Senators wage war of words over ("Chickenhawk") DeLay barbs

[Nambe]

WASHINGTON (AP)

Kennedy served in military; House GOP leader didn't

--- "To try to gauge just how out of touch the Democrat leadership is on the war on terror, just close your eyes and try to imagine Ted Kennedy landing that Navy jet on the deck of that aircraft carrier," DeLay, R-Texas, told a group of college Republicans. "I don't know about you, I certainly don't want to see Teddy Kennedy in a Navy flight suit anytime soon."

DeLay spokesman Jonathan Grella called it "tongue-in-cheek" humor, but Democrats came to Kennedy's defense.

Former Sen. Max Cleland of Georgia, a Democrat and a Vietnam veteran who lost a bitter re-election race in 2002, dashed off a letter to DeLay calling the comments "reprehensible" and finishing up with his own barb: "This country deserves more patriots like Senator Kennedy, not more chicken hawks like you who never served."

Former Sen. Bob Kerrey of Nebraska, also a Democrat and Vietnam veteran, chastised DeLay in a letter Friday for his "tasteless and unnecessary smear of Senator Kennedy." The remark's tone, he said, seemed to question Kennedy's military service record. ---

Banish bush From Texas Too

[Richardo]

1. Stick it to that unethical, hypocritical, chckenhawk unAmerican cockroach!

Thank you, Max and Bob.

[The Zanti Regent]

18. If this is NOT hypocrisy, what is?

De Lay chickened out.

He boasts about an illegally-elected President who went AWOL and still strutted around in a stuffed jockstrap.

If this is not hypocrisy, what is????????/

[htuttle]

2. Why are they so fixated on how Bush's ass looked in the flight suit?

It seems as if they are connecting some disparate things.

Namely, their repressed sexual feelings when they saw Bush in that flight suit -- not that there's anything wrong with that -- and the ability to be an effective leader.

In my mind, the two just don't seem that connected.

[Flubadubya]

20. And isn't it interesting that Delay find's *s ass...

so appealing?
That is choice!

[meow2u3]

37. I wonder if Tom DeLay is gay

I don't have anything against sexual orientation in general, but in this case.....


....IT'S THE HYPOCRISY, STUPID!!!!

[sal]

42. some of my best friends wear flightsuits

:)

[Frances]

44. I reacted the same way

Does Tom DeLay have a crush on Bush? It sure sounds like it to me from this quote.

Both men are sick in my opinion and deserve each other.

[Richardo]

3. Message for DeLay: "Have you, at last, no sense of shame?"

Where is Joseph Welch when we need him?

[xchrom]

4. so who wanted to see that ugly,

creepy, little, so called president in that flight suit? not me -- blech.
birds of a feather flock together -- bush and delay -- chickenhawks.

[mumon]

5. Cool- called him a "chicken hawk."

Let's turn up the heat even more.

[Democat]

6. This should be called as what it is, DeLay attacking veterans

Tom Delay attacks veterans even though he was too much of a coward to serve himself.

The Democrats should go on the attack. Remind people in the military of what Delay really thinks of them unless they vote for him or donate money to him.

Make it clear to military men and women that Delay doesn't care about the military, he wants their money or your votes, that is all.

[Frances]

45. As the wife of a veteran,

I took offense at the line "The military veterans in Congress, he said, don't have exclusive rights to opinions on national security."
Of course, everyone has a right to opinions, but this remark in the context of the article implies that people who actually saw combat should not question chicken hawks and phonies like Bush and DeLay. I wish both of these guys would be sentenced to a month of service in Iraq.

[Hamlette]

7. the most important line in the article:

Kennedy served in the Army. DeLay did not serve in the military.

the hypocracy is unbelievable

[I Lean Left]

23. Kennedy doesn't parade it around.

He's my senator and I had no idea he had served in the army. I saw it on MWO and thought "Is that right?" I went to Kennedy's web site, and sure enough, he was in the army '51-'53. I believe that would be during the Korean War. It doesn't indicate what he did or where he was stationed, not that it matters.

