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2005-02-06 Home Front: Culture Wars
Ralph Peters on Jim Mattis
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Posted by Mrs. Davis 2005-02-06 4:00:41 PM|| || Front Page|| [6 views since 2007-05-07]  Top

#1 Uncharacteristically, Rummy missed a chance on one of the talk shows this morning. When asked about General Mattis' remark by one of the Bighairs (Wolf Blitzer, I think) Rummy basically said that the Commandant of the Marine Corps had dealt with the issue and that was the end of it. I would much rather have seen him come out swinging with a defense of Mattis' very considerable achievements (taking Baghdad, for example.)
Posted by Matt 2005-02-06 4:23:45 PM||   2005-02-06 4:23:45 PM|| Front Page Top

#2 Maybe, Matt, but if Rummy had done that what would have changed? All the people who currently respect Mattis would still respect him, and all the people with access to the airwaves who have it in for the military and for Rummy would have gone to town, Abu Ghraibing this thing. Mattis doesn't need defending against pin-pricks, and no-one on the left would have been persuaded to understand Mattis's comments just by having Rummy defend them. It was probably as well to just deprived the MSM of their little toy.
Posted by Patrick Brown 2005-02-06 4:53:14 PM||   2005-02-06 4:53:14 PM|| Front Page Top

#3 Patrick, that's a good comment, but if I had been in Mattis' position I think I would have wanted the SecDef to say a few words in my defense.
Posted by Matt 2005-02-06 5:04:24 PM||   2005-02-06 5:04:24 PM|| Front Page Top

#4 And drag the non-story out even more?
Posted by Tom 2005-02-06 5:05:47 PM||   2005-02-06 5:05:47 PM|| Front Page Top

#5 I'm not certain of the best venue for this, but I think that one thing all of us should do is "bombard" various "opinion makers" including our members of Congress with parise for Mattis. One of the things that's happened over the years is that whenever some one in the PC side of life gets offended by something they get a lot of attention for their self-righteous opinions. If we flood Congress, etc with POSITIVE comments, much of that political power can be nullified.
I'm not suggesting that we can "cure" it in a single attempt, but even a first attempt will go a long way toward brining balance to these issues.

Posted by Ralph  2005-02-06 5:50:53 PM||   2005-02-06 5:50:53 PM|| Front Page Top

#6 I absolutely guarantee you that the Commandant called him and demanded his letter of retirement. It will likely delay for a few weeks to let the furor die down, and to give the appearance he is retiring on his on.
Posted by anymouse  2005-02-06 11:56:46 PM||   2005-02-06 11:56:46 PM|| Front Page Top

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