April 13, 2004

It's tough to make up stuff this funny:

Presidential candidate Ralph Nader this weekend warned his constituents that a military draft is pending, and asked younger voters to prepare.

Sure thing Uncle Scar, I mean Ralph. But, of course, he doesn't really mean it beyond getting the headline.

"I don't think that Ralph feels that the draft is imminent, but we are looking at the shortage of troops in Iraq and the calls from [Senator John] Kerry for 40,000 more troops. What Ralph is saying is that if students don't start to organize right now, it will be too late," Mr. Zeese said.

But, wouldn't it be wrong to act preemptively before the draft is actually imminent? Anyway, it's not like the draft can be brought back by executive fiat.

It would take legislative action by Congress to reinstate the draft, which was ended in 1973, about two months before the last U.S. troops were withdrawn from Vietnam. Registration with the Selective Service was halted from 1975 to 1980, but was reinstated under President Carter after Russia invaded Afghanistan.

Jimmy Carter, Nobel Peace Prize winner, preparing for war. Let's see, the last Democratic president that didn't actually have American soldiers dying in a foreign country was ..., um ..., gosh ..., Grover Cleveland! Fortunately, presidents, not even Democratic ones, are dictators. But there's always the millions for tribute, not one cent for defense Congressional Democrats to save us from these rapacious, war-mongering Democratic presidents.

A bill was drafted by South Carolina Sen. Ernest F. Hollings in January 2003, putting in place the parameters for a draft. Its House companion legislation was introduced simultaneously by New York Rep. Charles B. Rangel. Both lawmakers are Democrats.

Then again, maybe not. I wonder how Ralph intends to address this problem?

Posted by Charles Austin at April 13, 2004 03:33 PM
Comments

Grover Cleveland didn't send them, but US Marines were in Hawaii during the beginning of his second term. Their mission was to ovethrow Queen Lili'uokalani of the Kingdom of Hawaii.

Cleveland was actually an interesting character. The people griping about Bush's National Guard service would have loved Cleveland: he paid someone else to serve in his stead during the Civil War.

Then again, he was also President when Souza composed "Semper Fidelis", so at least he's got that going for him.

Posted by: Kieran Lyons at 12:38 AM