7/03/2012

Rep. Joe Walsh Is a Total Cockhead:
In attacking his Democratic opponent - Tammy Duckworth, a double-amputee, multi-decorated war veteran - Republican Representative Joe "Deadbeat Dad" Walsh really did say, "Understand something about John McCain. His political advisers, day after day, had to take him and almost throw him against a wall and hit him against the head and say, 'Senator, you have to let people know you served! You have to talk about what you did!' He didn’t want to do it, wouldn’t do it. Day after day they had to convince him. Finally, he talked a little bit about it, but it was very uncomfortable for him. That’s what’s so noble about our heroes. Now I’m running against a woman who, my God, that’s all she talks about. Our true heroes, it’s the last thing in the world they talk about." Good job, there, Illinois 8th. Walsh is one of the most worthless pieces of GOP shit in a turd pile that goes up to the sky.

Sure, Walsh, who never served in the military (and was, in fact, a community organizer early in his career) is being justifiably excoriated for being a total cockhead. But what fucking John McCain is Walsh talking about? Because, whatever myth Walsh has been fed, the John McCain who ran for president in 2008 mentioned his military service every chance he got. In fact, you pretty much couldn't get him to shut up about it:

"When I left the Navy and entered public life, I enlisted as a foot soldier in the political revolution [Reagan] began." - Victory speech after Florida primary, January 29, 2008.

"I was still a naval officer then." - Speech to CPAC, February 7, 2008.

"In Vietnam, where I formed the closest friendships of my life, some of those friends never came home to the country they loved so well." - Speech to the Council on Foreign Relations, March 26, 2008 (that line would show up again and again).

"No one hates war more than the veteran who feels most plainly the loss of a veteran." - Interview with Katie Couric, July 22, 2008.

"On an October morning, in the Gulf of Tonkin, I prepared for my 23rd mission over North Vietnam."- John McCain's acceptance speech for the Republican nomination, September 4, 2008.

"I'm an old Navy pilot, and I know when a crisis calls for all hands on deck." - Speech to the Clinton Global Initiative, September 25, 2008.

"A war that I was in, where we had an Army, that it wasn't through any fault of their own, but they were defeated. And I know how hard it is for that -- for an Army and a military to recover from that." - First presidential debate, September 26, 2008.

"I have acted responsibly throughout my military career." - Second presidential debate, October 7, 2008.

"I've been fighting for this country since I was 17 years-old and I have the scars to prove it." - Stump speech, October 21, 2008.

You know what a real hero doesn't do? Attack the honorable service of a veteran. But, then again, that's just the kind of skeevy shit you expect when a Republican goes up against a man or woman who can kick their asses, with or without legs.