Jan Brewer lies about father dying fighting Nazi Germany

[KingFlorez]

If this was already posted, apologies.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/02/arizona-gov-jan-brewer-cl_n_598053.html

Gov. Jan Brewer is the latest political figure to come under fire for making conflicting statements about military service. In this case Brewer appears to have misstated her father's military record.

The Arizona Guardian reports:

Gov. Jan Brewer said in a recent interview that her father died fighting Nazi Germany. In fact, the death of Wilford Drinkwine came 10 years after World War II had ended. During the war, Drinkwine worked as a civilian supervisor for a naval munitions depot in Hawthorne, Nev. He died of lung disease in 1955 in California.

Here's what Brewer initially told the Arizona Republic about her father's service record when reacting to the criticism she has received for enacting Arizona's new and controversial immigration law:

"The Nazi comments... they are awful," she said, her voice dropping. "Knowing that my father died fighting the Nazi regime in Germany, that I lost him when I was 11 because of that... and then to have them call me Hitler's daughter. It hurts. It's ugliness beyond anything I've ever experienced."

According to Brewer spokesman Paul Senseman, the Arizona governor "wasn't embellishing the story at all," telling the Guardian that Brewer's father ultimately passed away after inhaling toxic fumes while working at an ammunition factory during World War II. "You're reading something into this that isn't there," he said.

Brewer frequently begins speeches by describing her life experiences, focusing on challenges that faced her mother, a single parent, following her father's death.

In prepared texts of March, April and May speeches to Arizona audiences, Brewer said her father, Wilford Drinkwine, died in the 1950s as a result of "years of breathing poisonous fumes around harsh chemicals."

Drinkwine was a worker at a World War II munitions depot in Nevada, she said in the speeches.

[Richardo]

1. It's a pretty long walk from 'died fighting the nazis in Germany' to 'died as a result ...

...of an illness contracted while he was stateside supporting the fighting against the Nazis in Germany."

Still honorable service, but not the same.

[IntravenousDemilo]

2. Yeah, it's also like saying...

... that soldiers who were exposed to and poisoned by Agent Orange in Vietnam and succumbed years later to related illnesses, were killed by the Viet Cong.

[ThatPoetGuy]

8. It's not like a soldier comparison.

Brewer's father wasn't drafted to go overseas and fight, and he didn't sign up to risk his life in defense of his country. He worked to earn a profit. He was a civilian. He could have died as a result of breathing fumes from installing asbestos, and it would have been no more patriotic.

Brewer is stealing valor from those who fought Hitler, when she lies and says that her civilian father, in his for-profit job, died fighting the Nazis in Germany.

[IntravenousDemilo]

12. Oh, well that's even worse then. Thanks. n/m

[sarge43]

4. During WWII her father was a civilian who worked in a munitions factory.

He died in 1955 from lung disease, probably caused by pollutants in the factory.

Quite possibly a casualty of war, but not the same as a combat death.

[Xipe Totec]

3. I'm sure Glenn Beck can explain the connection

and show us once and for all how Jan Brewer's father saved us from the Nazis after they bombed Pearl Harbor.

[Bluebear]

11. +

[Richard Steele]

5. "Drinkwine"? Seriously? nm

[deutsey]

6. He speaking metaphorically.

:eyes:

[SargeUNN]

7. About her father

Brewer was born in Hollywood, Calif. Her father, Perry Drinkwine, was a civilian supervisor at a Navy munitions depot in Hawthorne, Nev., and she spent the first ten years of her life at the base.MacEachern, Doug, “Snapshots of the next governor,” The Arizona Republic

http://www.whorunsgov.com/Profiles/Jan_Brewer#At_a_Glan...

(Phoenix), December 7, 2008(6)MacEachern, Doug, “Snapshots of the next governor,” The Arizona Republic (Phoenix), December 7, 2008

When she was 11, her father’s health—ravaged by the constant exposure to the chemicals on the base—forced the family to move to California for dry desert air and clean ocean breezes. Drinkwine survived just a year before succumbing to lung disease. That experience prompted Brewer to study to become a radiology technician.

[Blue-Jay]

9. Disgusting.

[salin]

10. A disgusting insult to those who lost family members to WWII.

My father also fought in that war (in the pacific arena), and the experience had a lasting impact upon him.

But, like Gov. Brewer's father, he didn't pass on until years later.

He survived the war. To create a story (for personal gain) to which cheapens his life (by pretending everything after 1944 didn't exist) would be disrespectful (at a high degree) of him and his post-war life. Worse to try to make the comparison equal to those who lost loved ones to fighting in that war, cheapens those losses.

Ugh.