Comments on: American Soldiers’ Views are Illegal?

By: Nightly Ramble: It is alive,Government schools, Al Gore Revisted, the White Enemy, and more | BitsBlog

Tue, 08 Apr 2008 20:09:12 +0000

[...] Richard, I know. Well, maybe now we have a bit of info on why the party tried to ignore their votes two cycles in a [...]

By: Blog-o-Fascists

Blog-o-Fascists — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 16:30:09 +0000

ABC's Raddatz Misunderstands Laws Regarding Soldiers' Political Participation...

NewsBusters.org - Exposing Liberal Media Bias

ABC White House reporter Martha Raddatz, formerly that network's Pentagon correspondent, is clueless when it comes to federal law regarding U.S. military personnel and what they can and cannot say publicl...

By: Wayne

Wayne — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 15:39:22 +0000

Typical MSM BS. They cherry pick a couple of soldiers with opinions they wanted to hear. Seen it many times. Whether it’s finding someone who thinks Basic Training is tough or someone who has a bad case of homesickness during deployment, they can find them and will disregard the rest. If they were honest, they would have taken a poll and reported the results. The majority of the military will vote for McCain.

As for the legality, the only ones that ever try to silence the troops in such matters are the Dems.

By: Dave Schuler

Dave Schuler — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 12:20:18 +0000

I'm glad you commented on the piece, Richard and James. I caught it when it was broadcast as part of the evening news yesterday evening and was concerned that it would invite the sort of comment that it, apparently, has been receiving.

When I heard it, it struck me as advocacy, not a particularly balanced piece of reporting.

By: DC Loser

DC Loser — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 12:12:57 +0000

Personally I think this is a tempest in a teapot. I didn't see Raddatz saying military weren't supposed to voice their personal political opinions. I think the article's thrust was that the military isn't a monolithic organization or that it's made up of only Republicans. The soldiers quoted weren't campaigning for any candidate, but were only responding to a question they were asked about their own personal preferences.

By: dutchmarbel

dutchmarbel — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 11:27:15 +0000

Doesn't she mean that they are not supposed to speak *for* the militairy, so all their statements are personal and do not represent the viewpoint of the militairy? Comparable with not being allowed to visit partisan political activities in uniform, but soldiers *can* visit them in civilian cloths?

By: Bithead

Bithead — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 11:05:59 +0000

Um, no. Joining the military does NOT mean you support the ruling party, nor are you a Republican.

But it does tend to mean that one party will try to negate your vote on some ground or another, as they have for the last few elections.

Guess which party?