I'm glad the other FORMER senators (where is the outrage among current senators!) defended him. I'm tired of 'service to country' being a smear.

[JohnKleeb]

63. he was in europe not that it matters

[quilp]

8. It's amazing how the VFW allow these chicken-hawk Republican scumbags to

continue to disparage Democrats who actually served this country in uniform. Where the hell are these "veterans'? Don't you realize these draft dodgers are insulting all of you? Does military service only count if you voted for a deserter?

[wellst0nev0ter]

9. Maybe If He Had Used Colorful Language Like That

during The 2002 Election. . .oh well, the past is past, Cleland WILL be back, count on it.

Give that prick the works, Max!

[CBHagman]

10. Here's worthless DeLay's contact info.

Phone is 202-225-5951.

Street address is 242 Cannon House Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20515

Fax is 202-225-5241

His posterior is grass. You wield the lawn mowers. Go to it.

[Gingersnap]

11. Would you want to see DeLay in a flight suit?

What does DeLay look like (don't have a tv)? I mean I know he's a hypocrite on a lot of levels, I'm just wondering if that is another one.

[hippywife]

15. You ask...

...what does DeLay look like, Ginger. i just made mention in another thread that he reminds me of the evil Frank Nitty character played by Billy Drago in The Untouchables. In other words, as slimy as he sounds.

[quilp]

12. DeLay should be taught that a US military uniform is not a costume!

People die wearing it.

[Richardo]

16. Nicely put, quilp - that's going in my letter to him.

:thumbsup:

[moondust]

26. With all due respect,

to be fair, they also kill and cripple innocent bystanders and destroy the environment in it. Judge not a book by its cover.

[CBHagman]

13. I just read the article, and I think...

...I've been too kind to DeLay. What an ignorant, mean-spirited, vicious, snotty, gratuitously nasty little toe rag he is.

[bluestateguy]

14. Why didn't Max Cleland do this in the campaign to Saxby Chambliss?

Nice barbs, but Max is a little late. Had he hit Saxby Chambliss with these kinds of attacks he would still be Senator Cleland.

[koopie57]

57. Maybe it would have made a difference,

but civility and decency were still at least somewhat in play a couple of years ago. Who would have thought that adults with serious work to tend to, could behave like they have been and say such harmful and thoughtless and stupid things about other people for no good reason. How many parents teach their kids that people are not for hurting, and then here we have leaders of our country being so cruel and outrageous in their negative behaviours and having total disregard for one another. I think that when the school year starts, one assignment should be for each kid to write their congressmen and tell them that their behaviour is hurtful and inappropriate and if they behaved and said things like the congressmen have, they would be in time-out until they knew better and would have to apologize.

[Rose Siding]

58. Max's ONLY error...

was in believing the neorebulicons in his state had any critical thinking skills.

[David Zephyr]

17. How Do We E-Mail Max Cleland With Showers of Praise.

I'll certainly send him an e-mail if someone lets me know how to send it.

Hopefully, we all will.

Tom Delay needs to be exposed for the slime that he truly is.

[yella_dawg]

19. " imagine Ted Kennedy landing that Navy jet on the deck

of that aircraft carrier,"

Is that asshole implying that the uber-chimp did anything besides stroke the control stick of that plane while the autopilot did the work? I got news for you moron, anyone can go "whoosh, whoosh" and giggle during level flight. No way did monkey-boy handle a carrier landing.

yella

[coda]

49. I think Delay's is implying Chappaquiddick too.

JMO

[robbedvoter]

64. How do you figure it? Subject was military credentials.

You just needed to throw some garbage in here, non?

[David Zephyr]

21. EXPECT JOHN MCCAIN TO BE AWOL ON THIS OUTRAGE!

For all the DU'er who gush here about John McCain, you need to wise up and recognize him for the opportunistic man that he is.

