Campaign Troops

by digby

Via Dan Froomkin, I see that Fox News (of all places) is following this story of Bush making political speeches before military audiences:

… lately the president has been saying more than just “hello” to troops. Twice last month in speeches to military audiences, the president attacked Democrats and fired back at their accusations that pre-war intelligence was manipulated by his administration.

“It is irresponsible for Democrats to now claim we misled them and the American people,” Bush said.

On Nov. 11 at the Army Depot in Tobyhanna, Pa., Bush told the audience of servicemen and women that some Democrats who voted to authorize the use of force against Iraq have attempted to rewrite the past.

“The national interest is too important for politicians to throw out false charges,” he added.

The attacks against critics at military settings may have put troops in the awkward position of undermining their own regulations. A Department of Defense directive doesn’t allow service members in uniform to attend “partisan political events.”

Questions have been raised about the military’s attendance at events where Bush says something like “they spoke the truth then, they’re speaking politics now.” Several members of the military told FOX News that Bush is inviting the troops to take sides in a partisan debate in his speeches.

“This is a very bad sign,” said retired Marine Gen. Joseph Hoar, who led Central Command in the early 1990s and is an administration critic. “This is the sort of thing that you find in other countries where the military and political, certain political parties are aligned.”

Bush often appeared with troops in his 2004 campaign. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., endorsed him before hundreds of cheering soldiers.

“Where you have our uniformed members being put in a position where it looks like they’re rooting for one side or another is very disconcerting,” said Greg Noone, a former Navy lawyer.

Presidents have generally avoided such military settings due to the chance for attacks from opponents.

“They could be divisive,” said Stephen Hess, a senior fellow in governance studies at the Brookings Institution. “And as commander-in-chief, he represents all the people as does the military defend all the people.”

I wrote about this a few days ago. It’s not only the president, of course, who is doing this. The VP spoke before the troops this week as well. It’s done for the specific purpose of giving the impression that the military backs the administration politically. It’s inappropriate to give speech after speech before these captive audiences in the first place, but to take pot shots at the political opposition is really beyond the pale. There are Democrats among the troops, but they are not allowed to give their political opinion in this situation (by booing, for instance) the way a regular citizen could (theoretically, at least.)

And, as Stephen Hess points out, when Bush dons his Commander in Chief hat he’s no longer supposed to be partisan. In that capacity, he’s supposed to represent all the people. The military is always supposed to represent all the people.

Meanwhile, Dan Bartlet proves once again that the White House believes that they can speak gibberish and everyone will just let it slide:

“They’re the ones who are defending our freedom,” said White House Communications Director Dan Bartlett. “They should be able to listen to the debate, they should be able to hear both sides.”

I’ll be looking forward to seeing John Kerry and John Murtha addressing the troops every couple of days. After all, they should be able to hear both sides.

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