Just yesterday I wrote about the political attack ad put out by moveon.org. You know the one, ‘Not Alex’. The ad is blatant scare tactics and implies that there is something intrinsically wrong with our military. Worse, it implies there is something wrong with someone serving the country.
The video is nothing but fear mongering. It implies there is a draft. It implies that John McCain will swoop into your homes and take babes from mothers’ arms and send them off to foreign lands to make them do bad things. It also implies that little Alex is more special than the sons of mothers who have to sit at home while their sons fight for our country.
It undermines the military and its disrespectful to those who serve. It is a slap in the face to all mothers who spend months and years having to consciously live their lives with a constant aching in their hearts and terror in their souls while their sons are deployed.
Little Alex is no more special than my son, or any of the other sons and daughters who were raised to feel a sense of duty to country.
Predictably, bloggers are having a great time responding to this lunacy. Don Surber wonders how Alex feels about all this. Fausta reflects on the emotional appeal of the ad. Jim Geraghty points out that by the end of a hypothetical second John McCain term, little Alex will be nine-years-old and not likely to be drafted at that age. Ed Morrissey gives a reasoned response by pointing out that John McCain, of all people, understands the nature of the sacrifice required of those who go to war as well as those who watch and wait as their precious children go to war.
And the parodies begin. Allahpundit posted a parody. But my favorite so far was posted by Josh Schroeder, who calls himself ‘one private citizen‘ and says ‘Not My Wallet’ … enjoy that video below.
Not My Wallet - Video
June 19th, 2008 at 1:26 pm
Hey Beth…will ya check on my trackbacks ? I tried to do this one and Alex’s mom. Thanks…
June 19th, 2008 at 10:59 pm
I don’t see the trackback, Jo - but I’ll link over
June 20th, 2008 at 2:52 am
I wish I could figure out what I’m doing wrong…I use what I think is the permalink, and put it in trackback box…but then it never shows. It seems the only trackbacks I don’t screw up are te ones with numbers in them…grrrr… Someday, perhaps I’ll have an epiphany and say ohhhhhhhh..that’s what I’m doing wrong !
June 21st, 2008 at 5:20 am
“Greater no love than this, than a man who lays down his life for his friends.” sayeth John 15:13. Mac’s son is an enlistee in the USMC and if the draft was reinstituted, I’d like to see how the reps and sens VOTE if their sons and daughters and nieces and nephews were in the U.S. military, and IN HARM’S WAY Beth!
June 23rd, 2008 at 7:24 am
What a riot! I love it.
June 23rd, 2008 at 7:33 am
Beth,
Congratulations! Your previous post was quoted in Bill Kristol’s column in the New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/23/opinion/23kristol.html?hp)!
Your comments were great and the video in this post is a hoot!
This is your topic…take it and run with it.
Godspeed to your son. May he be successful in his mission and return home safely.
June 23rd, 2008 at 8:22 am
The wallet parody might be more effective if Bush had not increased spending and blown billions of taxpayer dollars on a counterproductive war that has neither captured the ideological leader of the 9/11 attacks, nor made the American people any bit safer.
If the government mandates that troops be sent somewhere to do something, that mandate alone does not provide either a solid strategic or a moral justification for the collective act. I really think some people (far too many) would be happy to hand over their wallets AND their kids if Bush decided to invade Greenland, Canada, and Australia tomorrow as part of the “Global War on Terror” (or, as Rumsfeld said “Global Struggle Against Violent Extremism” or maybe it’s just a Fight Against Bad Things?)…
June 23rd, 2008 at 12:40 pm
MoveOn’s Alex ad is not anti-”military service”, or anti-”protect our country”. It’s about Iraq, and the possibility of being in Iraq for 100 year. Has anybody thought about the monetary cost of that? Not to mention all the Alex’s that we’ve already buried. I feel the same way as that mother, about my own children… military service is to be admired and commended, certainly in pursuit of the terrorists who planned 9/11, but not in pursuit of someone’s arrogant, foolish, costly misstep. That’s the worst reason to lose a child.
June 23rd, 2008 at 5:08 pm
Not to mention all the Alex’s that we’ve already buried. I feel the same way as that mother, about my own children
We don’t send children off to war. Adults make adult decisions whether or not to volunteer to serve their country and protect the Alexes of the world, and their mothers.
June 23rd, 2008 at 7:03 pm
Two of McCain’s own sons have fought on the front lines of this war, I think he understands the nature of that sacrifice. The closest that Obama has been to understanding that is playing video games, which is how we can expect him to think about and use our Military if he gets into office. Its been 897 days since he has been to Iraq.
Angelina Jolie returned from Iraq in February 2008, and stated in a Feb 28th Wash Post editorial “As for the question of whether the surge is working, I can only state what I witnessed: U.N. staff and those of non-governmental organizations seem to feel they have the right set of circumstances to attempt to scale up their programs. And when I asked the troops if they wanted to go home as soon as possible, they said that they miss home but feel invested in Iraq. They have lost many friends and want to be a part of the humanitarian progress they now feel is possible.”
By the way, while there she met with General Petraeus, something that Obama has chosen not to do.
Angelina Jolie returned from It seems to me that now is the moment to address the humanitarian side of this situation. Without the right support, we could miss an opportunity to do some of the good we always stated we intended to do.