When McCain was accused of being against the veterans by an asshole with George Bush standing next to him on stage in South Carolina, Senator John Kerry immediately took to the Senate floor to defend McCain.

Recently, when Senator Kerry was criticized regarding his war record, I posted here at the DU that we would not see McCain come to Kerry's defense in spite of how Kerry had stood up for him. Well, I was right then.

John McCain actually voted in the U.S. Senate to impeach and remove from office President Bill Clinton. Never forget that.

John McCain was up to his neck in the entire Savings & Loan corruption and payoffs in the 1980's and while he now admits his involvement and that it was a mistake (it cost every taxpayer thousands of dollars), he should have gone to prison along with David Drier...

John McCain, the "war hero", never even made a peep of a noise about the smear campaign that his Party worked against Senator Max Cleland during the election.

Don't expect John McCain (Jealous Joe Lieberman's Enron-buddy) to speak out against Tom Delay. Why?

Because, in spite of his exaggerated past, John McCain of 2003 is a pathetic coward and is deeply afraid of Tom Delay.

[indictrichardperle]

22. Delay could be the new Newt Gingrich for Dems

If Dems make him the face of the GOP congress, just like they did Newty......they will win BIG.

As the sad,sick Iraq war body count rises......middle america is going to become increasingly nauseated by Chickenhawks Delay, Limbaugh and Hannity.

BTW......McCain is a fraud, visit Vietnam Vets websites, find out what they say about him, including POWs who had it much tougher than the admiral's son.

[bluestateguy]

28. No, DeLay is an even better enemy

Grinch at least does not pretend to be a "Christian" like "Hot Tub" Tom DeLay.

[David Zephyr]

29. What's the "Hot Tub"?

Discuss. I'm very curious.

[sonias]

46. Here's a little bit of the story about the hot tubs

http://www.bayarea.com/mld/cctimes/news/politics/6198716.htm
DeLay drives GOP's D.C. agenda
'Hot Tub Tom'
It has been a stunning transformation for those who knew him as "Hot Tub Tom" decades ago in the Texas Legislature, when DeLay, fun-loving as his nickname suggested, was in the minority party and found working and partying with Democrats a practical necessity.
---------------
That was him supposedly just being a good old party boy.

But things run in the family too. There was the more famous incident involving his daughter.

http://www.buzzflash.com/contributors/2002/04/24_Delay_Ethics.html
"The weekend included a late-night party Saturday in DeLay's suite at the Rio Hotel and Casino, which featured a living room, bar and hot tub on the balcony. DeLay was not present, aides said; the event was hosted by his daughter, Dani Ferro, the campaign manager for DeLay's reelection campaign. After the party, Ferro told associates that a lobbyist poured champagne on her while she was in the hot tub."

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

Sonia

[burythehatchet]

39. Brilliant point

and he is actually tieing hos own noose by stepping out front on some very touchy issues. Don't expect the general population to be in line with the Bug Man's biblical view of Israel.

Folks, I'm seeing it all around, even where I work, which is EXTREMELY conservative. For the first time people are openly talking about definitely not supporting the shrub. He is getting peed on everyday. And NO ONE is defending him publicly. The worm has turned.

[coralrf]

32. You comments are just not true...

You need to do some homework my man. McCain blasted the Cleland thing as reprehensible and defended Kerry staunchly when Rove started the war criminal thing.

You are entirely wrong on these issues. I am no McCain fan. I see him as nothing but a Pug and a damn wing nut. But there is no justification for lies. None.

[indictrichardperle]

34. what is the lie ?

McCain was dirty up to his neck in the S & L scandals...vietnam vets and POWs cant stand him and call him a fraud....He wants to invade every country in the middle east......what is the lie ?

[David Zephyr]

36. Well, I Guess I'm Not Alone in Being Underwhelmed by McCain.

He is the promise that never, ever delivers.

