The American Spectator

Among the Intellectualoids

On a regular basis, we hear people say how they "support the troops but are against the war." This has never made much sense to me, but then again, I'm not as smart as actors and comedians. Is there anything they don't know?

Richard Belzer helped hash this out recently. The Law & Order actor and long-time comedian let the cat out of the bag during an appearance on HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher.

The bottom line for Belzer: The troops aren't the best qualified to comment on the war because they don't have time to read 20 newspapers a day, can't know the truth because too busy trying not to die, and are "19- and 20-year-old kids who couldn't get a job." (Read the exchange or watch the video for yourself here.)

At least Belzer lets it fly unabashedly. Usually the left is a little more tactful in camouflaging the truth as it concerns their view of the troops.

The reason why they believe that the U.S. soldier is an empty-headed dupe isn't tough to figure out.

Consider Casey Sheehan, for example. He joined the military on his own accord, willingly re-enlisted during this conflict, and fought and died for something in which he believed. Casey's mother Cindy, founder of the Crawford KOA and rabid collector of frequent protester miles, has said he died "for nothing."

To use the deaths of U.S. soldiers who joined willingly as an anti-war statement is to discredit their beliefs and judgment, not to mention their intellect. These are all things that liberals do with artful virtuosity. They just don't usually come right out and say it, like Belzer.

Take Belzer and Sheehan out of the equation for a moment and look at some of the others who "care about the troops." Observe protests by the group called Code Pink. An organization so named, presumably, because of all the Pepto Bismol you have to drink to keep them from turning your stomach.

Code Pink members have hung around the Walter Reed Army Hospital, which houses many wounded soldiers, and waved signs such as "Maimed for Lies" and "Enlist here and die for Halliburton." This sounds like a bunch of people who obviously respect the soldiers, doesn't it?

You'd be hard pressed to find another group of people who are more abusive than those who seek peace for a living.

Adding fuel to the "they're so stupid" fire is the fact that these same morons in question are also overwhelmingly pro-Bush.

Much of the left views the U.S. soldier as having discovered an entirely new level of dim-wittedness -- a doofy outlook perhaps deserving of the mockery that has taken place at the Walter Reed Army Hospital, not to mention worthy of the applauded insults that rocketed from the moonscaped mug of Richard Belzer.

To be led into an unjust war by a moron is one thing, but for those same people to vote for that moron in droves makes the military reprehensibly imbecilic in leftist eyes.

For a moment, let's consider the people Belzer insults. Americans like these have helped put an end to slavery, oppression, genocide and all manner of craziness put forth by every spiral-eyed deranged dictator and tin-pot wanker on the planet.

The military can be sent to fight in some of the biggest dung-heap, dirt-bucket and generally scummy areas on the face of the earth -- places that make a septic tank look like the Presidential Suite at the Bellagio. They perform tasks -- from the incredibly dangerous to the intolerably mundane -- without complaint or plea for recognition.

The military is often called upon to take on unhinged nut cases -- the aberrant likes of whom may make you long for the stability of Courtney Love. They volunteer to dive head first into a big bowl of "Crackpot Bouillabaisse" against knee-jerk fascists, totalitarian fist wavers, and mad men engaged in a fierce game of "Virgin-Quest."

All this is offset by the lousy pay.

What must make a soldier's job even more difficult is that, on top of all this, they hear entertainers who make a fortune on fiction telling them they have no idea what they're talking about because they didn't learn about their own missions in the biased mainstream press.

Sure -- and Neil Armstrong couldn't wait to get back to Earth so he could see the cover of the New York Times and learn all about what it was like to be on the moon.

Members of the U.S. military have fought and died so people like Belzer are free to sit in comfortable security and insult them. Hey, maybe that's why Richard thinks they're stupid.

In this one isolated instance, Belzer may have a point.

topics:
Law, Military