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Is Bernie Sanders a coward?

Is Bernie Sanders a coward?

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Bucky

Bucky

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"My question as a Vietnam veteran is: How on earth could a person claiming to be a conscientious objector become the commander in chief of the most powerful military in the world?" questioned the column author Steve Wikert. According to a profile from the Vermont Senator's hometown newspaper, the Burlington Free Press, his conscientious objector status application was eventually rejected, but by then Sanders was too old to be drafted.
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Bernie Sanders Applied for 'Conscientious Objector' Status During Vietnam, Campaign Confirms - ABC News

Isn't a conscientious objector just another way to say you are a coward?

How can this man be fit to be the commander in chief?
 
Bucky said:
Bernie Sanders Applied for 'Conscientious Objector' Status During Vietnam, Campaign Confirms - ABC News

Isn't a conscientious objector just another way to say you are a coward?

How can this man be fit to be the commander in chief?
Click to expand...

No. Refusing to kill people for an unjust cause is the only ethical choice, actually.

We could really stand to have more people like that in the government. Maybe we'd have fewer callous and needless wars and less senseless loss of both American and foreign lives.
 
I do not care what he did 40 years ago.

I say he is a coward TODAY because in every debate I have seen him in, he lets Hillary talk over him all the time.

He also does not take advantage of some openings Hillary gives him.

He is way too passive in the debates, and let's Hillary dominate him. Maybe that is his kink.
 
Hmmmmm, regardless if I agreed with a war or not, people around me are still being forced to serve anyway and if it's me refusing to be called, someone else is going to in my place anyway, if there is a draft... so I think it is being a coward, me objecting does nothing but save my own skin and puts another young man's life at risk. Own up to the horrors of your country, if it must be done, do it yourself, Then scorn the oppressive statist government after... it's kind of like those people who could never kill an animal, but still eat meat.

If you do choose to not go, you better be spending your entire time trying to stop it and making a difference instead of reaping the benefits of the safety another young man gave you.

those are my thoughts anyway.... it's not a knock on Bernie Sanders to me though, it's more my opinion/my feeling than a fact
 
In a just war, if there is such a thing, I would have a hard time dealing with my own conscience knowing that I had some other poor slob go in harms way in my place.

Vietnam, and Iraq were not just wars in my opinion. I can see why people would not want to go if they were drafted.
 
Bucky said:
Isn't a conscientious objector just another way to say you are a coward?
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No, being a militaristic hawk while ensuring that neither you nor your kids are the ones who pay for your brave words, that's another way to say you are a coward.

Check this out.
 
Andalublue said:
No, being a militaristic hawk while ensuring that neither you nor your kids are the ones who pay for your brave words, that's another way to say you are a coward.

Check this out.
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The article is useless, and misrepresents what a volunteer force is all about.

Jews, Protestant, and many other religious communities would be well represented in a time of emergency (draft).

That article is shameful.
 
The man is basically running against the combined forces of the already-coronated-Shillary and the dnc establishment that holds all the cards. I'd say that takes a fairly hefty pair.

As far as being a CO goes, it would be far worse imo to find yourself in a situation where your fellow soldiers were relying on you and you had difficulty pulling the trigger due to personal moral reasons.
 
RetiredUSN said:
The article is useless, and misrepresents what a volunteer force is all about.
Click to expand...
No, it doesn't. The advantage of an entirely voluntary military is that you can see who is and who is not prepared to volunteer. It appears that Episcopalians, Presbyterians and Jews generally choose not to volunteer. I wish that article had shown that members of Congress and the government generally do not volunteer either.

Jews, Protestant, and many other religious communities would be well represented in a time of emergency (draft).
Click to expand...
Yes, I'm sure they would, but then they'd have less say it the matter, wouldn't they?

That article is shameful.
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No, sending other people's kids to die in a foreign field is shameful.
 
RetiredNSmilin said:
He also does not take advantage of some openings Hillary gives him.
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I wouldn't say this makes him a coward, but I find this really annoying too. Sanders has had SO MANY openings in debates to demolish Clinton and he has refused to take most of them. It's stupid.
 
