Why Soldiers Dislike Democrats
Thursday, November 23, 10 p.m.
By Tom Donnelly
We are told one of Al Gore’s proudest achievements is winning more
votes for president than his boss ever did. However, Al Gore has also
surpassed Bill Clinton in a more dubious respect: By his campaign’s
handling of the issue of military absentee ballots, he has managed to
worsen the already frayed state of civil-military relations and to reinforce
the view among our troops that the Democratic party despises them.
Military men and women unanimously refuse to be quoted by name, but
their anger is palpable. Even as they are willing to concede that, technically,
there may be problems with military ballots sent to Florida from overseas,
they are jarred by the inconsistency of the Gore campaign–willing to go to
excruciating lengths to count reliably Democratic ballots in West Palm
Beach, yet unconcerned and even hostile to discovering the intent of
military voters. "It’s a slap in the face," says one Army officer stationed at
the Pentagon. Referring to the protest over the infamous "butterfly ballots,"
he says, "They want to let Florida Democrats vote twice, but they won’t let
us vote even once."
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