Glenn Greenwald Has Done It Again
February 3rd, 2008, 11:23 AM EST
He’s about to release another great book. I was fortunate enough to receive an advance copy of “Great American Hypocrites“. From the myth that John Wayne was a great American hero (he was a WWII draft dodger), to how the media perpetuates false images of right-wingers (so much for the “liberal media”), to the so-called “wholesome, family men” who tried to push Bill Clinton from office while they were courting their own mistresses and divorcing their first and second wives for the younger women they were boinking, to the falsehood that Republicans bring us smaller government, Glenn lays it out beautifully. It’s out in April, but you can pre-order now.
The Great American Hoax; elected officals are there to help the public. LOL. They come out of office RICH, and only one guess WHO pays the bill ! I’ll pass on the book I already know the story !
February 3rd, 2008 at 12:06 pm
John Wayne was much less of a “draft dodger” than Bill Clinton or Dick Cheney were.
The Dukester, in his late 30s, was getting kind of long in the tooth for the service anyway. Even though he didn’t exactly put a uniform on, he did “tour”. In “touring” he saw more action than the war hero GWB saw with his official commission.
“Island in the Sky” was on a while back. They don’t make ‘em like that anymore.
February 4th, 2008 at 12:33 am
Aw fuh cryin’ out loud.
John Wayne, long in the tooth at 34?
My father was drafted — at age 44! — to serve in WWII, and by god he did, till the end of hostilities and beyond, in active service till 1946, reserves till 1953.
February 4th, 2008 at 11:46 am
Glenn asks that pre-orders be held until the week before the book releases, so as to maximize impact and rank on bestseller lists, etc.
February 4th, 2008 at 11:55 am
I’m a lifelong John Wayne fan, but the idea that at 34 he was too old to serve is just wrong. As Yeppers suggests, the military ultimately drafted men between 18 and 45. Jimmy Stewart, who was only a year younger than Wayne, famously enlisted in the Army Air Force, and flew at least 20 combat missions. He twice received the Distinguished Flying Cross for actions in combat and was awarded the Croix de Guerre. He also received the Air Medal with three oak leaf clusters. Stewart even stayed in the Air Force reserve after the war, and became a Brigadier General.
Clark Gable, 6 years older than Wayne, had to battle the military to see combat. Gable joined the U.S. Army Air Forces in 1942. Even though he was officially on part of a motion picture unit making a gunnery training film, he managed to fly five combat missions, earning the Air Medal and the Distinguished Flying Cross for his efforts.
It’s said that Wayne regretted the decision he made to concentrate on his career instead of joining up, but whatever his motives, age wasn’t factor.
February 4th, 2008 at 1:08 pm
While I don’t doubt that John Wayne, touring I’m guessing with the USO, saw more action than GWB, in what alternate Universe was GWB a war hero? He never got within a thousand miles of Vietnam, and he’s more likely to be considered a war criminal over Iraq.
February 4th, 2008 at 2:18 pm
My father, too, was drafted and served when he was in his thirties.
As for Bill Clinton being a draft dodger, he considered getting another deferment but did not and let his name go into the draft pool like everyone else. His draft number was high so he was never called up. This is actually a good example of the myths Republicans get away with. Clinton did nothing illegal or unethical. Compare this to Bush who went AWOL from the National Guard, or Cheney who kept avoiding getting drafted by going to school, then getting married. When deferments for married men without children were withdrawn, the Cheneys immediately got pregnant and had their first child about nine months after the rules changed. What is particularly egregious about all the Republican Chickenhawks(Rush had a cyst on his tailbone) is that these guys believed in the war yet felt someone else should fight it. They still talk about how the war should have been won. I keep waiting for someone to say, maybe if you guys had bothered to participate it would have been.
February 4th, 2008 at 2:26 pm
It still is as it always has been. “Rich man’s war, pour man’s fight.”
February 4th, 2008 at 2:38 pm
Anyone interested in parsing the GOPs rewriting of history – especially recent history – would be well advised to pick up glenn’s book. The research from his Salon column has been impeccable.
