Mitt Romney in Paris, circa 1967

Mitt Romney was born in 1947. He graduated from high school in 1965, and promptly received a draft deferment for college. After one year at Stanford, he shifted his deferment to cover his 30-month Mormon missionary service in Paris, France. Upon his return, in December, 1968, he proposed to Ann Davies, enrolled in Brigham Young University and renewed his deferments. While running for President, Romney has said that his five sons had better things to do with their lives than serve in the military.

So, how did Mr. Romney spend Memorial Day in San Diego? Promising to keep the American military superior to all others. According to Romney, our military is being threatened with destruction from our own government.

“We have two courses we can follow. One is to follow in the pathway of Europe, to shrink our military smaller and smaller to pay for our social needs. The other is to commit to preserve America as the strongest military in the world, second to none, wiht no comparable power anywhere in the world.”

Okay folks, he said it – flat out and indisputable – we must place military spending ahead of meeting our “social needs.” He even admitted that they are “needs” not socialism or whims or teat-sucking.

Meanwhile, President Obama was at Arlington National Cemetery and the Vietnam War Memorial. He laid a wreath on the Tomb of the Unknowns, and marked the 50^th anniversary of U. S. involvement in Vietnam. President Obama spoke of how “Americans are not fighting and dying in Iraq. After a decade under the dark cloud of war, we can see the light of the new day on the horizon.” But, according to the right wing, this President “hates America” and “hates soldiers” and a ridiculous number (58%) of veterans believe that. Veterans make up 13% of our eligible voters (except in Florida, where a 95-year old World War II veteran has been informed he may not be a citizen and cannot vote unless he produces a birth certificate.)

Senator John McCain, who spent five years in the Hanoi Hilton while Romney was enjoying Paris, told the audience in San Diego that Romney, “I believe, is full qualified to be commander in chief.” Well, he did visit Afghanistan and Iraq while he was governor of Massachusetts, between 2003 and 2007.

Romney, whose foreign policy credentials consist of running the Olympics, has criticized everything that President Obama has done or said he wants to do in foreign relations. It’s not that he’s offered any viable alternatives, but whatever President Obama is doing must be wrong. That agrees with so many right wing posters on the news comment streams. Don’t know what the Prez is doing, he’s not doing anything, but whatever it is it’s wrong. This from the man who said that Russia is out greatest geopolitical threat. It would almost be worth letting him win, just to watch the first time he meets Vladimir Putin. Romney’s list of threats to the United States consists of Iran, Pakistan, China, Russia, Venezuela and Mexican drug cartels.

But the best thing Romney said on Monday was that our military superiority is needed, “not so that we just win wars, but so we can prevent wars. A strong America is the best deterrent to war that has ever been invented.”

We emerged from World War II with the greatest military on earth. So, what kind of deterrent has it been? Korea, Vietnam, Panama, Grenada, the Dominican Republic (we invaded in 1965), Cambodia, Laos, the Persian Gulf, Bosnia, Macedonia, Somalia, Iraq, Afghanistan….yup, it’s really kept us from conducting wars, hasn’t it? And that’s just all-out wars. Then there were the military actions. We have deployed our troops 67 times around the world since 1945. That averages out to once a year, in addition to those 13 wars.

And to think George Will called Donald Trump the “bloviating ignoramus.”

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