Edwards Calls for War Protests

There is a time for protests, and I support everyone's right to assemble, but protesting on Memorial Day is disgraceful IMO.:grumpy:

It's grandstanding, by yet someone else who doesn't have a plan or platform of their own.

maybe Edwards is a republican mole, trying to get the nomination by being McGovern and pandering to far-left loons which then make him un-electable in General election and repub wins by default? He's obviously a 'for sale' politician so maybe its possible? I would love to see the DU thread on that conspiracy theory.

Bad idea. Memorial Day is not about examining the rightness or wrongness of any war, but only to honor the sacrifice of those who have served. Memorial Day does not glorify war, but it should also not demonize it. Every day of the years can be spent discussing the reasons and causes for any war, one day is set aside to honor the human toll of those wars. Let it be.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yvg4utL07o

Bourgeois_Rage Wrote:Bad idea. Memorial Day is not about examining the rightness or wrongness of any war, but only to honor the sacrifice of those who have served. Memorial Day does not glorify war, but it should also not demonize it. Every day of the years can be spent discussing the reasons and causes for any war, one day is set aside to honor the human toll of those wars. Let it be.

Couldn't have said it better myself BR.

Well, I'm not an Edwards supporter, but in fairness to him I think he is using memorial day to say, "we need to not just eat hot dogs and go swimming, we need to remember that our troops are in Iraq fighting and risking their lives for a failed policy and they deserve better."

I agree that it can be easily misinterpreted though... which is why its dumb. But I don't think for a moment that Edwards doesn't respect the troops -- quite to the contrary.

OUGwave Wrote:Well, I'm not an Edwards supporter, but in fairness to him I think he is using memorial day to say, "we need to not just eat hot dogs and go swimming, we need to remember that our troops are in Iraq fighting and risking their lives for a failed policy and they deserve better."

I agree that it can be easily misinterpreted though... which is why its dumb. But I don't think for a moment that Edwards doesn't respect the troops -- quite to the contrary.

Yep. Way too many people think having a cookout and slapping an American flag on their car qualifies as doing their part for our nation. We seriously need to bring service and sacrifice back into our national mindset. And I'm as guilty as anyone of not doing enough.

OUGwave Wrote:Well, I'm not an Edwards supporter, but in fairness to him I think he is using memorial day to say, "we need to not just eat hot dogs and go swimming, we need to remember that our troops are in Iraq fighting and risking their lives for a failed policy and they deserve better."

I agree that it can be easily misinterpreted though... which is why its dumb. But I don't think for a moment that Edwards doesn't respect the troops -- quite to the contrary.

Yep. Way too many people think having a cookout and slapping an American flag on their car qualifies as doing their part for our country. We seriously need to bring service and sacrifice back into our national mindset. And I'm as guilty as anyone of not doing enough.

dwr0109 Wrote:

OUGwave Wrote:Well, I'm not an Edwards supporter, but in fairness to him I think he is using memorial day to say, "we need to not just eat hot dogs and go swimming, we need to remember that our troops are in Iraq fighting and risking their lives for a failed policy and they deserve better."

I agree that it can be easily misinterpreted though... which is why its dumb. But I don't think for a moment that Edwards doesn't respect the troops -- quite to the contrary.

Yep. Way too many people think having a cookout and slapping an American flag on their car qualifies as doing their part for our nation. We seriously need to bring service and sacrifice back into our national mindset. And I'm as guilty as anyone of not doing enough.

One of the biggest problems I have with Bush's response to September 11th is that after the biggest attack on this country since Pearl Harbor, when it was abundantly clear that we were facing an enemy that would clearly be as difficult to defeat as Fascism and Communism, he made no calls to national sacrifice whatsoever. His advice on what to do in such a difficult time? Go shopping.

I do what I can. I don't drive a car, and I do pay a price in convenience for that, although public transport is better in DC than in many places. I financially support groups like the USO and those who support energy-efficient and renewable technologies (Barack Obama says it best -- We need to look inside ourselves, and ask why we are funding both sides of the War on Terror). But we should always do more. And the most important thing for me is, make sure you are not putting troops in harms way without a plan to win the war, secure the peace, and honor the sacrifice of those who are fighting for us by caring for them when they come home.

Although I can understand Edwards' sentiment, still bad timing IMO. And I think the best thing you can do to honor troops on Memorial Day is to remember their sacrifice, make sure that troops are only used when absolutely necessary, that they have the tools (including sufficiently armored transport) to do their jobs, and that they are well-taken care of when they are injured in the fighting, whether physically or mentally. The government should bend over backwards to cover hospital bills for these servicemen and women. It's definitely a true cost of any war and it's the least the country can do for them.