February 4th, 2008 at 3:57 pm
Hmmm … Following the link to Glenn’s book over at Random House, I noticed that “Readers Also Browsed …” three books by Ann Coulter. Sounds like coordinated right wing spamming to me. Either that, or she really is backing Hilary over McCain.
February 4th, 2008 at 4:40 pm
John Wayne lost a football scholarship after an injury in college. Age aside, that may have also had something to do with his sitting out the war as a civilian.
Whatever the case, John Wayne was still less of a “draft dodger” than Bill Clinton or Dick Cheney were. The worst you can say about Wayne is that he never actively sought military service, which is different than working the system to avoid service.
I have no more desire to defend the rightwing Dukester than I would to defend Rush Limbaugh’s sitting out Vietnam for the sore on his butt or Dick Cheney’s multiple draft deferments. Or the war hero status of GWB, war hero status gained from his service defending Texas from the evil Oklahoma Sooner aggressors.
Clark Gable only fought his way into the service after his wife was killed in a plane crash. His motives, only he would have known. I suspect his motives weren’t only rooted in patriotism.
February 4th, 2008 at 5:02 pm
I’d probably draft dodge. I have nothing negative to say about Wayne, Bush, Cheney, etc, on that matter.
February 4th, 2008 at 6:15 pm
“John Wayne lost a football scholarship after an injury in college. ”
Must have been a brain injury. The man was a neanderthal, politically and otherwise.
February 4th, 2008 at 6:16 pm
The Dukester a Dodger? Maybe not exactly.
But he certainly didn’t go out of his way to display the patriotism in reality that he later displayed so showily on screen and with his political pronouncements.
That’s the part that stinks so bad. Doing one thing and saying, loudly and often, another.
It’s called hypocrisy, and I’m looking forward to reading about more prime republican examples of it.
February 4th, 2008 at 9:29 pm
Hey, let’s not forget Ronald Reagan’s glorious military service in Hollywood California, which made service in the Texas Air National Guard look dangerous by comparison.
February 4th, 2008 at 10:31 pm
Greenwald is a true Liberal at heart. That’s why he’s so sympathetic to Ron Paul. By Liberal I mean in the classical/hippie vein of valuing freedom above all else and “live and let live.”
February 4th, 2008 at 10:45 pm
[...] Politics, were sent out last week, and Alan Colmes, who received a copy, became the first to review the new book here. The book addresses the standard manipulative electoral techniques the GOP uses to win national [...]
February 4th, 2008 at 11:43 pm
Public Enemy didn’t need to write a book to let us know how much of a hypocrite John Wayne was. Took one line from a song.
February 5th, 2008 at 1:29 am
We Americans seem to always have trouble distinguishing between the projected “image” and the actual person. I am greatly looking forward to reading Glenn’s book; we desperately need someone to illuminate the difference. As for the great “American hero”, John Wayne, how would our perceptions change if we learned that his name was Marion Morrison, that he’d never ridden a horse before he came to Hollywood from the Midwest with ambitions to be a “singing cowboy, that for most of his acting career he wore wigs because he was entirely bald, that he actively sought to avoid military service, that he was a mean-spirited, egocentric man? True, all true. If you’d known him in person, he would have fallen far short of anything remotely heroic.
February 5th, 2008 at 8:00 am
It’s neither here not there for political purposes, but John Wayne’s injury at USC wasn’t football-related. He injured himself body-surfing and decided to leave the team, losing his scholarship in the process.
My folks used to live in Orange County CA, where the airport is named after Wayne, statue out front and all. When they finally moved away, they said their main relief was going somewhere that people didn’t actually think that Wayne’s movies were documentaries.
February 5th, 2008 at 11:13 am
Oh fer crying out loud, John Wayne the man was nothing like his movies characters. He was a well known foul-mouthed bully and coward. Any man stuck with the name “Marion” is bound to have a chip on his shoulder.
I’m not shocked at Glenn’s “revelation.” Old news.
