Quoted here, the patriotic sons of Congressman C.W. "Bill"

[rzemanfl]

Young, (Repuke, FL):

"Young's sons, Rob, 30, and Patrick, 19, chimed in with their own postings.

'Wow, what gives any of you the right to bash my father or my mother? What have any of you done for the veterans?' Patrick wrote.

Rob took the unusual position that his parents were "almost pathological" about the wounded and spent too much time helping them.

'I am sick of the way my parents spend all of their free time going from vets hospital to military hospital and back again, helping and personally financing wounded veterans to the exclusion of everything else,' Rob wrote."

Rob is Beverly's child from her first marriage, but they are his "parents?" He apparently feels they should be financing him or something.

Source is today's St. Petersburg Times.

ON EDIT, the link is http://www.sptimes.com/2007/03/02/Worldandnation/Young_faces_fury_in_v.shtml

[MADem]

1. Link, so we can see it in context? NT

[rzemanfl]

3. Done. n/t

[MADem]

12. I will say that any articles criticizing this guy (and to give the both of them their due, they

DO do a lot for the servicemembers at WR) are unfair. This guy and his wife focus their efforts on the inpatient population, not the outpatient and medical hold personnel.

To criticize this guy over this issue is just a stretch. He has plenty of faults, but the quality of his support for the injured isn't one of them.

His sons may be whiners, and they probably would have been better off just staying out of the discussion entirely.

[rzemanfl]

14. Interestingly, the article says he quit going to Walter Reed in

2004, but I have a recollection I am trying to verify that he used visiting there as an excuse not to debate his opponent in 2006. I have an e-mail in to Samm Simpson, the Dem candidate, to verify or refute this memory.

[MADem]

20. Could be, or might be otherwise, but it is a fact that they have a reputation

(and the wife, quite notably) for providing a lot of support to the hospitalized inpatients there, with phone cards, toiletries, getting businesses to donate, contacting family, moral support, that kind of thing. She didn't just do it for the cameras, either, for the most part, she did it under the radar. She's kind of a brash person, she doesn't seem like a typical Congressman's wife at all--more like a goodhearted diner waitress, actually.

Like I said, I don't especially like the guy, and I don't know much about his wife, but on this issue, and this issue alone, they're getting a bad rap.

[rzemanfl]

25. Washington Post via St. Pete Times article linked above:

"The questions were prompted by a Washington Post story Thursday that said Young stopped visiting the wounded in 2004 at Walter Reed because he was frustrated with the response to his complaints about poor medical care."

Young's opponent in the 2006 election, in response to my question about Young using visiting the wounded at Walter Reed as an excuse not to debate, sent this:

"That's right. It was because he and Beverly were 'visiting wounded vets at Walter Reed' as well as attending important other committe meetings - although they were on recess, - that he 'couldn't' debate. Tragic. I have that video, I'll check to see what rob Lorie said for sure and get back to you."

Either he stopped going there or he didn't. The Rob Lorie mentioned regarding the video is the person who announced the debate. He was reading a statement from Young's office. Someone is lying here.

[MADem]

28. All I know is that for a good long time, she was a REGULAR visitor at WR.

Regular enough that everyone knew her first name on the wards. I don't endorse this site, but it documents her presence back in 2003 at WRAMC and Bethesda-- http://bavf.org/shaft/031013.htm Here's an article from 2005 that talks about her work at the hospitals: http://www.sptimes.com/2005/12/19/Worldandnation/Capitol_Hill_wife_who.shtml

But Beverly Young, the wife of Rep. C.W. Bill Young of Indian Shores, doesn't play by those rules. Spend a day with her visiting wounded Marines at the National Naval Medical Center and you'll hear a few expletives. When she sees a photograph of a former hospital official, Beverly says: "See this b----? If she were here, I'd deck her."

But mostly what you hear from Beverly is compassion for the Marines who lie in the surgical ward, wincing from their injuries. Many have had arms or legs amputated. She holds their hands and tells each of them, "We love you, Marine."

She asks one if he needs chewing tobacco or whiskey. She slips $200 to the fiancee of another.

She spends several days a week at the hospital, often bringing pizzas or DVDs. When the Marines have no family, Beverly spends hours in their rooms like a surrogate mother. One Marine says that when he was overmedicated with painkillers, she saved his life by cursing in his ear like a drill instructor.

Laws have been changed thanks to Beverly. She prodded her husband to create a nationwide registry for bone marrow donors. When she discovered the military charged wounded soldiers for hospital meals, she raised such a fuss Congress repealed the law.

Says Marine Brig. Gen. John Kelly: "She can be a royal pain in the a-- - but only to people who don't care about the troops."

The fact that the husband used a hospital visit as an excuse to duck a debate is one thing, but I am not talking about him, I am talking about HER. It is my considered opinion that her interest in the troops was entirely sincere and wasn't done for either publicity or any other reason other than her charitable and honest interest. I don't know about him, but I think the characterization of her as an attention seeker is unfair and wrong.

