I don't know the circumstances surrounding that (and I don't care, I think Vietnam was a strategic mistake and don't have any bones to pick with draft resisters) but at least he hasn't insulted veterans of the war and people that gave their last full measure. That's just basic indecency and is the stuff we wouldn't tolerate in a child, must less a septagenarian adult.

Google is your friend. But it would seem that you are mocking Trump for the exact same thing that Biden did. Both escaped the draft. It doesn't matter what the reason was. Now I am not a big fan of Trump but I would say that beyond a shadow of a doubt he was a much bigger promoter of Americans in uniform than Joe Biden.

I was mocking Trump because he talks a tough talk but he has ran away from real responsibility throughout his life (not because I think military service is a bona fides of virtue). This is typical of people that are narcissistic or sociopathic.

Vietnam.

As I say to my Danish friends when they discuss Danish military engagement in Middle East-
It's OK to discuss the politics whether it was incorrect or correct politics the Danish government have regarding employment in Iraq, Syria and other countries in the Middle East-
But it's not OK to mock a person, who decide to join the Danish military to take part of these operations or don't.

Back another discussion.

Been thinking, would Hillary have any chance if she was running against Trump in the latest election(2020)?

Trying to figure out if Americans voted for a change or if they voted Dem in desperation(To get Trump out)

Markus

If Hillary had been running, the race would have been much closer. She may have won, but it would have been a huge risk and far from certain. And the Right would have gone absolutely bananas, to make January 6th look like a picnic.


Right wing pundits and spin doctors spent decades starting in the 1990's demonizing Hillary and portraying her as unsavory. A radical feminist and accompanied by conspiracy theories that she and Bill had been drug dealers and mafiosi in Little Rock. It was bizarre but that was part and parcel of the rightwing loonery in the 1990's in the US, even if it wasn't part of mainstream discourse.



So even if people never bought into these conspiracy theories, it was enough to taint her. Plus her personality did not resonate with alot of Americans, she was alot like Obama in that she's an idealistic moderate neoliberal with strong faith in American technocracy and scientific rationality, which is strangely perceived as "cold" in a country where alot of people are influenced by highly emotional religious practice that colors their perception of what is, and is not, normal.



Most Democrats in the primaries ultimately opted to play it safe and pick somebody with a reputation for being moderate and not being controversial, as a result. The stakes were seen as too high, particularly among Black Democrats who felt they had alot to lose by another four years of Trump.

Biden does not have character. He has been a professional politican for over 50 years and over that time has changed his policies 180 or 360 degrees depending on what was better in the polls. You can never tell if he is lying or telling the truth. I am not sure if even he knows what he believes in.

People now conveniently forget that he was in favour of segregation in the mid 70s because that is what most of his constituants wanted.

He voted against gay marriage in the 90s because it was politically popular. He was in favor of gay marriage in the 2010s because it was politically popular.

He authored the 1990s crime bill even though it was known at the time it would end up sending proportionally more african-americans to jail than whites.
Why? because it was politically popular.

He voted for the Iraq war because it was politically popular. He turned against the Iraq War when it became politically popular.

The guy has no moral compass. He only knows how to read polls.

None of that is evidence of lack of moral principles. A moral compass can mean changing your mind when you are made to see things differently, not just somebody who stubbornly holds to a fixed ideology or notion. And it's clear that Biden hasn't completely changed his mind, while he did not support gay marriage in the 1990's (few did openly), he did not run on open homophobia but merely represented the views of his constituents (which isn't wrong per se). The same cannot be said for many other politicians, who openly demonized gay people and used that to increase donations to their campaign funds.



I guess I have a somewhat different view of moral character. I think of character as about virtue rather than adherence to unwavering moral laws or principles (which I don't believe in).

I'm going to assume you are a relatively young guy - late teens to early-mid 20's, perhaps? Or you've just led a very sheltered life in an echo chamber.

