Bush's Battlefield Envy: "wishes he could be alongside troops in Iraq -- except that he's too old"

[DeepModem Mom]

WP: Bush's Battlefield Envy
By Dan Froomkin
Special to washingtonpost.com
Monday, September 17, 2007

President Bush wishes that he could be alongside the troops in Iraq -- except that he's too old.

At least that's what he reportedly told a blogger embedded with U.S. troops in Iraq. In the first session of its kind, Bush spent almost an hour on Friday talking with 10 so-called "milbloggers," including two who participated by video conference from a military base outside Baghdad.

" N.Z. Bear," one of the eight guests sitting around a table with Bush at the White House, reported: "Responding to one of the bloggers in Iraq he expressed envy that they could be there, and said he'd like to be there but 'One, I'm too old to be out there, and two, they would notice me.'"

Maybe Bush was just making idle chit-chat. But this would not be the first time the president has appeared unaware of the hardships his war has caused hundreds of thousands of American troops -- while expressing a misguided sense of bravado.

He certainly hasn't ever put himself in harm's way. The president who avoided serving in Vietnam as a young man has made only three visits to Iraq since declaring that major combat operations were over more than four years ago. All three of the visits were unannounced and featured extensive security.

Bush's total time in country? Less than 15 hours....

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2007/09/17/BL2007091700952.html?nav=hcmodule

[rodeodance]

1. callousness

[Sanity Claws]

2. Then have his children, nieces and nephews enlist

He should at least be handing them enlistment papers and bringing enlistment papers to all events he shows up at.

[Sequoia]

3. It would be just like camping eh, George?

Hiking trails to the falls, and a swell campfire with S'mores singing Ole Susanna at night under the twinklin' stars, oh boy...war is fun!

[Hobarticus]

9. "How's a guy s'posed to get a goddamned DRINK in this place?!?"

"This nature crap is for the birds! No happy hour!"

[Sequoia]

25. Ps-s-st...I've got a little brandy flask here.

[Hobarticus]

28. "Shanks....now what will you be drinkin'?"

[NewJeffCT]

4. Bush probably thinks of it as a video game

Bam, I wish I was riding around with you, popping terrorists, offroading, calling in the gunships, then relaxing with a nice cold brew after...

[MidwestTransplant]

5. I think I am going to be sick.......

[BrklynLib at work]

6. That is the most sickening crock of crapola I have heard in the 7+ years that prez shit-for-brains

has occupied the white house.
If he actually had to spend 60 seconds in true combat he would shit his pants so fast that he would not even have time to think about closing his sphincter muscle.
What a lying, evil bag of crap.

[TwilightGardener]

7. Fucking embarrassing. War is nothing but an abstraction to this assclown.

Why on God's earth does the military still respect him?

[movonne]

8. What a nit wit, who in God's name could believe this one..oh! I

forgot the 32% that would believe anything that comes out of his mouth..asshole

[rateyes]

Puhleeeze.

I would have handed him my weapon and asked him to stand a post.

What a fucking coward!

[Rex]

10. What a lying sack of cowardly shit George is.

You had your chance in spades during Vietnam. I swear this guy can't get anymore pathetic.

[bullwinkle428]

11. Balls the size of Alpha Centauri...

...maybe they can be included up on Mt. Rushmore along with the presidential faces! :sarcasm:

[BOSSHOG]

12. And limbaugh wants to pilot an Air Force Bomber

and wear the uniform and strut and be all manly. Its really too bad about that pimple on his ass or we would no doubt have a bonafide hero to worship.

[TwilightGardener]

14. It's all a game for chickenhawks. All posing and posturing.

[BOSSHOG]

15. Isn't it so damning of them

It must be posturing also for evangelists who lead thousands of church goers. And yet they continue to scream and shout at others. Incredible hoot. limbaugh said I didn't join just like Bill Clinton. Whatever happened to that Clinton guy? Did he get a job on hate radio pretending to be a patriot and war mongering to orgasm?

[Kutjara]

13. He wasn't too old during Vietnam.

What was his excuse then? Too yellow?

[w8liftinglady]

16. But,George-you aren't that old-look who you are re-deploying

http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/102104C.shtml
By the Thousands, Soldiers 50 and Older are Being Deployed
BY Ana M. Alaya
The New Jersey Star-Ledger

Sunday 17 October 2004

Charles Thomas tended to wounded soldiers on the sweltering killing fields of Vietnam, helped hurricane victims in Honduras and oversaw finances for soldiers in Bosnia.

