Bill O'Rielly attacks Bill Arkin for anti-military hate speech

[JaJae]

Originally Posted by Thorgrim

home...here...america...

As the National Review says, and I hate to disagree with conservatives, we are paying for soldiers to sit in air conditioned quarters and drink designer coffee

Shit, i don't even get designer coffee

Sounds obscene to me...im just trying to be bipartisan here with conservatives

What are you talking about?

[Thorgrim]

Originally Posted by JaJae

What are you talking about?

I already linked the article...

Conservatives say we pay for soldiers to sit in air-conditioned quarters and drink designer coffee, that sounds like it could be obscene

[JaJae]

Originally Posted by Thorgrim

I already linked the article...

Conservatives say we pay for soldiers to sit in air-conditioned quarters and drink designer coffee, that sounds like it could be obscene

Conservative"S" or one nutty conservative you're using as a straw man argument to generalize all conservatives?

[Thorgrim]

Originally Posted by JaJae

Conservative"S" or one nutty conservative you're using as a straw man argument to generalize all conservatives?

Nutty? The National Review is the most respected conservative publication in the United States

It's not like it was a blog post, this passed editors, managers, etc and was not retracted

Also, he is not some "newbie" writer, he is an established analyist at the publication who holds the position of contributing editor

[kinggovernor]

Originally Posted by Thorgrim

I already linked the article...

Conservatives say we pay for soldiers to sit in air-conditioned quarters and drink designer coffee, that sounds like it could be obscene

and what is his recommendation?

[Thorgrim]

I love how someone who has served in the military longer than you can't complain about military conditions

[RMNIXON]

"These soldiers should be grateful that the American public, which by all polls overwhelmingly disapproves of the Iraq war and the President's handling of it, do still offer their support to them, and their respect.
Through every Abu Ghraib and Haditha, through every rape and murder, the American public has indulged those in uniform, accepting that the incidents were the product of bad apples or even of some administration or command order.

Sure, it is the junior enlisted men who go to jail. But even at anti-war protests, the focus is firmly on the White House and the policy. We don't see very many "baby killer" epithets being thrown around these days, no one in uniform is being spit upon.

So, 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?"

The Troops Also Need to Support the American People - Early Warning


So we are bombarded by the media coverage of Hanoi Jane and her D.C. protesters about how we should roll over and play dead in Iraq, but the actual fighting men and women have an "attidude" problem in expressing how this makes them feel? Who wants to defend this? What does O'Reilly even have to do with it? Who can't read an form an opinion all by themself? And this is ugly.




P.S. Sorry about the

DELETED

[RMNIXON]

Originally Posted by Thorgrim

I already linked the article...

Conservatives say we pay for soldiers to sit in air-conditioned quarters and drink designer coffee, that sounds like it could be obscene

Like we didn't go over this before. It was a complaint about comanders not using soldiers. Not about the soldiers. They report and stay where they are told. What do you want? A protest to all sit outside in the hot sun without the air conditioning?

[Thorgrim]

Originally Posted by RMNIXON

Like we didn't go over this before. It was a complaint about comanders not using soldiers. Not about the soldiers. They report and stay where they are told. What do you want? A protest to all sit outside in the hot sun without the air conditioning?

commanders aren't soldiers...only privates are?

[Thorgrim]

Originally Posted by RMNIXON

"These soldiers should be grateful that the American public, which by all polls overwhelmingly disapproves of the Iraq war and the President's handling of it, do still offer their support to them, and their respect.
Through every Abu Ghraib and Haditha, through every rape and murder, the American public has indulged those in uniform, accepting that the incidents were the product of bad apples or even of some administration or command order.

Sure, it is the junior enlisted men who go to jail. But even at anti-war protests, the focus is firmly on the White House and the policy. We don't see very many "baby killer" epithets being thrown around these days, no one in uniform is being spit upon.

So, 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?"

The Troops Also Need to Support the American People - Early Warning


So we are bombarded by the media coverage of Hanoi Jane and her D.C. protesters about how we should roll over and play dead in Iraq, but the actual fighting men and women have an "attidude" problem in expressing how this makes them feel? Who wants to defend this? What does O'Reilly even have to do with it? Who can't read an form an opinion all by themself? And this is ugly.