February 5th, 2008 at 11:14 pm
The Chickenhawk Dance
“Georgie Dubya didn’t go!
Dickie Cheney didn’t go!
Hell, no! Hell, no!
(Clap! Clap Clap! Clap!)
“Karly Rove, he didn’t go
Freddy Thompson didn’t go
Hell, no! Hell, no!
(Clap! Clap Clap! Clap!)
“Mittsy Romney didn’t go
Giuliani didn’t go
Hell, no! Hell, no!
(Clap! Clap Clap! Clap!)
“Billy Frist he didn’t go
Newtie Gingrich didn’t go
Hell, no! Hell, no!
(Clap! Clap Clap! Clap!)
CHORUS:
BECAUSE THE GOP ARE CHICKENS
BEHIND THEIR “MIGHTY WARRIOR” ACT
BUT THEY HATE IT LIKE THE DICKENS
IF YOU REMIND THEM OF THAT FACT!
“Ronnie Reagan didn’t go
Johnny Wayne he didn’t go
Hell, no! Hell, no!
(Clap! Clap Clap! Clap!)
REPEAT VERSES AD INFINITUM UNTIL YOU RUN OUT OF GOP NAMES…
ACTUALLY, YOU CAN USE PRETTY MUCH ANY GOP NAME EXCEPT “JOHN McCAIN”…
February 6th, 2008 at 8:47 am
I am eager to get and read Glenn’s book. Glenn is one of the voices of the left that speaks with authority and precisions on the events of our day.
In other regards, isn’t “much less of a draft-dodger” rather like much less pregnant. Add to thathe natures of the two wars. I am a pacifist and if there ever was a “good” war WWII was it. Vietnam had no redeeming values and while I served in Veitnam, I hold no ill will to those who took a position against the war and refused to go. Bush took no position against the war and pretended to serve.
All may have been draft-dodgers (defer to the item above about Clinton and his high draft number) but Bush was a draft-dodger and a hypocrite, still is.
February 6th, 2008 at 10:00 am
GWB’s “Imagine”
Imagine there’s no Constitution
it’s easy when I try,
No Bill of Rights to stop me
Everytime I want to spy,
Imagine all the people
Doing as I say…
Imagine there are no countries
I do it all the time,
No one left to kill or die for
‘cos I’ve nuked Mecca too.
Imagine all the people
Worshipping just Me…
Imagine no more taxes
something you know I can,
Forget the hungry children
No more Brotherhood of Man.
Imagine all the people
voting only for ME…
You may say I’m a dreamer
but I’m not the only one.
I order you to join me
and the world will live as Neo-Con
(With apologies to John Lennon – but I know he’ll understand).
February 6th, 2008 at 6:05 pm
In an era in which the presidential administration actively engages press intimidation and media manipulation, “thank you” to Mr. Greenwald for continuing to publish well-researched and carefully substantiated material.
I just wish such information would gain wider exposure in the mainstream media.
My own parents, for example, get all their news from the major broadcast TV networks. They don’t see the kind of statistics Mr. Greenwald provides about military spending, national budgets, etc.
Hats off to Glenn Greenwald.
February 6th, 2008 at 8:35 pm
The phrase “draft dodger” originally meant a person who was selected for the draft and originally avoided it by fleeing to Canada or taking some other illegal step. That’s why the phrase “much less of a draft dodger” is used: none of Clinton, Cheney, or Bush is an actual draft dodger, but the fact that the Republicans were happy to launch the accusation against Clinton solely for using one legal deferment means that the records of Cheney and Bush are fair game. Cheney had an absurd number of deferments while Bush’s military record is atrocious.
February 7th, 2008 at 10:06 am
Wayne was a baby compared to Jack Dempsey who fought on Okinawa at the age of 49.
