Unpulchritudinous

Posted on by Hershblogger


The gloves are off. The Left is telling us, in no uncertain terms, what they deeply, truly believe about the United States of America.

John Kerry. The Ugly American


Sen. John Kerry, the 2004 Democratic candidate for president, is at it again with another rude gaffe, this one providing an unintended glimpse of the way many contemporary cosmopolitan elites characterize their homeland when abroad.

In the past, Kerry has said that our soldiers were “terrorizing” Iraqi civilians in their homes. He has also warned that uneducated Americans “get stuck in Iraq” — a supposedly botched joke. Now, he assures an audience at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, that the United States is a “sort of international pariah.”

Kerry thinks that only the intellectual dregs of US citizenry enter the Armed Forces. That gaffe is probably what convinced him not to run for President in 2008. He’s sort of a “national pariah,” by now.

Though he plays a deep left field, William Arkin, the uglier American, doesn’t quite see eye to eye with Kerry on this. He doesn’t accept that soldiering is a dead-end job for those who couldn’t figure out how to flip hamburgers. He shows us that soldiers have it pretty damn good:


… we pay the soldiers a decent wage, take care of their families, provide them with housing and medical care and vast social support systems and ship obscene amenities into the war zone for them, we support them in every possible way, and their attitude is that we should in addition roll over and play dead, defer to the military and the generals and let them fight their war, and give up our rights and responsibilities to speak up because they are above society?

…But it is the United States and instead this NBC report is just an ugly reminder of the price we pay for a mercenary – oops sorry, volunteer – force that thinks it is doing the dirty work.

In short, the American military is a bunch of fascists, a fallacy undeserving of notice. But if Arkin’s right, Kerry is dead wrong. The smartest thing you can do is enlist. How else can you get the “obscene amenities” normally reserved for John Edwards, George Soros and Jane Fonda? I didn’t know we were flying our troops around in Lear Jets, nor did I realize that “Hummer” is code for “stretch limo”. I’m surprised that “IED” is actually an acronym for Iraq Extended Debauchery. Go figure.

It wasn’t unpredictable, to anybody but Arkin, that he would get some negative reaction to saying that we’re pampering these thugs we call the US Military – while they are busy protecting our Asses, of which Arkin is prime example.

Here is his response to criticism of this troop bashing. The title is The Arrogant and Intolerant Speak Out. Probably, Arkin knows the meaning of neither adjective. Conclusively, he possesses minimal self-awareness.


I was dead wrong in using the word mercenary to describe the American soldier today.

These men and women are not fighting for money with little regard for the nation. The situation might be much worse than that: Evidently, far too many in uniform believe that they are the one true nation. They hide behind the constitution and the flag and then spew an anti-Democrat, anti-liberal, anti-journalism, anti-dissent, and anti-citizen message that reflects a certain contempt for the American people.

…The notion then that we should defer to the military to fight when and how and where they want is absurd.

I wasn’t aware that it was the military who decided to fight in Iraq. I thought it was the President, supported by near unanimous votes in both houses of Congress. The part about deciding to fight “how they want?” Absolutely they should, the problem is they haven’t had appropriate rules of engagement, because we’re trying to treat the Iraqi government as sovereign, and because of the prissy nonsensibilities of girly-men like Arkin.

Click the link on Kerry to read Victor Davis Hanson‘s full Ugly American piece. Check Powerline here and here for excellent commentary on the Arkin story.

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