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Creating Your Own Scare Tactic
R. Alex Whitlock
Very rarely do I make it a point to unearth hypocrisy on the far left, but
this is too much for me to bear:
Rep. Jim McDermott, who represents the coffee houses of liberal downtown Seattle, was treated like a rock star at the Democratic convention. Everywhere he went, he was recognized as the man whom filmmaker Michael Moore threw Bush Bashing softballs to in “Fahrenheit 9/11.” He was especially popular with a group college Democrats, who sobered up one morning when he told them: “Everybody in this room who is 17 years old should know that the likelihood of a draft in a second Bush administration is almost a certainty.”
If a military draft is imminent, it won't be because of George W. Bush or his administration. The only calls for a draft have come from critics of the administration and people on the left like Mr. McDermott. No, not like Mr. McDermott, but rather the
congressman himself:
It's true, there is a proposal to revive the draft. Only not from Bush — from Seattle Congressman Jim McDermott.
In fact there he was on CNN last Friday, arguing that Americans aged 18 to 26 should be conscripted into two-year terms in either the military or a civilian service.
"I think every man and woman ought to be subject to service in this country, just like the Israelis or a lot of other countries," he said.
McDermott and five other Democrats first proposed a draft before the invasion of Iraq. His aim was to desanitize the coming war, to get everyone to confront that "going to war means people dying."
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Observations
While I can appreciate his point that a draft would bring the realities of war home for more of us and maybe prevent some unnecessary conflicts from occuring, I have to agree that McDermott's actions are very hypocritical.
I think it's bad form to propose laws "just to send a message" be it a draft or refusing to legalize private actions to avoid the message of condoning it. But (a) that's a matter of style and (b) I believe that it was the goal of McDermott, Hagel, Rangel, and the others to get the draft in the headlines and get people to assume that it's Bush that is pushing for it. I've seen numerous posts from lesser-informed liberals (not that liberals are necessarily lesser-informed, just that the ones that posted made the fictitious connection) that have spread the Bush-supports-the-draft meme.
It's a shame that things get warped like that. I consider it more likely that the draft be reinstated under Bush than under Kerry, but I haven't seen any evidence to indicate that Bush "supports" it in any way.
Since a draft would be political suicide for whomever institutes it, I'm not particularly worried about one coming around the pipe any time soon.
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