Sometime in the next few weeks, the 58-year-old Army National Guard command sergeant major will leave his wife, Jeanette, their 11-year-old Maltese, Pebbles, walk through the door of his Old Bridge home one final time and head to Iraq.

"I don't want to leave my wife, but I have to go," Thomas said during an interview last week at his house, which the couple is selling. "I made her a deal. I promised her this is my last tour of duty, and she gets a new house."

Thomas is among a group of soldiers age 50 and over being called to active duty . Like many, he is a "citizen soldier," a member of the National Guard or Reserves, where soldiers serve part-time. They tend to be older than their active-duty counterparts and are increasingly being deployed overseas to augment active-duty troops.

Of the 160,000 men and women deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan, 4,119 are 50 or older. At a time in life when most people are looking forward to retirement or eyeing Florida real estate, these soldiers are leaving behind corporate jobs and grandkids. Some even voluntarily postpone military retirement to go to war.

[DeepModem Mom]

18. Excellent addition to this thread -- thank you. nt

[NMDemDist2]

17. too old eh? tell that to my friend who's going new years

32 years in the military and almost 58 and he's shipping out with his Reserve troops in January

[DeepModem Mom]

19. Thank you for posting this, AZDem. nt

[immoderate]

20. Ah! The smell of napalm in the morning...

--IMM

[sicksicksick_N_tired]

21. Oh! If only one of those 58 - 65 yr old USNGs had been on the blog!!!

(1) Age is not a factor, *choke* Mr. Prezdent *choke*; and
(2) Changing your appearance would be SOOOO easy,...NO ONE would notice you, at all!!!

Last of all,...
(3) You couldn't handle your cush or tush without so many handlers surrounding you, let alone a war zone!

Last LAST, but not least,...
(4) You and Rush Limbaugh are so full of shit you both should be placed in a detox facility under permanent quarantine, for the rest of your aweful lives.

Okay, the last one was a stretch. :shrug:

[w8liftinglady]

22. recommending for the mile-high pile of bullsh*t

[againes654]

23. WTF

I swear, if his lips are moving, he is lying. To bushco. "YOU ARE THE FUCKING COMMANDER IN CHEIF, YOU COULD SPEND MORE THAN 15 HOURS TOTAL IN THE COUNTRY WE HAVE OCCUPIED FOR THE LAST FUCKING 5 YEARS.

:puke:

[aquart]

24. Were the milbloggers terribly impressed?

[hvn_nbr_2]

26. Too old? Too chickenshit is closer to the truth. nt

[Beausoleil]

27. I wish he could be alongside the troops in Iraq, too.

He really should be. He could even "suit up".

[DeepModem Mom]

29. ...

[JHB]

30. So Mr. "Superior Health" is "too old"?

What makes the paragon of fitness so decrepit that he can't qualify for a tour himself? He's more fit than most recruits:

From 2005:
--------------------
"He's in superior health," Perino said regarding the president. "I think you all know he's got a terrific fitness routine."

That fitness routine includes cycling, elliptical training, light treadmill work, weight lifting and stretching six days a week. As a result, Bush has been able to keep himself in excellent physical shape while leading the United States. The president is setting a good example for others to follow regarding weight maintenance through regular exercise.

Bush's overall cholesterol increased slightly from 170 to 178, with a slight dip in the HDL "good" cholesterol and a minor rise in the LDL "bad" cholesterol.

I thought my heart rate was low until I discovered that President Bush's resting heart rate is 47 beat per minute. All of that exercise he participates in has undoubtedly contributed to his incredible heart rate. Last week, I measured my resting heart rate and it was 45 bpm, very similar to Bush's.

Bush's body fat dropped from 18.25 down to 15.79. The president does not drink any alcholic beverages and limits his caffeine intake to coffee and diet sodas.

"I'm feeling pretty good," Bush exclaimed to reporters as he was leaving the hospital.

The nine-doctor panel led by Bush's personal doctor Richard Tubb examined the leader of the free world and said in a statement that there is "every reasonable expectation that will remain fit for duty for the duration of his presidency."

They added that Bush has a "low" to "very low" risk of getting heart disease.

------------more--------
http://www.scheadlines.com/article.asp?colid=2483

[DeepModem Mom]

32. Thanks for posting this info -- he's good to go! nt

[tabasco]

31. Yah, he's too old and the minorities took all the combat slots.

"The Negroes stole my infantry job!" - - Tom Delay, another lily-livered chickenhawk.

[Lucinda]

33. But his generals are young enough to be there?

Jeez. :eyes: :patriot: :eyes: