Posted by
Always To The Right on Tuesday, September 02, 2008 10:23:14 AM
For the last eight years, but especially in 2004, the Democrats went
after Dick Cheney for accepting five deferments from the draft during
the Vietnam War. Now, however, the Democrats have their own VP
candidate with the same record of draft deferments. Joe Biden took five student deferments
and later got classified as ineligible except in case of national
emergency for asthma — even though his biography emphasizes his ability
at sports as a youth
Does this really make much of a difference otherwise? Plenty of
people took deferments, and as many of them as they could, including
Dick Cheney. Deferments weren’t illegal, although they certainly were
controversial at the time and remain so today. Biden didn’t become a
“draft dodger” or a deserter, and as we can see, he became a productive
member of American society. Under normal circumstances, it shouldn’t
make any difference at all.
However, the same can be said for Cheney — and mostly wasn’t over
the last four years. Democrats who gleefully questioned Cheney’s
manhood and patriotism over this issue should now explain why they
support a candidate for the same office with the same record of
deferments. This issue shouldn’t be about Biden, who cooperated with
the system as it existed at the time. It should be about holding the
hypocrites accountable for their baseless attacks over the years.