ThePlayDrive said:
I wouldn't say this makes him a coward, but I find this really annoying too. Sanders has had SO MANY openings in debates to demolish Clinton and he has refused to take most of them. It's stupid.
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Hillary already has high negatives while Sanders does not. Sanders is doing extremely well and is thus without need of attacking Hillary. Attacking her would confer "victim" status to Hillary which, IMHO, would be exactly the wrong thing to do.

Sanders has succeeded in getting Hillary to tack much further left in her (latest?) policy positions - that leaves the left leaning voter with a choice of supporting the real demorat socialist or the one supported by Wall Street who is (lately?) pretending to be one.

Dissatisfaction with politics as usual is the driving force in this POTUS election cycle for both the republicants and the demorats - Sanders would not benefit from attacking Hillary since the republicants are doing a fine job of that on a daily basis.
 
Bucky said:
Bernie Sanders Applied for 'Conscientious Objector' Status During Vietnam, Campaign Confirms - ABC News

Isn't a conscientious objector just another way to say you are a coward?

How can this man be fit to be the commander in chief?
Click to expand...
Yes, he is qualified. A conscientious objector is still required to serve in the military in the US if needed, just not in a combat role. And some non-combat roles, such as combat medic, can be extremely hazardous and not for non-heroic types.
 
No, he is not a coward.

Do you think America is anti-Semetic enough to believe he is?
 
Andalublue said:
No, sending other people's kids to die in a foreign field is shameful.
Click to expand...

Totally disagree. While I have a great deal of respect for true conscientious objectors and pacifists I have little patience for non-pacifists who refuse to assist others in need by taking up arms. The lack of international concern and military support for Austria, Czechoslovakia, Ethiopia, Manchuria and China in the mid 1930s was shameful. As was the lack of involvement in Burundi, Rwanda, Cambodia, and other countries that have witnessed massive killings. To stop these atrocities, soldiers on the ground are needed and that leads to people dying on foreign fields. You don't stop genocides by dropping bombs from above or staying on the sidelines.
 
celticwar17 said:
Hmmmmm, regardless if I agreed with a war or not, people around me are still being forced to serve anyway and if it's me refusing to be called, someone else is going to in my place anyway, if there is a draft... so I think it is being a coward, me objecting does nothing but save my own skin and puts another young man's life at risk. Own up to the horrors of your country, if it must be done, do it yourself, Then scorn the oppressive statist government after... it's kind of like those people who could never kill an animal, but still eat meat.

If you do choose to not go, you better be spending your entire time trying to stop it and making a difference instead of reaping the benefits of the safety another young man gave you.

those are my thoughts anyway.... it's not a knock on Bernie Sanders to me though, it's more my opinion/my feeling than a fact
Click to expand...

So were the many people who got National Guard appointment so they could avoid going to Vietnam cowards?

Hell I know a guy who join the Air Force just so he could avoid having to serve in the jungles of Vietnam.

There is nothing wrong with applying for conscientious object or status in accordance with the laws and procedures the military has set up to evaluate such a claim. Jim Webb, a decorated combat veteran (and one of my favorite Democrats) set exactly that during the first Democratic debate.
 
Andalublue said:
No, it doesn't. The advantage of an entirely voluntary military is that you can see who is and who is not prepared to volunteer. It appears that Episcopalians, Presbyterians and Jews generally choose not to volunteer. I wish that article had shown that members of Congress and the government generally do not volunteer either.

Yes, I'm sure they would, but then they'd have less say it the matter, wouldn't they?

No, sending other people's kids to die in a foreign field is shameful.
Click to expand...

The all voluntary military is exactly what it is............voluntary. Singling out groups of people for not going into a volunteer military is quite foolish to begin with. It has nothing to do with anything.
 
Bucky said:
Bernie Sanders Applied for 'Conscientious Objector' Status During Vietnam, Campaign Confirms - ABC News

Isn't a conscientious objector just another way to say you are a coward?

How can this man be fit to be the commander in chief?
Click to expand...

that's really silly. One of my old coaches was a CO because he was a Quaker. So instead of shooting Germans, he drove an Ambulance in the combat zone transporting wounded soldiers. Mortar rounds and artillery shells don't discriminate between guys carrying machine guns or those driving ambulances
 
I think he is a coward just based on the fact he wasn't willing to go to war for his country but now is running for a position which will see him send young men/women into danger.
 
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