Until you've actually served in the military, you'll never understand the difference between Trump and Biden re: the military. Most current active duty troops couldn't care less about whether or not a current candidate had a deferment in Vietnam. What they care about is a President who isn't going to carelessly use them for cynical uses. They want a President who isn't going to use them like some medieval prince. Remind me again who deployed guardsmen to DC for the past 5 months for no reason, and thought nothing of having them sleep in parking garages when there was no reason for them to do so? Remind me again which president didn't start any new wars and started the effort to withdraw the remaining soldiers from Iraq and Afghanistan? Which president signed the Mission Act so that veterans have more choice regarding healthcare while trying to fix a bloated VA bureaucracy? Which one called them military stupid bastards? Which one just recently referred to this year's USCGA class as a dull bunch during commencement?

Virtue isn't what nice things you say in front of the cameras or on social media, it's what you *do* with little to no fanfare or when no one is looking and keeping your mouth shut if you don't have something nice to say about the groups of people who you send off to war. And before you go down that path, Trump bad-mouthing McCain is fair game since he was a politician wearing big-boy pants.

I'll take a president who sends mean tweets but takes care of his troops over one who only offers platitudes but then changes his position 57 times...

Well one would then have to ask a simple question. What role does morality play in politics? I would say it is almost irrelevant. Politicians, including Biden are not the pillars of moral standards that you seem to think he might be. What really counts in politics is results and not much else. It is really easy to say all the right things and look good to the adoring masses but what good is that if nothing gets done?

It's not even that nothing gets done. It's that the wrong things get done - pols lining their own pockets with lobbyist cash at the expense of average citizens. Boondoggles with nothing to show for it. Laws passed that result in unintended consequences despite the opposition pointing out those unintended consequences. Pols enacting or repealing laws and regulations that benefit enemy or competitor nations to our nation's detriment.

Didn't Trump called soldiers killed in action "losers"?

I tnink maybe you should listen to some more of his speeches and comments. IMO I think its a bit more than normal aging.



Im sorry he does a little more than just sits around and meets people. The president of the U.S. represents our nation to foreign powers he is also the commander in chief of the most powerful nation on earth and oversees the opertion of the executive branch of the federal government.


Regardless of who he listens too or consultes the responsibility is his and his alone. He better have a brain to put it all together and make the right decesion. The advisors and so called experts are asskissing suck ups who have no responsibility to the voters. Harry S. TRUMAN understood that "The Buck Stops Here"

Thank you for honesty. But now knowing that I would not vote for you as president. I want a leader who is sharp and capable of forming sentences without embarassing himself or my country. I dont think voters were told the truth about the mental health of this candidate. Which leads me to believe maybe these 'advisors' and 'experts' nobody voted for are actually in charge.


Let it go man, The orange man is no longer the president. We now have a president who publically supports a neo nazi, accused a legitimate head of state as a killer while almost starting a war in the Baltic. Thinks black people arent truely black unless they vote for him, and calls everyone Cornpop because he cant remember their names. ya its soo much better now :roll: :)

So you believe Putin that Navalny is a "neo nazi"? Any evidence apart from what Putin says?

https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...orism-database

You believe what you want to believe. I posted a NYT times article by Ellen Barry from 9 Dec 2011 that said as much several months ago. Neither Putin or Brit state run newspaper had anything to do with it.


Speaking of Putin, hows Germany's deals with him working out? If he is such a killer and monster why are you still intent on screwing over other E.U. memebers to get Putins gas for yourselves? I guess Putin isnt so bad of a guy if he has something you want huh?

Funny that Putin destroys any resistance by claiming " [...] Navalny and his supporters [seek] to destabilize Russia "under the guise of liberalism." They say the organization aims to change the "tenets of constitutional order" via "color revolution" — a term used to describe opposition protest in post-Soviet countries, such as the Orange Revolution in Ukraine. Navalny's supporters deny the accusation."

https://www.dw.com/en/how-the-kremli...ork/a-57561696

Putin moves to brand any critics as 'extremists', and the West believes him. So is he too liberal, too nazi or what next? Does not matter, the official made-up 'reason' does not play any role, Putin decides and that's it as usual. Too bad Navalny survived the assassination.