[SharonAnn]

40. Actually, McCain wasn't "dirty up to his neck" in the S&L scandals

but the others? Oh yeah!

And most interesting, Frank Keating, the one whose S&L's went bust and who had defrauded thousands and got away with hundreds of millions was the "anti-porn" and "Christian morality" leader in Cincinnati. Guess theft is not anti-Christian.

Oh, and he lost his horse farm as part of his penalties. Really saddened him (Keating) I heard.

[David Zephyr]

35. Nope.

Here's another little McCain beauty. He used his "Straight Talk" donor list to raise money for Gary Bauer.

Oh, an still another before I log off. McCain completely ducked the Confederate Flag issue in the South Carolina primaries for fear of losing white male voters. He did, later to his small credit, fess up to it and admit it was shameful.

I think you are mixing up Bob Kerrey with John Kerry on the "war criminal thing" as you called it.

Have a nice evening. Sorry I picked on your man, McCain. I guess he is a little better than....er, Trent Lott.

[coda]

48. I think you're over the top

and it serves no purpose. McCain has, at times, stood up to his own party when many Democrats absolutely refuse to.


John McCain actually voted in the U.S. Senate to impeach and remove from office President Bill Clinton. Never forget that.

I haven't, but it's still beside the point.


John McCain was up to his neck in the entire Savings & Loan corruption and payoffs in the 1980's and while he now admits his involvement and that it was a mistake (it cost every taxpayer thousands of dollars), he should have gone to prison along with David Drier...

Several Dems were in deeper than McCain, including John Glenn. I think McCain's sincerity that it was a mistake is evidenced by his support of CFR. If he would have just backed off CFR in the '00 Repub primaries, he truly would have had a shot at the nomination. But he didn't (much like Mondale in '84 on raising taxes) and that single issue cost him more than all others combined.


John McCain, the "war hero", never even made a peep of a noise about the smear campaign that his Party worked against Senator Max Cleland during the election.


Immediately the ad was denounced, not just by Democrats but also by two Republican senators -- John McCain and Chuck Hagel, both of them Vietnam veterans.

"I've never seen anything like that ad," says McCain. "Putting pictures of Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden next to a picture of a man who left three limbs on the battlefield -- it's worse than disgraceful, it's reprehensible."

Irate, Hagel told Republican officials that if they didn't pull the ad, he would make an ad denouncing them. After that, Chambliss's campaign removed the pictures of Hussein and bin Laden from the ad.

"Max Cleland has given as much to this country as any living human being," Hagel says. "To say he is in some way connected to people like Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein was beyond offensive to me. It made me recoil, quite honestly."



Don't expect John McCain (Jealous Joe Lieberman's Enron-buddy) to speak out against Tom Delay. Why?

Because, in spite of his exaggerated past, John McCain of 2003 is a pathetic coward and is deeply afraid of Tom Delay.


BS

[Byronic]

55. Not totally accurate....

"Even Republicans were outraged. As Arizona GOP Sen. John McCain told Washington Post writer Peter Carlson for a well-written piece in that paper, "Putting pictures of Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden next to a picture of a man who left three limbs on the battlefield -- it's worse than disgraceful, it's reprehensible."

http://www.niagarafallsreporter.com/hanchette75.html

I think there really is a sense of unity and brotherhood between the Vietnam Vets in the Senate. Kerry, McCain, Hagel, and previously Cleland and Kerrey have all commented on this.

I'm also not sure about McCain's 'exaggerated past' as you put it. You can disagree about some of his political views but there can be no doubt that he is a war hero.

John McCain is too right-wing. John McCain is far too much of a hawk for my tastes. But John McCain is no 'pathetic coward'.

[gottaB]

56. McCain on Chambliss smear ad against Cleland

"I've never seen anything like that ad," says McCain. "Putting pictures of Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden next to a picture of a man who left three limbs on the battlefield -- it's worse than disgraceful, it's reprehensible."

