Democrats have fought for this country too

There was an article in the Washington post this past weekend about a conservative website that says that Representative John Murtha didn't earn his Purple Hearts in Vietnam. Murtha is the Congressman from Pennsylvania who has come out and criticized President Bush's handling of the Iraq war and called for a withdrawal of our troops within 6 months.

This is absolutely appalling. Every time anyone who has served in the military is critical of the Bush administration their military service is attacked. This type of tactic needs to stop right now because it diminishes what those medals such as the Purple Heart represent. It places politics above service to one's country. Make no mistake about it, if President Bush or anyone in his administration wanted these tactics to stop they could do it with a simple phone call. Many of the people behind these websites have strong ties to the Republican party just as the people who organized the swift boat vets against John Kerry did. President Bush and others in his administration will speak out against these tactics but they'll continue to reap the benefits by not putting a stop to them once and for all.

The message of these right wing groups who question the legitimacy of those who recieved Purple Hearts such as John Kerry and John Murtha seems to be that if you're a Democrat then you mustn't have earned your medals. That is a terrible message to send. Democrats fought and died for this country as well as Republicans and Independents. It's funny considering that many of the people these right wing Republican groups support have never served in the military themselves. You know things have gotten way out of hand when the military service of a marine like John Murtha is questioned. Republicans like to say that the Democrats don't support the troops but it always seems to be the Republicans who are the ones attacking someone's military service.