UPDATED: Gitmo Guards Play Got Cha — What did Ted Kennedy hear?
This could be another victory for the guards at Gitmo. Instapundit has the details. Seems touring Senators Ted Kennedy and Daniel Akaka got an earful from constituents– constituents in uniform and serving at Gitmo. Professor Reynolds says these National Guard troops need to oppose Kennedy and Akaka in the next election (ED:though isn’t there a rumor out there Akaka plans to retire?).
Here’s the link to the Gertz/Scarborough story.
The press and bloggers need to either get transcripts of the interviews or — better yet– let’s get some of these soldiers on-line to tell us what they told their senators. Just imagine the headlines and obliterative outrage if Repubs touring Gitmo got an earful from the troops.
This is big league Got Cha that Howard Dean didn’t expect. I wonder if Senator Warner did? Or…Karl Rove?
Oh yes, here’s what Bill Gertz and Rowan Scarborough had to say:
from Massachusetts and Hawaii who work at the U.S. military detention facility at U.S. Naval Base Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, gave visiting home-state senators a piece of their mind last week.
Sens. Edward M. Kennedy, Massachusetts Democrat, and Daniel K. Akaka, Hawaii Democrat, met with several soldiers during a visit led by Armed Services Committee Chairman Sen. John W. Warner, Virginia Republican.
Pentagon officials said soldiers criticized the harsh comments made recently by Senate Democrats.
Sen. Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, the Senate’s No. 2 Democrat, last month invoked widespread military outrage when he compared Guantanamo to the prison labor systems used by communist tyrant Josef Stalin, Cambodia’s Pol Pot and Adolf Hitler.
“They got stiff reactions from those home-state soldiers,” one official told us. “The troops down there expressed their disdain for that kind of commentary, especially comparisons to the gulag.”
A spokesman for Mr. Kennedy had no comment. A spokeswoman for Mr. Akaka confirmed that the senator met with soldiers from Hawaii but did not recall receiving any complaints during the meeting.
Both senators made no mention of the incident in press statements after the visit. Mr. Kennedy, in his statement, said that he is “impressed with the courtesies and professionalism of the men and women in our armed forces.”
Mr. Kennedy has been a leading advocate for closing the prison facility. Mr. Akaka in April voted for an amendment that would have cut funds for the prison.
UPDATE: Blackfive lays out the political route. I know some troops who are very liberal socially and are the kind of lightning the Democratic Party needs– but they don’t have any truck with Sen. Durbin’s “Gitmo gulag” comments and Pelosi-Kennedy-Boxer-Dean defeatism. They are centrists, like Joe Lieberman. Harry Truman would be proud of them. So would Jack Kennedy. Thing is, these troops will have to get past the gray-haired profs with ponytails (Vietnam! Quagmire!) who vote in Dem primaries.
Our Troops Criticize Kennedy For Gitmo Attacks Our senior Senator Ted Kennedy got a harsh lesson last week from our soldiers. Kennedy, who has never been to the Guantanamo Bay prison, has been one of the most outspoken critics of the terrorist detention center. Kennedy has made…
Trackback by Hub Politics — 7/22/2005 @ 4:20 pm
So, why is it that the National Guard soldier who gave Rummy a tought question got lots of Press, but Sens. Kennedy & Akaka get no negative press? This should receive the same amount of coverage…in a non-biased media world that is.
Comment by lyle stamps — 7/22/2005 @ 4:23 pm
This isn’t a gotcha. This is accountability. If the Senators are going to slander our troops, they aught to at least face the responsibility of doing it to their faces.
Comment by Half Canadian — 7/22/2005 @ 4:55 pm
Reaping The Democrats have only begun to pay for Senator Richard Durbin’s slander of the military. Soldiers from Massachusetts and Hawaii who work at the U.S. military detention facility at U.S. Naval Base Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, gave visiting home-state senat…
Trackback by baldilocks — 7/22/2005 @ 4:58 pm
If anyone can come up with actual comments by either Kennedy or Akaka please post it… or better yet, I would like to see the look on their faces when both Senators hear the opinions of their Blue State constitutants!