Source

[mndemocrat_29]

60. John McCain

I can't stand John McCain. He's far, far too conservative for my tastes (I believe he's even more conservative than Zell Miller, but don't quote me on that). While everyone was trying to woo him into the party, I was thinking that we should just run a real Democrat against him in an election. I think the same thing about Lincoln Chafee (he's conservative. If he weren't, he would be behind the filibusters). We should run a real Democrat against these two and have two real Democrats in the race, not to conservative Republicans pretending to be moderates.

[Julien Sorel]

24. The most important words in the article were actually these:

While criticizing the Democrats for failing to see the humor in DeLay's remarks, Grella said there is a serious issue involved.

"The Democratic party has a lot to answer for in terms of their decimating our intelligence and not being there for our military and our national defense," he said. The military veterans in Congress, he said, don't have exclusive rights to opinions on national security.

When your opponent telegraphs his punches like this, it would be wise to pick up on the hints. This sort of garbage is going to be coming hot and heavy in the near future.

[AntiCoup2K4]

25. Delay, as usual : hypocriticus maximus

Not only was Ted Kennedy himself a vet, but his oldest brother (Joe Jr)was killed in combat, and JFK came close. And though it was a different kind of "war", both Jack & Bobby were murdered while serving their country, trying to save it from the likes of DeLay and the Bush Criminal Empire.

[wellst0nev0ter]

38. The Difference Between Rich Democrats And Rich Republicans

Is that JFK's dad actually pulled strings to get his sickly son INTO the active military while Cokespoon got the one-weekend-a-month spa treatment in the middle of the Indochina meat grinder thanks to HIS dad :eyes:

[are_we_united_yet]

27. What a low life!

"To try to gauge just how out of touch the Democrat leadership is on the war on terror, just close your eyes and try to imagine Ted Kennedy landing that Navy jet on the deck of that aircraft carrier,"

Kennedy has more integrity and character in one strand of his DNA then you(Tom) and W put together mulitplied by infinity.

[MoonAndSun]

30. It's about time!!!!!!

that the Dems start hitting back, and hitting back hard at these lowlife repukes. I think Max Cleland must now realize that he should have said these types of comments during the 2002 election, but at least he and the other Dems are striking back.

And also, John McCain is my senator, and I know he will not rebuke his fellow repuke!

[July]

54. Let me get this straight

According to DeLay, the photo op shows how "in touch" with the war on terror Bush is? Isn't that the implied meaning of this statement, i.e., that you can't, supposedly, imagine Kennedy doing the photo op because the Democratic leadership is out of touch on the war on terror? Man, do they believe their own spin?

[Rose Siding]

31. GRELLA!!!

He's as big a slime as DeLay. To actually offer BARBED criticism of Dems for NOT finding his bosses tasteless venom amusing is just as low.

[Q]

33. This is the type of CHARACTER ASSASSINATION the RWingers...

...deal in all the time. This isn't accidential...it's meant to implant a lie that will be automatically believed by the right wing faithful.

- And as mentioned above...Bush* DIDN'T land that plane on the deck of a carrier. He sat there while it was landed for him and he wrongly took the credit...like he does with so many things.

[peacetalksforall]

41. I don't know why you people are so hard on DeLay

It is beyond logic and the law of atoms for that person to be like other normal people.

[cheapbeemr]

43. OK, let's compare Bush with John F. Kennedy.............

Genuine war hero, saved a man's life by carrying on his back, while swimming miles to shore, after PT109 was cut in half by a Japanese destroyer, all while injured himself.

Seriously, the Dems should make a movie for the convention on Dem war heros - and then compare against the available record of such as DeLay, 'affirmative action had taken all the good slots in the military'; Cheney 'I had other priorities'; Bush's coked up request to transfer to a postal unit, etc., etc.

