so he graduated from ranger school, but did not serve in a ranger regiment while in afghanistan. that dude is a f***ing douchebag, but im not sure that this qualifies as a lie. my cousin is an army ranger and the stories he told about ranger school are unbelievable. if you make it out of that program youre a certified bad-ass in my book. i didnt know this about cotton so i have to say im impressed that he did that...still a douche though.
I have no issues with it. He served in Irag and Afghanistan and graduated Ranger school. It is indeed factual that he "volunteered to be an Army Ranger." from his ad.
"As an elite collection agent for the US Army - Tom Cotton collected a record 6,549 shell casings from the highest volume shooting range in the country in a single day. Known as 'Ranger Tom' his ability to collect shell casings for recycling was unparalleled in US military history."
From the article... many fine people: Reached for comment, Cotton spokesperson Caroline Tabler told Salon in an email, "Senator Cotton graduated from Ranger school and is more of a Ranger than a Salon reporter like you will ever be." (It is not immediately clear whether Tabler herself is a Ranger, or whether she graduated from Ranger school. Further, Tabler, a spokesperson for Cotton's Senate office, copied the office's chief of staff, Doug Coutts, on the email, but to a Cotton campaign address; senate offices may not coordinate with campaigns. Tabler asked to arrange an off-the-record call in that email; Salon declined, citing the unfavorable terms.) That salon piece really didn't try hard hide how much they felt about different issues...
The article says that the 75th Ranger Regiment has its own training program, the "ranger school" that Cotton went to is a different thing. So, if your cousin is with the Ranger Regiment, it seems like the training he passed is different than the one Cotton passed. The highlighted part makes me chuckle. I mean, Rudy Gay was drafted by the Rockets and is more of a Houston Rocket than I will ever be. It does not make him a Houston Rocket, though.
I don’t really care. Military service for a politician means little to me. There are too many cases of military veteran politicians either exaggerating their service, not having ethics or still lacking backbone. Therefore I personally have concluded that it makes very little demonstrative difference whether a politician is a veteran on not. As for Cotton, his bonafides are there. From growing up on a farm, to Harvard undergrad and then Harvard law. He then left the private sector to serve 8 years in the military. He has earned his bones. The problem with Cotton is he is an ******* that lacks empathy and seems to think it is the 1840’s in the South. He doesn’t represent the values of most Americans. I will never vote for him as I do not believe remotely in his vision for turning America back 180 years.
utter failure, but what do you expect from a soy boy journo trying to malign a combat infantry commander https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2021/01/lefty-journalist-smears-tom-cotton.php
I agree with all of that. And Salon is stoooopid for writing that. The funny part though is the end where he says “doing enough for my country” being in Iraq was an outright lie. Done to make money for people and killed 1000’s and 1000’s of civilians in that country. The pentagon got their money though along with the oil industry. So then we come full circle to someone slandering a congressman about their service for a worthless and illegal war that was based on a lie. What a world
why did you put ranger school in quotes? are you mocking or trying to demean it? i dont understand that. graduating ranger school is pretty impressive.
Tom Cotton served his country honorably and is a tested infantry officer in the battlefield who has seen his fair share of combat. Yet he still has outdated views on society. Hey you can serve honorably and still have outdated views on society. How about that?
He's lying the exact way a Harvard law graduate would. The letter of what he is saying is worded very carefully to deceive the listener while maintaining plausible deniability about the intent to deceive. This is something Cruz does often as well.
True but I still don't think this is a smart approach to attack Cotton. These are mere technicalities and at the end of the day he still is a combat vet who served his country honorably. So let's just stick to Cotton's rhetoric when it comes to policy, culture and race.
It's the exact opposite, the ignorant journalist is trying to claim he is a liar based on a specious technicality, when all evidence says otherwise.