And again, her interaction was with the INPATIENTS. This problem is with the outpatients who are assigned to MEDHOLD.

It's apples and oranges.

[rzemanfl]

30. Let's return to HIM:

This is a direct quote from the video tape of the debate he did not attend last year:

"Congressman Young was unable to be here today, because on the date that we arbitrarily scheduled to tape this debate, he was already scheduled to be in Washington for his regular national security briefing and to visit the Marines and soldiers at Bethesda and Walter Reed
Hospitals."

So, if he stopped going to Walter Reed in 2004 like the WAPO says, this does not compute.

[MADem]

39. This article has him at BETHESDA National Naval Medical Center in DEC 05

Maybe WAPO (and of course, they've NEVER gotten anything wrong, ever, have they?) is right about WRAMC, but unless this FL paper is lying, he and his wife were over at Bethesda well after that date--WRAMC is not the only game in town: http://www.sptimes.com/2005/12/19/Worldandnation/Capitol_Hill_wife_who.shtml

On a cold December morning, the Youngs arrive at the Bethesda naval hospital. Three staffers from Bill's congressional office carry boxes of CD players and music CDs for the injured Marines. People injured in battle often can't stop the sounds of war in their heads. Music helps.

As the Youngs stop in each room, Beverly goes bedside and holds a hand or rubs a shoulder. She never lets go. She and Bill talk with a Marine whose leg was amputated at his knee because of a grenade blast. He is groggy from painkillers.

They are ready to offer him a CD player when his mother says the band Fleetwood Mac has given iPods loaded with rock music to everyone in the ward. But Beverly has noticed a photo of the Marine wearing a cowboy hat. "Do you need any country music?" she asks.

He does. She summons the aide with the CDs. "We need some country........The Youngs' generosity comes in hundreds of gestures, big and small. When wounded soldiers or Marines leave the hospital, Bill and Beverly take them out for a steak dinner. On Christmas, the Youngs deliver turkeys to Marines in Quantico, Va., and then take gifts to the patients in the Army and Navy hospitals. "We just try to make them know they are loved," Beverly says.

The Youngs do not seek publicity for their work. (It took several requests before they would allow the St. Petersburg Times to accompany them for this story.)

But Beverly is not shy about seeking donations. She got her gynecologist to pay for the CD players and music. She got the country band Alabama and many others to donate money to a paralyzed sailor.

She makes her rounds at military and veterans hospitals in Bethesda, Washington and the Tampa Bay area. Bill accompanies her when his schedule permits. They spend hundreds of dollars from their own pockets on pizzas, clothes, movies. Beverly has been known to bring pitchers of margaritas or a bottle of Jack Daniel's.......

So, you can say what you want about the guy's politics, or his wife's tee shirt. As I said, I am not a fan of the man's political views at all. I think he's a bit of a dork, too. But as I have also said, I do think their work on behalf of the wounded comes from the heart, with genuine sincerity.

Your mileage may vary.

[hobbit709]

2. And what are they doing

to help? They're young enough to sign up. they don't mention them doing anything to help the vets-they just complain about their father spending too much time doing so.:wtf: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity:

[rzemanfl]

4. He is only the father of the younger of the two. n/t

[hobbit709]

6. Yeah, but they both bitch about it

[rzemanfl]

8. I find it odd that he calls him his father. Maybe he adopted the

kid. He is old enough to be his grandfather.

[niyad]

5. off subject--is beverly the woman supposedly arrested with cindy sheehan at the SOTU?

[rzemanfl]

7. Beverly is the woman who was interposed as a distraction from

Cindy's arrest, yes.

[MADem]

10. No, that's not entirely true. They were both ejected for wearing tee shirts with writing on them

And it was clearly political. They couldn't toss one without tossing both, but she wasn't a "set up." She was pretty pissed off, as I recall.

[niyad]

13. except nobody actually verified that she was arrested, or what she was wearing as I recall.

[rzemanfl]

15. Thank you for posting this so I wouldn't have to. n/t

[MADem]

18. Your recall is faulty. The incident got wide coverage. Young was NOT arrested, she was asked to

leave the visitor's gallery, and she complied with the order, while Sheehan refused to go and was subsequently arrested. They also hauled out a guy who was a "furriner" guest of Alcee Hastings

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11120353/

Young was wearing a Support the Troops type tee shirt. Terrence Gainer, the former top cop, subsequently apologized to both. I'm betting if you pulled the string, you'd find Hastert at one end of it. But that's just a guess.

Sheehan’s T-shirt alluded to the number of soldiers killed in Iraq: “2245 Dead. How many more?” Capitol Police charged her with a misdemeanor for violating the District of Columbia’s code against unlawful or disruptive conduct on any part of the Capitol grounds, a law enforcement official said. She was released from custody and flew home Wednesday to Los Angeles.