Comment by Guy in Dallas — 7/22/2005 @ 4:59 pm
MA and HI Soldiers at Guantanamo Criticize their Senators Here is an unreported example of pushback by soldiers in Gitmo have had enough of their Senators bashing them for political gain. The point is, these guys are coming back to civilian life someday. And they’re soldiers. They have a typically h…
Trackback by Opinion Times — 7/22/2005 @ 5:29 pm
“A spokeswoman for Mr. Akaka confirmed that the senator met with soldiers from Hawaii but did not recall receiving any complaints during the meeting.” Now, was it the spokeswoman who couldn’t recall or Sen. Akaka couldn’t recall. Akaka has an excuse, he can’t recall anything.
Comment by Jabba the Tutt — 7/22/2005 @ 5:31 pm
What’s the public approval rate for the US Military? 70%? Ah, what’s the public approval rate for the US Senate? Maybe 30%. Kennedy’s a dinosaur, he’s due for a fall.
Comment by Jabba the Tutt — 7/22/2005 @ 5:42 pm
[…] or comment. Download video here. Others covering it: Instapundit Hub Politics Blackfive Austin Bay Posted by Ian @ 7:20 pm Filed under Liberal Whining, Troops, Video Blogg […]
Pingback by The Political Teen » Ted Kennedy Gets Cold Welcome At Guantanamo Bay (VIDEO) — 7/22/2005 @ 6:35 pm
Thing is, these troops will have to get past the gray-haired profs with ponytails (Vietnam! Quagmire!) who vote in Dem primaries. Or run as Republicans. We’re not all satisfied with the ones we have. I’d vote for them.
Comment by DaveG — 7/22/2005 @ 6:38 pm
I see the ‘noble’ ‘objective’ ‘unbiased’ ‘fair’ MSM is playing “look the other way” for the Democrats [and the Kennedy clan] AGAIN!
Comment by KJB43 — 7/22/2005 @ 6:38 pm
Thing is, these troops will have to get past the gray-haired profs with ponytails (Vietnam! Quagmire!) who vote in Dem primaries. Or run as Republicans. Not all of us are satisfied with the ones we have.
Comment by DaveG — 7/22/2005 @ 6:39 pm
I can guarantee you, from my own experience in the military, that those troops are comparing their own sense of honor to Ted Kennedy’s shameful personal history, and they would not trade places with the old sot for all the wealth in the world. Being rich and a famous coward is no match for having the respect and admiration of ordinary Americans. simple respect
Comment by mikem — 7/22/2005 @ 6:54 pm
“Thing is, these troops will have to get past the gray-haired profs with ponytails (Vietnam! Quagmire!) who vote in Dem primaries.” How many votes from gray haired profs and how many votes from vets? I suspect far more vets and family are registered, or will be registered. Time to dust off ‘The GI War’ by Ralph Martin, flip to the epilogue chapter and read the story of the WWII veterans of Athens Tennessee and local politics.
Comment by Don — 7/23/2005 @ 8:11 am
Colonel,as a “blue dog”Dem,I’m glad these soldiers went off on Ted Kennedy,this despicable man has had it coming for a long time.he has no redeeming qualities like his two older brothers and particularly JFK who indeed was a patriot.The people of Massachusetts should be ashamed of themselves for electing a murderer,and a feckless traitor to office.I belivve that these young Dems probably are in agreement with former Georgia Senator Zell Miller more than they do Liberman,Lieberman is a great man and also a man of characte and I voted for him in 2000 but I believe Zell Miller did a much better job of defending our troops honor than even the president has shown them.It is time Americans elect somebody that actually has some common sense because “gitmo Dick”Durbin will probably lose his seat in the future,and Ted Kennedy has been needed to go for years;these people need to be replaced because they have done nothing but try and harm this country everyway they know how.So any soldier,sailor, airmen, and marine should step up to the plate,and replace this has beens and bring dignity back to the country.
Comment by Lisa Gilliam — 7/23/2005 @ 11:27 pm
Durbin’s Slander Will Reach Far and Wide I think we have a right to know how our soldiers reacted in the face of one of their primary detractors. Or, should it be only Kennedy that gets a bully pulpit?
Trackback by Les Enfants Terrible — 7/23/2005 @ 11:48 pm
RE: mikem comment #13 AMEN to that brother! If we can win this war, It won’t be because of people like Durban and Kennedy. By them-selves they will bring down the dem, party. But they only have them-selves to blame.
Comment by L.E.Kline III — 7/24/2005 @ 6:22 am