[joshdawg]

47. DeLay has no respect....

for anyone who is in the military or who has been in the military. He's just a typical Republican chickenhawk who has not served in the military.

[Guirigui]

50. Kennedy vs. DeLay

Army fatigues during the Korean War vs. http://www.houstonpress.com/issues/1999-01-07/columns2.html/1/index.html">cockroack extermination getup during the Vietnam War.

Oh, the mendacity!!!

[jamesinca]

51. The last paragraph, how can they or we defend this

"The Democratic party has a lot to answer for in terms of their decimating our intelligence and not being there for our military and our national defense," he said. The military veterans in Congress, he said, don't have exclusive rights to opinions on national security.

Has the democratic party failed the military? or national defence? or the intelligence community?

I ask this because if anything in this article gets reported real big it will be the last paragraph, and how will we respond? I personally feel the rest of the articel can be ripped apart easily. What are some facts on this last paragrapg though.

[0007]

52. This little crock shucker doesn't deserve

to be even be heard. Who pays any attention?

[RapidCreek]

53. For Christs Sake, Bush didn't land ANYTHING!!!

My seven year old nephew got to wear a set of plastic wings on his chest and sit behind the Captain of a TWA 767, that sure as hell doesn't mean he landed a jetliner!

Why the hell is it that these power house dems don't start screaming about the fact that George W. Bush went AWOL during a time of war, disobeyed a direct order to show up for his flight physical and a drug test and was subsequently declared unfit to fly by the Air National Guard of his own frigging state? It's frightening to think that this asshole Delay would suggest such an individual as the one described above has the right to wear a Naval flight suit, let alone co-pilot a military aircraft for which he is not qualified.

Then again...maybe I am bein to hard on little Tommy Boy. It sounds like the site of George in a flight suit with a sock stuffed down his shorts, might just make Tommy's skippy stiff. Can't fault a dude for sharing with us the subject of his latest wet dream. It's a guy thing, I guess.

RC

[TacticalPeek]

61. aWol at the stick!

err, handle.

link users.bestweb.net/~kcoyne/oveject1.gif


Navy fighter jocks refer to carrier landings as the most dangerous job in the service (though I've known a tunnel rat who would disagree, as well as deep recon types). So why does the so-called Secret Service get their panties in a twist when the Last Elected President wants to stop at an unscheduled McD's, but not one peep when this unelected fighter jock itch gets strapped down in a jet fuel/hot wire rendevous with the most dangerous moment available?

And maybe he should have spent that WH swimming pool prep play time reading national security reports. Or getting KKKarl to read them to him, "explaining" things.


on edit - hmmm, damn computers. link users.bestweb.net/~kcoyne/oveject1.gif

[Bandit]

59. This sentence is great except he left out one important word

"This country deserves more patriots like Senator Kennedy, not more Lying chicken hawks like you who never served."

We need to use this adjective at every single opportunity. Lying It was most certainly an implied Lie that Bush* landed that jet on an aircraft carrier deck.

[robbedvoter]

62. Last word in the article given to GOP - with a lie. Glad CNN is fair

But it's so great that the Dems answer back and somehow the answers make the news!

[study_war_no_more]

65. if you can't attack the message attack the messenger

until the people tire of this tactic repukes will continue to use it.

[Bandit]

66. I find no fault with attacking both the message and the messenger

Delay needs to be attacked at every opportunity and his message is always repugnant.

[Octafish]

67. DU's ahead of the media. Check out...

From Wednesday.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=103890&mesg_id=103890

[symbolman]

68. Here's the Juice boys and girls

http://www.takebackthemedia.com/chickenhawks.html

Called "Chickenhawk Hall of Shame".. the bugkiller is in there..

If Delay's eyes were any farther apart they'd be meeting at the back of his head.. guy reminds me of a flounder..

shows his parents were drinking BOTTLES of liquor while he was being gestated, unless the sun hatched him out after a bird shit on a hot rock...