Feeble "Eagles Up" - pathetic showing by Yellow Elephants

[swag]

from Austin Cline at Jesus' General:

Evidently, last weekend there was a "Gathering of Eagles" in Washington, D.C. Organizers claimed that there was a "threat" against the Vietnam Veterans' memorial, though they had no actual evidence of any such threat from anyone; but a friend of a friend of a friend assured someone reliable that vile leftists would do something awful. Of course the half dozen or so people who still support the GOP occupation of Iraq simply had to get together to defend the memorial, right?

Indeed, the actual numbers of those who showed up is a matter of more than a little debate. Michelle Malkin originally claimed that the National Park Service reported an official estimate of 30,000 “Eagles,“ but there's just one problem with that: the NPS doesn't give official estimates anymore. The Bush administration forbids them from doing this now. The text was changed to say that it's an "unofficial estimate" from the NPS, but they denied issuing any numbers.

Sadly, No, has all the details about this little, uh, detail. They also report that a mere 1,826 people pledged to attend — far fewer than the 30,000 they insist were there. Even if each of those who pledged to attend brought 5 friends, and picked up 5 more hitchhikers along the way, they'd still be far short of their claimed numbers.

More important than the numbers, though, is the self-righteous and militaristic manner in which this event has been promoted. These so-called "Eagles" are patting themselves on the back for supporting and defending a war when few if any of them are willing to actually fight in this war. For a long time now liberal critics of the GOP war have noticed the curious fact that so many young Republicans of military-serving age may be very loud and vociferous in their support of the war, but they don't back up that support by actually serving in the military.

. . .much more

[C_U_L8R]

1. 30,000 and not a single photo

what a bunch of dodo birds.. they really have themselves fooled don't they.

[gratuitous]

4. It's like when everybody brings potato salad to the picnic

"Holy schnikie! You mean all, uh, 30,000 of us (yeah, that's the ticket) forgot to bring a camera?"

[dkofos]

2. Stupid people make stupid claims

[karlrschneider]

3. The "Eagles" are fighting them here so they don't have to fight them there.

:evilgrin:

[swag]

5. Very nicely said.

The sting of truth.