan is NOT a Republican, nor has he been for about a decade.

Actually there may not be more minorities serving in the military, but based on their makeup of the population, minorities are far more represented in the military than they are in America.

As for Kerry voting against funding the troops, he voted against a bill that originally had planned to come up with this money (money doesn't grow on trees by the way) by rolling back the tax cuts for the rich. That was of course taken off the table as an option. So then when final bill showed up without this originally proposed aspect AND violated normal contracting rules that allow bidding on the supplies needed, he voted against it. I mean let's stop listening to the talking points given to us and do some actual investigation on what the bill said and why Kerry would have voted against it. Frankly I'd have stopped giving money to Bush until he had some decent plan about how to get those troops out of there as quickly as possible. I guess I'm an un-Patriotic traitor. To me, the responsibility is on Bush to be sure the troops have what they need before you send them there. Had he not mislead us about how much it would cost or how long we would be there and had been honest about the cost up front, the troops would have been well supplied.

Here's a basic sanity check for all this. Currently the active duty force stands at about 1.4 million (that's the end-strength level that's mandated by Congress.) When I enlisted in 1988, the active duty force stood at a little over two million. That force was all-volunteer, also. Folks, I haven't heard anybody even talk about getting back to those levels; and even if we did want to, we wouldn't draft, we'd recruit.

Actually there may not be more minorities serving in the military, but based on their makeup of the population, minorities are far more represented in the military than they are in America.

Got any, y'know, *facts* to back that assertion up with? I'm getting kinda tired of lefties pontificating ex ano without anything to back it up.

I'm getting kinda tired of lefties pontificating ex ano without anything to back it up.

But ... but ... everyone they know says the same thing, so it must be true!

I see that NBC has picked up the draft story.

Voting to "fund the troops" is not
"giving money to Bush". Voting not to fund the troops, is voting not to fund the troops-no nuance need apply. Putting roadblocks in the way of getting our embattled Troops supplied in a timely manner is, what would I call it?--yes! Traitorous! I would call it Traitorus! Nope, no nuance here...

...and if anyone needs Koolade for Nov. 3, just let me know...

You want facts... you can't handle the facts. errr, except that the facts say what everyone here (except Britton) is saying...

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2003-01-20-army-race-usat-_x.htm

But a close examination of Pentagon statistics suggests that at least some of the conventional wisdom about who is most at risk during wartime is misleading. For example, although blacks account for 26% of Army troops, they make up a much smaller percentage of those in front-line combat units, the most likely to be killed or injured in a conventional war.

Jay--

I really don't think there are going to be too many folks killing themselves if GWB wins the election. One thing that seems to distinguish American "Liberals" is that sacrifices for the "common good" are always to be made by people other than themselves. By the simple virtue of professing their beliefs, they somehow become insulated from having to make the sacrifices needed to pay for their vision of Utopia.

They won't kill themselves. They value themselves too highly.

This is also great background from Beldarblog. He traces all the articles on the backdoor draft.

I'm coo-coo for Cocco puffs! (And so's CBS News!)
From the post:

Finally, I wonder if Newsday columnist Marie Cocco — author of this August 2nd piece headlined "Kerry eyes disillusioned GOPers: The Democratic nominee hopes to find support among Republicans upset with Bush" (reprinted in WaPo on August 4th), a bunch of other anti-Dubya op-eds (including one from April 27th that accused Bush, pre-SwiftVets, of "smearing Kerry's war record"), and who's also flacked for John Kerry's claims about the so-called "back-door draft" on Chris Matthews' Hardball — might be related to Ms. Beverly Cocco?

CBS is getting ever sillier: They've retroactively edited last night's transcript! See my post-- scroll down to "More (more CBS bias!):"

http://nooilforpacifists.blogspot.com/2004/09/kerry-tales-part-xlvii-cbs-bias-take-2.html

Britton,

>

You mean he voted FOR this bill. And I knew that.

>

Ergo, my statement is correct: when the chips were down, Senator Kerry voted AGAINST funding the troops, yet now has the gall to complain that they're underfunded. He knew this was this final bill. He knew that if the bill lost, the troops would be underfunded. But because he wanted to appeal to Dean voters (a motivation you conveniently overlook), he voted against it anyway.

Anyone who studies Congressional votes knows how the game is played. Interim votes are often strategic votes that let a candidate claim both sides of an issue. Democrats do this, and Republicans do this. And surprise! That's just what Senator Kerry is doing.

The final vote is the one that matters.

>

That is SO hilarious, considering that you're parroting precisely the Kerry talking points regarding his vote against funding the troops.

>

If you will endanger troops just to make a political point against the President... well, I won't call you an un-Patriotic traitor. But those troops might.

OK, somehow, that comment got mangled. Every quote I pulled from Britton got interpreted as an HTML tag. Here's another try. Sorry for the confusion.

--------------------------------

Britton,

> As for Kerry voting against
> funding the troops, he voted
> against a bill that originally
> had planned to come up with
> this money (money doesn't grow
> on trees by the way) by rolling
> back the tax cuts for the rich.

You mean he voted FOR this bill. And I knew that.

> That was of course taken off
> the table as an option. So then
> when final bill showed up
> without this originally
> proposed aspect AND violated
> normal contracting rules that
> allow bidding on the supplies
> needed, he voted against it.

Ergo, my statement is correct: when the chips were down, Senator Kerry voted AGAINST funding the troops, yet now has the gall to complain that they're underfunded. He knew this was this final bill. He knew that if the bill lost, the troops would be underfunded. But because he wanted to appeal to Dean voters (a motivation you conveniently overlook), he voted against it anyway.

Anyone who studies Congressional votes knows how the game is played. Interim votes are often strategic votes that let a candidate claim both sides of an issue. Democrats do this, and Republicans do this. And surprise! That's just what Senator Kerry is doing.

The final vote is the one that matters.

> I mean let's stop listening to
> the talking points given to us
> and do some actual
> investigation on what the bill
> said and why Kerry would have
> voted against it.

That is SO hilarious, considering that you're parroting precisely the Kerry talking points regarding his vote against funding the troops.

> Frankly I'd have stopped giving
> money to Bush until he had some
> decent plan about how to get
> those troops out of there as
> quickly as possible. I guess
> I'm an un-Patriotic traitor.

If you will endanger troops just to make a political point against the President... well, I won't call you an un-Patriotic traitor. But those troops might.

American leftists, the neo-communists (or neo-coms), indeed rely on others to suffer for their delusional viewpoints. However, they have whipped up enough fanaticism among their troops that it is likely that some who have been suckered most will do the suicide thingy.

I do agree the Kerrys and company will hang back and just bemoan how dreadful it is that the Bu$Hitler has caused all this. And look for the Pravdas like CBS to echo this from the neo-coms.

The curse of pinnocio when ever they tell us lies their noses will get longer and longer until theres branches leaves and a birds nest in it just like with pinnocio and as the blue fairy told pinnocio ITS AS PLAIN AS THE NOSE ON YOUR FACE