The Associated Press is reporting that a veteran’s group is unhappy with Baron Hill’s (IN-09) comments at a Memorial Day speech. Apparently the politician made remarks that the group deemed political. Specifically, he indicated confusion over Bush’s rejection of the GI bill that the Democrats pushed through Congress. The group says that they didn’t want the event to be political.
Hill, D-9th District, said at the county Veterans Council’s observance on Monday that President Bush planned to veto a new GI Bill passed by Congress. He encouraged the crowd to ask the president to let the legislation become law.
“I don’t want to make this political, but the president has said that he is going to veto this bill. For the life of me I don’t understand why,” Hill said in his speech. “And I hope that you’ll take the time, in honor of our veterans, to write to the president of the United States and ask him to change his mind.”
Hill is also confused about gas prices. Among other things, he repeatedly demanded a debate on that topic with Mike Sodrel in May 2006. Now, he oddly finds action more important than debate. Go figure…
To the event in question, I can sympathize (at least in part) with Hill crossing a (perceived) line. When speaking in non-political settings, as a politician, it’s not completely clear what’s allowable, reasonable, or optimal in terms of political content.
That said, I would have been quite reluctant to speak on anything specific in a “memorial” setting.
Yeah, I kind of understand the veterans’ point, but on the other hand, having a politician speak at your event isn’t the best way to avoid politics.
The veteran sounds pathetically whiny. Obviously he likes the president, and doesn’t want to be reminded that the president opposes legislation that would give a meaningful benefit to veterans. I think Memorial Day is an entirely appropriate time to champion the cause of increased benefits for veterans.
This disgruntled veteran is letting his allegiance to the president get in the way of his allegiance to fellow veterans. It’s a shame.
Conservatives seldom skip an opportunity to preen their political feathers at supposedly non-political veterans’ events.
Thus, it strikes me as fair play for non-conservatives to pluck those feathers in response at the same occasions.
Elected official seldom skip the opportunity, regardless of party. Calling any of them out is fair game, but it still isn’t policy, per se. It’s still just a game of ‘gotcha’. But like Doug said, if you want to avoid politics, avoid inviting a politician.