Comments on: “Supporting” the troops—or patronizing them? https://thenewneo.com/2007/05/15/supporting-the-troops-or-patronizing-them/ A blog about political change, among other things Wed, 23 May 2007 23:55:12 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0 By: No Oil for Pacifists https://thenewneo.com/2007/05/15/supporting-the-troops-or-patronizing-them/#comment-35589 Wed, 23 May 2007 23:55:12 +0000 http://neoneocon.com/2007/05/15/supporting-the-troops-or-patronizing-them/#comment-35589 Neo’s right:

1) Our troops do not think the war lost;

2) Our military “votes with its feet”–recruiting mostly meets its targets, and our soldiers are not disproportionately poorer or less educated; and

3) It’s the Democrats, not the Iraqi government, who want to cut-and-run.

]]> By: Ymarsakar https://thenewneo.com/2007/05/15/supporting-the-troops-or-patronizing-them/#comment-35348 Thu, 17 May 2007 03:19:31 +0000 http://neoneocon.com/2007/05/15/supporting-the-troops-or-patronizing-them/#comment-35348 Neo’s prediction about a vague sense of repeating Vietnam was right. Before, it was never really clear what Congress would do about the war if the Demos were elected, but of course Neo long ago told us about what the Demos did in Vietnam.

Knowing history is useful against those who tend to repeat it often.

]]> By: The Unknown Blogger https://thenewneo.com/2007/05/15/supporting-the-troops-or-patronizing-them/#comment-35337 Wed, 16 May 2007 18:13:15 +0000 http://neoneocon.com/2007/05/15/supporting-the-troops-or-patronizing-them/#comment-35337 No, this info was just on a different page. (The poll was not well laid out on the site.)

]]> By: Lee https://thenewneo.com/2007/05/15/supporting-the-troops-or-patronizing-them/#comment-35335 Wed, 16 May 2007 18:10:40 +0000 http://neoneocon.com/2007/05/15/supporting-the-troops-or-patronizing-them/#comment-35335 Yup, UB, Number one. Eyes must be going bad.

]]> By: The Unknown Blogger https://thenewneo.com/2007/05/15/supporting-the-troops-or-patronizing-them/#comment-35333 Wed, 16 May 2007 17:35:22 +0000 http://neoneocon.com/2007/05/15/supporting-the-troops-or-patronizing-them/#comment-35333 militarycity.com***

That’s the poll Neo linked to to support her “high morale” and “support for the mission” argument. I have no problem with random polls per se, but this poll by its own admission does not profess to represent the military as a whole, and obviously cannot fairly represent the view of deployed troops.

The MHAT is obviously a more reliable gauge, but it doesn’t support her argument, so…

BTW, since you brought it up, political affiliation was asked, here.

Politics, Civilians and Policy
1) How would you describe your political views?

Very conservative 8%
Conservative 37%
Moderate 37%
Liberal 7%
Very liberal 2%
Decline to answer 9%

2) In politics today, do you consider yourself a:

Democrat 16%
Republican 46%
Independent 22%
Libertarian 2%
Other 3%
Decline to answer 11%

]]> By: Lee https://thenewneo.com/2007/05/15/supporting-the-troops-or-patronizing-them/#comment-35329 Wed, 16 May 2007 17:10:26 +0000 http://neoneocon.com/2007/05/15/supporting-the-troops-or-patronizing-them/#comment-35329 UB, I think one reason the military don’t “poll” well is they tend to be ingrained with a sense of “operational security”, you might say. Like the “50% never served/no answer” answer. Not going to quote directly, but paraphrase(feel free to correct if you feel the need) your linked reference: 6,000 polls randomly sent to “active duty personnel”, 4,000 determined to have been sent to those “actually” on active duty, approx. 950 actual respondents.
Political affiliation not a question asked.
And, yes, I’m implying more those to the left of center took the time to respond. Obviously no proof, but there it is.

]]> By: neo-neocon https://thenewneo.com/2007/05/15/supporting-the-troops-or-patronizing-them/#comment-35327 Wed, 16 May 2007 16:13:27 +0000 http://neoneocon.com/2007/05/15/supporting-the-troops-or-patronizing-them/#comment-35327 I corrected an incorrect link; the accomplishments of the surge were not in the Smith article, but in one by Bronwen Maddox at Timesonline.

]]> By: Ymarsakar https://thenewneo.com/2007/05/15/supporting-the-troops-or-patronizing-them/#comment-35323 Wed, 16 May 2007 15:28:56 +0000 http://neoneocon.com/2007/05/15/supporting-the-troops-or-patronizing-them/#comment-35323 Hey Neo. Welfare has a corrosive effect on civilians. What makes people think it will make the military any better?

]]> By: colagirl https://thenewneo.com/2007/05/15/supporting-the-troops-or-patronizing-them/#comment-35322 Wed, 16 May 2007 15:11:04 +0000 http://neoneocon.com/2007/05/15/supporting-the-troops-or-patronizing-them/#comment-35322 Sometimes I’m convinced that the aforementioned Congressional members don’t really much care about the answer to that question.

Of course they don’t. What’s going on in Congress wrt the troops and the war has nothing to do with reality and everything to do with attacking Bush and scoring some points for 2008. During the nineties I thought the behavior of the Republican Congress wrt Monica Lewinsky etc. was pretty sickening, and here now in 2008 I’ve seen that the Democrats–playing games with troop funding, and Pelosi grandstanding in Syria–can be just as bad. At this point I’m thoroughly disgusted with the lot of them and want to throw *all* the bums out.

]]> By: Tom https://thenewneo.com/2007/05/15/supporting-the-troops-or-patronizing-them/#comment-35321 Wed, 16 May 2007 14:43:44 +0000 http://neoneocon.com/2007/05/15/supporting-the-troops-or-patronizing-them/#comment-35321 Neo: How is it that “politics” has become a venal excuse for not doing the right thing? “It’s just politics”.

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