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Chris Myers To Hold Press Conference to Attack Bloggers

by: huntsu

Mon Jul 28, 2008 at 12:29:59 PM EDT



Chris Myers, GOP candidate for US Congress, appears unable to raise significant funds (especially from very Republican Ocean County), make any headway on the issues, or find a reasonable tack to take against his Democratic opponent state Senator John Adler.  So what's a losing candidate to do?

Attack the bloggers.

Seriously, he's holding a press conference this afternoon at 1 p.m. to "discuss his military service" because Blue Jersey front pager Thurman Hart -- like Myers, a Navy Veteran -- questioned whether Myers should be considered a "combat veteran" when no one ever shot at Myers or any ships he served on.

Myers did win a combat ribbon, but Hart's assertion is that while the medal is described as a combat honor it was awarded on a waiver despite the fact that there was no enemy attack on Myers or any ship he served on.

What's interesting is that Myers is demanding respect for his service, but refuses to recognize Thurman's.  They both served on ships in the Gulf, both went through mine infested waters, and both worked to bring peace to the Middle East.  But all Hart is to Myers is a "blogger" and not a fellow and honored veteran.

If you want to go, it's in 40 minutes at Freedom Park in Medford at 1 p.m. (Google Map)

If you go, get some video and put up a diary.  We'd love to hear what he has to say directly.

huntsu :: Chris Myers To Hold Press Conference to Attack Bloggers
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A Challenge To Myers and Hart... (4.00 / 1)
First off, I have no connection to the Adler campaign nor have I asked Thurman's "permission" or informed him, about the forthcoming challenge.

After reading Thurman's piece here; it seems to me he's made an iron clad case that Myers is, at the very least, self servingly mistaken.....and, at most...being deceptive.

I can understand why the Myers campaign is upset about this because it undermines his competence, at best, and credibility at worst.

So, it seems that the desperate Myers campaign is about to cry "Swifboating" and try to garner sympathy and attention.

OK, I have confidence in Thurman's reasoning and would love to see the two of them stand up before a joint press conference and each answer all and any questions that came up from the press and from each other.  

If Thurman, somehow, got his facts wrong....then that truth deserves to be put out there and he should apologize; but I doubt that will be the outcome.

Meanwhile, let's see if Myers "comes out swingin' " or if, just maybe, he tries to "explain" the anomalies away and chooses to move on.


What's Chris Myers' favorite fruit? (4.00 / 2)
The boo-hoo-berry.

It appears Thurman is 100% right (4.00 / 3)
The rules for the Combat Action Ribbon are pretty clear: To be awarded the Combat Action Ribbon, the individual must have rendered satisfactory performance under enemy fire while actively participating in a ground or surface engagement.

For some reason I can't yet uncover, the Secretary of the Navy approved the CAR for a number of ships, including the USS Bunker Hill, as an exception to those rules - that is, personnel on those ships did not otherwise meet the criteria but an exception for them was made.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C...

Mr. Myers has every right to claim the ribbon, and wear it, but it really is a stretch to proclaim himself a "combat veteran" who knows what it's like to serve on the ground in Iraq or Afghanistan.

Rule of thumb: Combat vets don't usually boast about it ...


myers as a combat vet (0.00 / 0)
The bottom line is, Myers got a combat ribbon along with the rest of the crew of the Bunker Hill. That's the Secretary of the Navy's fault. He made the exception. Also, Myers said he  drew combat pay. I presume the other crewmembers (from cooks to clerks) also drew combat pay. Again, that's the Navy's fault. Trouble is, the first Iraq war (the one to liberate Kuwait) ended so fast, most people in all branches of the service never fired their weapons or xperienced "combat" as most people would define it. All did, however, put their lives on the line.

combat pay (0.00 / 0)
Every man who served aboard the Saipan - in fact, anyone who served on any ship in the Persian Gulf (and the Red Sea, for that matter) longer after the actual hostilities were over - received combat pay.  We also got free mail, but that doesn't make us mailmen.

Vietnam was considered a "combat zone" for pay purposes until June 20, 1996.  At that point, the Persian Gulf still remained a combat zone for pay purposes.  This is why it matters.  Using the receipt of combat pay to justify calling one's self a combat veteran is, indeed, incredibly pathetic.
I would say that the idea that "all...put their lives on the line" is simply not true - and definitely not true in equal measure.

To hell with what she wants, let's make Rosi Efthim the next DSC chair.


[ Parent ]
First comment ever ... (0.00 / 0)
Welcome to the site.

[ Parent ]
Myers Seems To Be Confused... (0.00 / 0)
.....if you look at his site tonight:  http://www.chrismyersforcongre...

There's a press release discussing the "news conference"  (one would think they would put up the video themselves, eh).......and here's a bit of what is said there:

John Adler's refusal to publicly and forcefully condemn these liberal bloggers and their vicious, dishonest attacks on me and other veterans is a disgrace," said Myers. "

The cool thing is that, to his credit, Myers also put up the whole of Thurman's diary and of BlueJersey's response under their statement.

If anyone actually reads what Thurman wrote, it's clear that he was bending over backwards to be fair and respectful to Myers and his service in the military.  If anyone actually reads the Blue Jersey response from the 25th, it too is a reasonable and effective statement......and the Myers folk haven't specifically rebutted any of the points made by Thurman or in Blue Jersey's response!  

The Myers camp is desperately trying to frame a legitimate observation/criticism as some kind of unfair attack!  And it's falling flat...

The more they deny that he's guilty of exaggerating his status for political effect; the deeper they dig him into the hole, since that's exactly what he did.

Then again, this may be the only thread of hope they have to try to distract folks from the larger and broader universe of real issues.  How pathetic is that?

Speaking of "condemning" people who say and do bad things; I wonder if we'll ever hear Chris Myers condemning Bush and company for LYING us into Iraq?

Will we ever hear Chris Myers condemning the actual real Swift Boaters of John Kerry who truly DID viciously lie about Kerry's REAL combat experience?

Will we ever hear Chris Myers condemn the McCain campaign for bringing the old Swift Boaters" of Kerry into their own campaign? (That's especially hypocritical since, McCain himself did condemn these people when they lied about Kerry.)

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/...


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