Young’s shirt had a message with a different tone: “Support the Troops — Defending Our Freedom.”

“They said I was protesting,” Young told the St. Petersburg Times. “I said, ‘Read my shirt, it is not a protest.’ They said, ‘We consider that a protest.’ I said, ‘Then you are an idiot.”’

The two women appeared to have offended tradition if not the law, according to several law enforcement and congressional officials. By custom, the annual address is to be a dignified affair in which the president reports on the state of the nation. Guests in the gallery who wear shirts deemed political in nature have, in past years, been asked to change or cover them up.

[rzemanfl]

17. That is the MSM version and they can be trusted. n/t

[MADem]

19. Yeah, right. Who should we believe, the "MSM" or the CSPAN footage of the

incident?

Please, spare me the paranoia. Not everything is a MSM conspiracy. It happened in front of everyone, on camera. Post 18 has a link to a report of the events of the evening.

But hey, whatever.

[niyad]

21. I am sorry, but I seem to remember that NOBODY actually saw her in that t-shirt. I remember a great

deal of discussion, and I remember that the pictures of the t-shirt did not surface for several days.

[MADem]

23. Well, there's VIDEO of both shirts at the link I provided, with commentary by Brian Williams. NT

[rzemanfl]

27. No, there is video of Cindy getting arrested and of a shirt being

waved around and worn in a cozy office.

[MADem]

29. I said 'video of both shirts.' What you describe is video of both shirts.

One more time--Beverly Young did not make a stink. She left when they told her she had to go. There's no drama because there WAS NO drama.

Here, read this. http://www.sptimes.com/2005/12/19/Worldandnation/Capitol_Hill_wife_who.shtml

Now tell me the woman is insincere. She probably knows the wards in both hospitals better than some of the brass.

Your inference that Beverly Young was somehow an administration "tool" to "get" Cindy Sheehan is ...... really something. That sort of thinking provides rich fodder for those who wish Democrats ill.

[rzemanfl]

32. Think what you want, I am not going to change your mind and

you are not going to change mine based solely on what she says happened.

[MADem]

35. Fine. We'll leave it at that. NT

[rzemanfl]

22. I watched the video, it shows Cindy being arrested and Mrs.

Young sitting in her husband's nice office and talks about what she says happened. Do you have a link that shows Mrs. Young being removed?

[MADem]

24. Uh, reading is fundamental. Mrs. Young was not "removed" by any force.

They told her the shirt was a no-go and she had to leave, so she got up and left. There was no removal. She voluntarily left. Cindy didn't leave when she was asked to, and as a result she was arrested.

[rzemanfl]

26. Okay, pick nits if you must. Show me a picture of her in the shirt

at the STOU. Or show me someone who says they asked her to leave. Or show me someone who saw her being asked to leave. Or someone who saw her leaving. Or someone who saw her with the shirt on that night.

I haven't seen one thing about her story that isn't entirely dependent on her word alone as to what happened. It would be nice, for instance, to have "the idiot's" name.

Stupid debates like this are how the Repukes tie us in knots every time.

[MADem]

31. NO. You show ME the "proof" that Beverly Young was recruited by BushCo

to somehow mitigate the Sheehan arrest.

If you can dig up the full CSPAN coverage, you see Beverly Young in the gallery, wearing the shirt, before the event started. Go for it, if you're so interested and so convinced that I'm part of some absurd conspiracy to "get" Cindy.

Gimme a break. The paranoia is astounding. And there's no debate about Beverly's work at the hospitals. It's well documented.

[rzemanfl]

33. I am searching the DU archives for that proof you describe:

None here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=132&topic_id=2432465

[MADem]

34. Ah, a tree fell in the forest, and you weren't in front of your tv watching CSPAN

...so no one heard it.

O.....kay.....

[rzemanfl]

36. Not exactly. There were a lot of people watching and no one

saw the tree fall, but one person says one did, but you can't see it anymore. Let's quit this. You win, somewhere, somehow there is C-SPAN footage no one has seen that proves Beverly Young's story is true.

Are you saying you saw her wearing the shirt on C-SPAN?

[MADem]

37. I saw her in the gallery. I wasn't LOOKING for the shirt, though.

When I saw her, there was no 'controversy.' The controversy was revealed after the event took place.

I recognized her from her forays at WRAMC and Bethesda.

[rzemanfl]

38. Well we can be pretty sure she wasn't topless, so she may have

been wearing that shirt, or not....

[niyad]

9. caring for what, rob? your 30 year old, stay at home ass?

[TerdlowSmedley]

11. These young men were posting from Bagram, surely.

[rzemanfl]

16. FSU and I don't know where, but definitely not from a combat

zone or anywhere that might lead there.

[JNelson6563]

40. heh

;-)