February 7th, 2008 at 12:27 pm
Looking forward to reading this book on the Hypocracy of these super patriots and examples of moral virtue. John Wayne was a draft dodger as well as an abuser of women (4 marriages as well as numerous affairs). I cringe whenever I hear him referred to as the movie action war hero. Ronald Reagan made training movies which enabled him to live in Hollywood and come home safely each night. He and GW Bush are portrayed as cowboys despite the fact that Reagan was always attired in the formal English riding clothes as well as a English saddle. GWB does not know how to ride and is afraid of horses. These hypocritical Republicans are also famous for tossing aside their wives for the trophy wife. Perfect example are the Republican Presidential Candidates.
March 10th, 2008 at 2:10 am
How can I communicate directly with Glenn Greenwald?
My Email: hrowin@cox.net Phone: 480-922-4317
8808 E. San Rafael Drive Scottsdale, AZ 85258-1929
What is Mr. Greenwald’s FAX Number?
Subject: Bold,Imaginative and “Obvious” recommenda-
tions designed for success for Democrats,now and the future.
March 14th, 2008 at 7:14 pm
I don’t care whether John Wayne was a hero or not, he was an actor that pretended to be something else. So I liked his movies because they were wholesome and patriotic. As far as Republicans being famous for tossing aside their wives, are the Democrats famous for cheating on their wives? So do you think this kind of book digging specifically about Republicans will not have to have the same number of words picking on the Dems if the “Fairness Doctrine” becomes law? Sheesh.
September 18th, 2008 at 3:28 pm
It’s not who cheats or who doesn’t cheast, it’s when you cheat as much or more while running on “family values”, and portraying your party as our moral betters.
September 18th, 2008 at 3:37 pm
I would love to see a book of Hypocracy about tolerant open-minded sensitive compassionate Leftists.
September 18th, 2008 at 7:36 pm
“It’s not who cheats or who doesn’t cheast, it’s when you cheat as much or more while running on “family values”, and portraying your party as our moral betters.
Posted by OldLefty
September 18th, 2008 at 3:37 pm”
What’s funny is how you bigoted dolts think everyone who is in the GOP or who is conservative is automatically a social conservative.
September 18th, 2008 at 7:38 pm
Vince states,
What’s funny is how you bigoted dolts think everyone who is in the GOP or who is conservative is automatically a social conservative.
The social conservatives have controlled the agenda of the Republican party for a long time, but I am at least one bigoted dolt who does not believe all members of the GOP are social conservatives.
September 18th, 2008 at 7:43 pm
At this point, I do not need to know more about hypocrisy in the conservative or liberal ranks. What I would like to know is how we can get our country back or whether it’s even possible. I do think the media is involved in helping to keep the truth from reaching the American public. I also think our educational system has failed us that we still have so many Americans comfortable in being racist, and I think, out of fear, wanting to control the lives of others to the extent that the Constitution can be over ruled. I feel we need a real change in our country, but who is going to be able to obtain it? What has happened this week in the financial world seems like highway robbery to me. Why aren’t we calling the Wall Street gang and investor bankers what they are–Criminals. White collar crime is okay, huh? Who has the will and the knowledge to know how to stop this? Why don’t the high-minded conservatives care as much about stealing as they do about abortion, gay rights, etc. Why is it okay for a rich man to rob the working man without having to stand trial? What can we do about this?
September 21st, 2008 at 7:29 pm
Jane,
The problem is, both parties are full of corruption. unfortunately.
the other problem is, rather than dealing with the issues at hand the media wants to talk about 17-year-old’s who are pregnant, obama’s rock star qualities, Michelle Obama’s taste for fashion, Todd Palin being a snowmobile racer.
what they should be focusing on are the facts. ALL the facts. Not just the convenient ones.
September 21st, 2008 at 7:52 pm
Jane:
I think you’ll see that one side does have some rationality still.. and some of the poeple there will recongnize that the entire system is broken. They did not cause the problem yet are incompetent at communication and will end up having it perceived that it’s their fault.
The other side is in thrall to power lust. They will admit nothing. They will tell lie after lie after lie in order to advance their agenda. They actually caused the problem yet will not admit it.
Unfortunately these are the choices.. the third options are not effective.
September 21st, 2008 at 8:02 pm