Dodging the Draft?
Mood:
bright
Now Playing: Brewers-D-backs
Topic: Politics
Jonathan Alter in Newsweek suggests the draft may be reinstated sometime:
"Republicans are peeved over Democratic claims that the president will impose a draft if he's re-elected. John Kerry was hammered for mildly suggesting that such an idea was even 'possible.' "
He writes in this vein even after admitting
"Bush backers are right that this is a suburban myth and no such plans are underway. A scary and misleading Democratic e-mail circulating on college campuses highlights pending legislation to revive the draft and efforts by the administration to bolster local Selective Service boards. Predictably, the e-mail doesn't mention that the draft bills, which are going nowhere, are sponsored mostly by Democrats (who think military service falls too heavily on minorities) and that the draft-board system is being kept well oiled because of old laws requiring it--not some nefarious Bush plot.
He even quotes
Michelle Malkin"Not. Gonna. Happen,"
But it doesn't keep him from speculating. Nor does it stop
John Kerry, it seems.
The latest in this "dirty trick" (I thought only Republicans did those) is reported by
PowerLine:
"A reader forwarded to us the following email, which is being sent to a countless number of young Americans by the 'Rock the Vote' people, an ostensibly non-partisan group..."
He then goes on to quote the email which can be seen
here.
The only problem is,
Democrats are the ones who've introduced legislation to reinstate the draft.
The proposal to reinstate the draft was made last week by Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y....Rangel was backed by Rep. John Conyers Jr., D-Mich.
The reason they have is that they feel the poor and minorities are bearing the brunt of service.
An article on
Snopes.com's Urban Legends Reference Pages states:
"...the draft issue has largely come to public attention due to pair of bills introduced in Congress (S.89 and H.R.163) which seek to obligate all citizens and residents of the U.S. beween the ages of 18 and 26 (both male and female) to perform a two-year period of national service (not necessarily as part of the military).... However, both these bills were introduced not by legislators genuinely seeking to reinstate the draft, but by Democrats seeking to make an anti-war statement. The bills have since languished in committee....
Of course, facts are not important. The name of the game
on both sides is the "Gotcha!" factor. A shame.
Posted by Dean
at 9:23 PM CDT