The undeniable facts are thus: John Kerry has a silver star and a bronze star and 3 purple hearts for his actions in battle, and was by all contemporaneous accounts a courageous, brave and exemplary military officer. You had no experience serving with, for, or under John Kerry. George W. Bush joined a national guard unit (for which there was a long waiting list) that had less than zero chance of going to Vietnam, terminated his service early, and may have been AWOL. You support Bush, and you claim Kerry is a dishonorable disgrace, because of his military service. Those are the undeniable facts. I'm just trying to figure out some explaination for your illogical, unrational behavior; I guessed jealousy but I freely admit that that was pure speculation on my part.
About a week back I was going to post a thread on the catch phrase that anyone criticizing the war is doing so because he/she "hates" Bush. It's another in a long line of slogans used to dismiss legitimate complaints against Bush's actions, or avoid looking at them altogether. It is evident in here on a daily basis; look at the thread about the torture of Iraqi POWS; every war supporter's post follows the same pattern; deny it's real and attack 'liberals' for hating Bush, America, Soldiers, etc., then after Bush acknoweldges it''s veracity, dismiss and attack liberals for rejoicing in our failure, presumebly out of hatred for Bush, America, etc. As you say, though, and there are exceptions to this on both sides, I would say there is much, much more evidence for what I would term 'hatred' on the pro-war side than those opposed. Not just hatred to other posters, but in general. I remember all the posts during the opening days of the war which make the bama quote in my sig seem downright lovey; Let's nuke the whole Middle East, and make it a big lake, the French are vile, belly crawling traitors, etc. etc. Just a lot of hatred going on. It is partly in rememberance of those types of threads, as well as an awareness of the typical psych profile of a volunteer soldier that I somewhat disagree with you about the POW torture incident being 'isolated'. Many of the examples of the worst kinds of bile coming out of posters in here towards people who disagree with them would pale in comparison with the attitude of a man surrounded by enemies, with friends having been maimed or killed, in a foreign land, and with the typical profile of a volunteer soldier ( not anywhere near absolute, just a generality: more aggressive than most, tends to see things in a linear pattern, wanting/getting a sense of belonging and community to which he is loyal to the point of hostility, etc.). Add to that the fact that most of their info on tour comes from the government or govt. cleared avenues, and it doesn't take a huge stretch to believe that that kind of issue wasn't an isolated incident. It may even be quite understandable, and as I say about PLO or IRA memebers, etc., while I can deplore what you do from here, I am uncertain that it would be so clearly wrong were I in your shoes, having lived your life. Anyhow, getting back to the topic at hand, it does strike me that, across the board, there is more hatred, a lot more, from the war supporters than those apposed. I would say that many opposed often express sadness, bewilderment, fear, contempt, and anger, but I have rarely seen it become a personal issue about Bush, etc. in a hatred way, unless you think saying/implying that he's an idiot, zealot, liar, etc. is hatred. I think contempt is more accurate, extreme disrespect, but for me the greatest feeling is fear.
President Bush was never AWOL. You don't go AWOL from the national guard. If you don't show up for a period of time, you are removed from the list and you are no longer in the national guard. The only time you are AWOL is if your unit receives orders for deployment and your name is on that list and you don't show up. That's the only time you are AWOL. I am very happy I never had to serve under Kerry knowing what I know now. Kerry got that Silver Star because he was an officer. Had he been an enlisted man, he would have received something less. The whole decorated thing is something I don't buy into. Had he called in artillery on himself while using the butt of his rifle as his only weapon while he had a sucking chest wound, I would think differently.
So calling someone hateful or angry means you hate them? This is rapidly spiralling out of control. Any and all criticisms or negative observations about Bush, his war, his administrators, or his supporters is illegitimate, and indicative of bias, hatred, and communist sympathies.
