Wrapped In The Distraction

So on Tuesday night I sat in on a broadcast of Marty Owings’ “Capitol Conversations” pitting the DFL candidate (Rep. John Lesch of HD66A) against Greg Copeland, the GOP’s endorsed candidate. Both are running for the Senate District 66 special election; Lesch faces a primary challenge from former HD66B representative Mary Jo McGuire in next week’s primary.

(Disclosure: I’m a volunteer on Copeland’s campaign).

Toward the end of the interview (you can see it here), Owings asked Lesch about a piece that appeared in Minnesota Democrats Exposed last week, questioning Lesch’s alleged campaigning in uniform.

I’m not really going to get involved in that issue.  I figure Lesch, a county prosecutor in his civilian life, knows the rules; both he and the US Army/MN National Guard can take care of themselves as re regulations; if it does turn out the county hired a prosecutor who’s too stupid to follow such basic rules – and I don’t believe that’s the case – then perhaps heads should roll there.

So it’s not the allegations of campaigning on Army time that bother me.

It’s Lesch’s reaction to the question.

Owings asked Lesch if he had a response to the MDE piece.

Lesch pointed out the Stars and Stripes tie and pin that Copeland wears.  Everywhere.  Every day.  Every time I’ve seen the guy, he’s wearing one, the other, or both.  (Unless he’s going all Irish on us) and said (I’m closely paraphrasing here; you can watch the video here and judge for yourself how accurate I’m being) he was within the rules (which, again, nobody on the set disputed, then or now), and it’s typical of Republicans to wrap themselves in the flag when it suits them, but to “crap on it” (I believe those were his words) when it didn’t.

Representative Lesch: it’s not “crapping on the flag” to question an elected representative.  We mere peasants get to do that in our society.  Even if we’re not government workers.  You don’t get immunity as a  prosecutor or as a legislator from questions or criticism.  You may see it as “crapping on John Lesch”; if you are correct about military regulations, you may even have a point.

But you are not The Flag.  You serve it – and, via various chains of command, us. The flag doesn’t immunize you any more than any other public servant or employee.

(Watch for at least one “Berg is a chickenhawk” reference from the leftyblog loony bin in response to this.  Any bets on that?)

12 thoughts on “Wrapped In The Distraction

  1. Keep coming off like an arrogant, elitist libturd prick, Lesch! Seal your fate!

    I still can’t fathom any military person being demonRAT, yet we have Herr Lesch and Herr Sarvi that attempt to leverage their military service, when it suits them.

  2. For the record, this blog will not bag on anyone’s honorable military service.

    Nor, for the benefit of the 95-odd percent of Americans who never served, of their lack of service for any honorable reason.

    Some leftybloggers have trouble with that last bit, when it suits their little peabrains.

  3. Point taken, Mitch.

    I guess that my beef is this, as a veteran and a Republican, I consider Lesch’s comment as a bag on the honorable military service of anyone that is a Republican, civilian or military. Just because he appears to have parked on the far left side of the political spectrum, doesn’t give him the license to criticize us.

  4. Boss, John F Kerry and Al Gore both served. Was their motivation the desire to serve their country or their own political futures? I can’t say. I can evaluate their performance in the public square, and separate the two.

    I suspect, humans being human, that some may enlist for less than altruistic reasons. That is a problem for the military to deal with contemporaneously, not the 95-odd percent of Americans who never served.

  5. Re “chickenhawk” — Mitch, you and I are roughly contemporaries, I believe. I must have missed the war going on in the early- to mid-80s that we were supposed to serve in. Maybe we were needed in Grenada?

    I assume you registered with Selective Service. I did. That’s what was required, then as now. If there was a national service requirement in the 1980s, a lot of us never got the memo, apparently.

  6. Kermit;

    I seem to recall hearing a story several years ago, where Al Gore told one of the talking heads that he really didn’t want to serve, but his father pressured, I mean suggested that he do so.

    I don’t know about Kerry’s motivations, but, frankly, if he was anything like he is now on the battlefield, I am surprised that he wasn’t fragged!

    Either way, at least they served and didn’t give the excuse that the Kenyan Klown gave for not doing so, “well, there weren’t any wars going on or anything, so I didn’t see the need to do so.”

  7. Tie and pin are different than uniform. Even an idiot can see that. Oh, wait, we are talking about chanting points demonRATs here – my apologies to idiots everywhere.

  8. I was active duty for 6 years. There are a ton of guys who want to wear the uniform for their own personal benefit. In active duty, you’re usually around someone who is going to tell you to knock it off, but reservists are only in that environment 2 days a month.

    Really, Lesch is diminishing his own service, just like the assclown fishing for free drinks.

    Gore is a schmuck, and didn’t do anything heroic, but he never claimed to be a hero either. If it weren’t for schmucks, we wouldn’t have an Army.

    I’m not sure if the Swift boat charges were fair, but Kerry’s crew always seemed to support him and that counts for a lot.

    People don’t realize how insidious the anti-war groups are, because they can’t grasp the cult-like mentality of true believers. Their MO is to recruit young soldiers and get them to do things that destroy their military careers and personal lives for cheap political points. Manning is a perfect example: he’s still ultimately responsible for his actions, but someone was manipulating that guy, and now he’s looking forward to life in jail.

    Kerry was an officer who linked up with these people. So he lent his authority to a very nasty group that worked over people he should have been protecting. I don’t recall him ever apologizing for that affiliation.

  9. scooby;

    I happen to agree with you on Manning. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if an investigation reveals a greedy young man that sold out his country for money from ASSange.

    That said, I do disagree with the treatment that Manning is receiving. Solitary is not a humane way to treat him, even if he is a traitor.

  10. 429, Solitary is for his own protection. I say release him into general population and let nature take its course so we can stop paying for incarceration of this waste of human skin.

  11. I hope Rep Lesch uses logic more effectively when he argues in front of his jury. Here is a summary of his argument:

    Republicans crap on the flag when it doesn’t fit their purposes.
    My opponent, who is a Republican, criticized me for abusing my uniform.
    Therefore, my opponent craps on the flag by criticizing me.

    Back to Logic 101 for Rep Lesch.

  12. I’d never crap on the US flag, but, if Lesch were wearing one like a turban it wouldn’t stop me from using his head to wipe my ass.

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