P.S. Sorry about the

DELETED

If the attitude of some military soldiers is that we have to support political decision to support our military, than I think they don't understand what a democracy is...

On the nightly news last night their were commanders saying we should just let them fight it out in a civil war and the entire unit felt the same way...I guess now certain soldiers in Iraq don't support the troops? huh wha?

[RMNIXON]

Originally Posted by Thorgrim

commanders aren't soldiers...only privates are?

And they were being told that they were not doing their job, not that their job was not worth doing. Not that I care to defend the National Review. I don't read it and the media does not quote it unless they think they have a way to suggest it is walking on the liberal side of thinking. No bias present.


What is your responce to Arkin's comments? Do you agree or what?

[Thorgrim]

So yes, you agree, the soldiers were not doing their job...sitting back in air conditioned quarters drinking designer coffee?

With Harkin's writing? I believe as a veteran he has more ground to stand on than most, but he tried to be provocative without realizing how many people would over-analyze his words and thus should have made it a 20 page blog instead of a few paragraphs, to cite EXACTLY what he meant by his slip in mercenaries and provide examples (like the national review did) of some of the luxuries many soldiers in Iraq get

I agree with the theme, but not with the wording

[RMNIXON]

Originally Posted by Thorgrim

If the attitude of some military soldiers is that we have to support political decision to support our military, than I think they don't understand what a democracy is...

On the nightly news last night their were commanders saying we should just let them fight it out in a civil war and the entire unit felt the same way...I guess now certain soldiers in Iraq don't support the troops? huh wha?

I would never suggest that they be "greatful" or that they are "indulged" or have an "attitude" problem. And the media should report those comments and I guess they did?

[Thorgrim]

Originally Posted by RMNIXON

I would never suggest that they be "greatful" or that they are "indulged" or have an "attitude" problem. And the media should report those comments and I guess they did?

Why shouldn't someone be grateful for support? Isn't that an American value?

There are some soldiers stationed in the some of the most luxurious palaces in the entire middle east, and the US pays contractors a heafty amount for their meals...for years on end now...and the media should report all opinions, but not every opinion is a bright one...some soldiers think the america public/congress should work on getting us home, others think they should demanded that we stay the course...such completely different views can't be "right"

Unless you'd be the guy going "oh yes bring you home in ayear...good idea, thank you for your service" then "oh hello there, yes yes stay the course, even if it takes years...good idea, thank you for your service"

They have a word for people who talk like that...

[northhunter]

I think Arkin's comments were kind of a cheap shot. Seems he got upset that some American soldiers actually exercised thier free speech and said what they had to say. He knows they don't have the resources he does to express those opinions so he uses his to take a cheap shot. I also think he's looking for a little attention and must have known the effect his comments would have. I'd be interested to see what he has to say about his remarks if and when he does decide to comment on them.

[Thorgrim]

Originally Posted by northhunter

I think Arkin's comments were kind of a cheap shot. Seems he got upset that some American soldiers actually exercised thier free speech and said what they had to say. He knows they don't have the resources he does to express those opinions so he uses his to take a cheap shot. I also think he's looking for a little attention and must have known the effect his comments would have. I'd be interested to see what he has to say about his remarks if and when he does decide to comment on them.

He already commented, twice

There's nothing wrong with exercising their free speech, why aren't what the soldiers said "cheap shots" basically they are saying republican Senators like Smith, Hagel, etc are not supporting the troops Basically he is saying a majority of Congress does not support the troops, thats pretty cheap "Either support political position X, or I'm gonna call you guys unsupportive of the troops" ouch, try to keep the gloves up their specialist

[JaJae]

Hotair has a nice clip in response:
Hot Air » Blog Archive » Obscene Amenities

[RMNIXON]

Originally Posted by northhunter

I think Arkin's comments were kind of a cheap shot. Seems he got upset that some American soldiers actually exercised thier free speech and said what they had to say. He knows they don't have the resources he does to express those opinions so he uses his to take a cheap shot. I also think he's looking for a little attention and must have known the effect his comments would have. I'd be interested to see what he has to say about his remarks if and when he does decide to comment on them.

And thank you for comments about the actual subject of the post! Not another article by another journalist that we debated long ago.......

[Thorgrim]

Gee lets put together the worst pictures we can find, and the dining still looks better than most colleges