RNC Chair Martinez: Passing Troop-Rest Bill Would "Demean The Troops"
This is something. Take a look at Republican National Committee chair Mel Martinez on the House floor today, explaining why passing the Webb bill giving troops more rest would "demean their service":
The larger context shows even more clearly how weak the argument here is. Here's a fuller transcript:
"The reenlistment rates of those who have served in the theater are larger than those of any other. And, in fact, it is a testament to their courage, to their valor, and their sense of duty to their country. I think we would demean their service if we were to say to them that there had to be a parity between the time in service out of the country and the time at home. The goal ought to be for us not to have 15-month deployments. The hope would be that these would never be necessary. But the mandate from congress that this is how we must operate our armed forces I think is ill-conceived, it is dangerous and does not serve either the national interest of our nation nor the interest of the soldiers on the field whom it is intended to serve."We should not have a subterfuge of policy to change direction in Iraq heaped on the back of our brave young men and women in uniform..."
The argument here appears to be that because the amount of service our troops have performed shows that they are heroic, it would hence "demean" them to reduce that amount of service by giving them longer rest time -- because it would deprive them of more time to be heroic.
What's more, the argument also appears to be that this would be a disservice to the troops because it would be "heaping on their backs" the fact that it changed our Iraq policies. In other words, the fact that the troops would get more rest should be something to be ashamed of if it resulted in a change of said policies. One might suggest that if our Iraq policies had to be changed in order to not burn out the troops, the blame for this should perhaps fall on those who made those policies.
Not sure what to make of this, exactly.
Late Update: In a final irony, Martinez, after opposing the Webb amendment, voted in favor of the sham non-binding GOP alternative.
Just to savor this for a moment, consider that Martinez said above that it would "demean" the service of the troops to support Webb's measure, because we mustn't "say to them that there had to be a parity between the time in service out of the country and the time at home." But apparently it's okay to say this to them via the measure put forth by the GOP, as long as we're not voting for something that would actually make this happen.
Really says it all.
Comments (22)
Porco Rosso wrote on September 19, 2007 5:59 PM:Why am I thinking of Joseph Heller?
benjoya wrote on September 19, 2007 6:05 PM:you'll find this impossible to believe, but senator martinez has no military record, despite being of age to be drafted during the vietnam era (b.1946)
Delia wrote on September 19, 2007 6:05 PM:Can we get Senator Martinez to be first in line to enlist under this new policy of his?
gqmartinez wrote on September 19, 2007 6:10 PM:This is a familiar talking point. On Meet the Press in July (I think), Lindsay Graham was saying this over and over to Jim Webb.
P J Evans wrote on September 19, 2007 6:18 PM:It's certainly interesting that many of those who complain the loudest about how bad more rest would be for the troops are people who have little or no service, or put in their time in an nice air-conditioned office.
For those who served in the front lines and are spewing this kind of trash-talk, there are no excuses available. (McCain, listen up!)
slb wrote on September 19, 2007 6:18 PM:I hope this will be prominently featured in Stars and Stripes. I just want the troops to hear first hand how the GOP sees fit to value their lives, their health, and their families.
Long Memory wrote on September 19, 2007 6:41 PM:Bastards. This oughta be hung around the neck of every Republican who shows his face, ever again.
Anonymous wrote on September 19, 2007 6:50 PM:Martinez made his speech on the Senate floor, not the House floor.
Sue wrote on September 19, 2007 7:00 PM:It is hard to even find the words to respond to such ignorance.
Cinderella Ferret wrote on September 19, 2007 7:02 PM:"The reenlistment rates of those who have served in the theater are larger than those of any other."
This was also a true statement during the Vietnam War.
jeffgee wrote on September 19, 2007 7:17 PM:Bur Republicans support the troops! Honest!
Go ahead GOP keep shooting yourselves in the foot. You can get Blackwater to help if you're too scared to pull the trigger yourself.
I can imagine a soldier thinking to himself, "I joined up to fight. If I spend a year in Iraq, why do I have to wait a year to go fight again?" There are probably some soldiers who would liken it to a quarterback being benched for the same length of time he has to play for, but really he's itching to get back in the game.
I don't know for sure, but would imagine there's some mechanism or protocol within the Army that would let a soldier request to be sent back into combat rather than resting at home. Mel Martinez is acting as if the soldiers will be forced to wait at home, but I wonder if that's really the case.
Sully18 wrote on September 19, 2007 9:11 PM:What? Demeaning? What is demeaning is the treatment of the very soldiers that are fighting this illegal war, as well as the treatment of their families.It is demeaning to send soldiers into battle without the proper equipment.It is demeaning to lie to their families about how and why they were killed.This whole damn war has been demeaning since Day One.
And this fool Martinez is not merely a hypocrite, he`s a dumb and ruthless hypocrite.I am amazed that someone so banal can advance to such an important job.Seeing the lack of caring and sensitivity of these people makes me crazy with anger, not to mention the lack of good sense to understand what the stresses of battle can do to a man/woman.
It`s almost as if they`re trying to break our military on purpose.
How demeaning? To be human is demeaning?
What planet does this butt wipe live on?
Support the troops and vote DEMOCRAT.
Support America and impeach the Bush Gang.
D wrote on September 19, 2007 11:23 PM:Paul K:
The Webb plan has a provision that allows soldiers who wanted to cut short their rest at home and return to the battlefield the option to do that.
Anonymous wrote on September 20, 2007 12:16 AM:The Dems need to make a list of every weasel who voted for the non-binding measure but against the binding one and really hold their feet to the fire. "Why did you vote against it before you voted for it?"
wigwam wrote on September 20, 2007 5:51 AM:Per Martinez:
Terri wrote on September 20, 2007 7:09 AM:
"The goal ought to be for us not to have 15-month deployments. The hope would be that these would never be necessary. But the mandate from congress that this is how we must operate our armed forces I think is ill-conceived, it is dangerous and does not serve either the national interest of our nation nor the interest of the soldiers on the field whom it is intended to serve."
Is this true, i.e., that it is congress that has required 15 month tours of duty?
"The reenlistment rates of those who have served in the theater are larger than those of any other. "
If that is true why did all the branches have to come up with more incentives for reenlistment in the past year?
It's also easy to do that when you employ stop-loss while deployed forcing soldiers to stay in the service up to 18 months past their commitments.
gargler wrote on September 20, 2007 8:31 AM:So when the soldier's children weep as they wave goodbye at the airport, the insensitive little bastards are actually demeaning their own mother or father! How selfish can you get!
Stunned wrote on September 21, 2007 9:23 PM:Every time I see the nature of these banal, evil bunch of blood suckers that occupy our most sacred institutions of government, I really want to cry.
Karma Police owns all of these bastards- one day they'll get what's coming to them.
/Stunned
Cecilio A. Perez wrote on December 11, 2007 9:49 AM:To Delia:
I disagree with you. I think Martinez should be second after namesake (Dick) Cheney.
Cecilio A. Perez wrote on December 11, 2007 10:03 AM:To Terri:
I was an US ARMY Recruiter from 1988-1990, and I remember that if you did not score really high in the Entrance Examination Test, you would be disqualified because you were considered no to be a good candidate for a soldier. These days, as long as you can breath, you are qualified. That is one of the reasons that, after 16 years of honorable service, I got sick of the service and left within 4 years of retirement (Personally, I think is a better record than Bush, Cheney & Mel put together).
