By Juan Ortega
Special to El Rrun-Rrun
Someone called my attention and I got a chance to read Robert Dunkin's letter to the editor published Nov. 1 in the Valley Morning Star disparaging Democratic Party presidential nominee and former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
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The writer – Robert Dunkin, of Harlingen – double-guessed the many committees in the U.S. Congress and other bodies who have investigated the terrorist attack on the U.S. embassy in Benghazi, Lybia, and charged that Ms. Clinton has "blood of our military men on her hands" because of her actions.
With all due respect for Mr. Dunkin's military service, how easy it is for critics like him, at home and far away from the scene of the events, to rush to judgment at a safe distance from the action.
And in contrast to some family members of the four men who died in the embassy attack, Dunkin says that Clinton, as secretary of state, made the decision "based on politics."
None other than a sister of one of the men has castigated the Republican-led House of Representatives and said that her brother had written her to tell her that his embassy was not better protected from exactly this type of attack because that august body had denied Clinton's Department of State its budgetary request for more funds for that specific purpose.
In fact, one of the reasons that Obama has issued so mnay executive orders is simply because an obstructionist congress has refused to cooperate with him in any significant issue like immigration reform, phasing out farm subsidies for agribusiness corporation, and fighting voting suppression of minorities and the poor.
This type of facile partisan criticism is the type we have come to expect from detractors of the Clintons, President Barack Obama, and other politicians.
If you are a Democrat, you are a "liberal."
If you do not favor the policies of the U.S., you are a traitor.
Don't they remember that both Democrats and Republicans have fought alongside one another in this nation's wars? Don't they remember that men and women from every socioeconomic class, race and religion have become brothers in arms to defend this country? As the commander-in-chief, you have command over the lives of all of the men and women from every walk of life that serve in our Armed Forces.
Everyone bleeds red, Mr. Dunkin.
Not long ago, before he became a candidate for the nation's highest office, Republican nominee Donald Trump funded the "birthing" fringe group movement out to prove that Mr. Obama was not a U.S. citizen.
And also not so long ago, Trump also criticized Vietnam veteran and prisoner of war John McCain, of Arizona for having been captured while a combat pilot during the war. His insults against the disabled, women, Muslims, and Mexicans are well documented.
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Dunkin also says that "It breaks my heart that the Democrats have run three war protestors as presidential candidates."
For his information, one of the rights that we enjoy in this country is the right of free speech, expression and assembly. That right has been made possible through the defense of our nation by our nation's veterans. I don't have to agree with what you say, but I will defend your right as an American to express your opinion. That's the law we live by as written in our U.S. Constitution.
Trump – unlike Mr. Dunkin and countless Rio Grande Valley residents – was able to acquire draft deferments during the Vietnam War. The first four were student deferment. He – unlike most poor whites and minorities – could pay to go to college. The fourth was for a bone spur in his heel – he doesn't remember which one it was now – that kept him from servig in the war.
When asked to produce the letter from his doctor explaining the bone spur which "went away in time," as he told the New York Times, he was unable to produce it.
Is this what Dunkin would call a "draft dodger?"
Mr. Dunkin's standards for presidential nominees strikes me as dubious at best, and malicious at worst. While we can respect his military service – an air controller in radar station removed from the action – we must question his obvious double standard in the case of both presidential nominees.
Special to El Rrun-Rrun
Someone called my attention and I got a chance to read Robert Dunkin's letter to the editor published Nov. 1 in the Valley Morning Star disparaging Democratic Party presidential nominee and former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
The writer – Robert Dunkin, of Harlingen – double-guessed the many committees in the U.S. Congress and other bodies who have investigated the terrorist attack on the U.S. embassy in Benghazi, Lybia, and charged that Ms. Clinton has "blood of our military men on her hands" because of her actions.
With all due respect for Mr. Dunkin's military service, how easy it is for critics like him, at home and far away from the scene of the events, to rush to judgment at a safe distance from the action.
And in contrast to some family members of the four men who died in the embassy attack, Dunkin says that Clinton, as secretary of state, made the decision "based on politics."
None other than a sister of one of the men has castigated the Republican-led House of Representatives and said that her brother had written her to tell her that his embassy was not better protected from exactly this type of attack because that august body had denied Clinton's Department of State its budgetary request for more funds for that specific purpose.
In fact, one of the reasons that Obama has issued so mnay executive orders is simply because an obstructionist congress has refused to cooperate with him in any significant issue like immigration reform, phasing out farm subsidies for agribusiness corporation, and fighting voting suppression of minorities and the poor.
This type of facile partisan criticism is the type we have come to expect from detractors of the Clintons, President Barack Obama, and other politicians.
If you are a Democrat, you are a "liberal."
If you do not favor the policies of the U.S., you are a traitor.
Don't they remember that both Democrats and Republicans have fought alongside one another in this nation's wars? Don't they remember that men and women from every socioeconomic class, race and religion have become brothers in arms to defend this country? As the commander-in-chief, you have command over the lives of all of the men and women from every walk of life that serve in our Armed Forces.
Everyone bleeds red, Mr. Dunkin.
Not long ago, before he became a candidate for the nation's highest office, Republican nominee Donald Trump funded the "birthing" fringe group movement out to prove that Mr. Obama was not a U.S. citizen.
And also not so long ago, Trump also criticized Vietnam veteran and prisoner of war John McCain, of Arizona for having been captured while a combat pilot during the war. His insults against the disabled, women, Muslims, and Mexicans are well documented.
Dunkin also says that "It breaks my heart that the Democrats have run three war protestors as presidential candidates."For his information, one of the rights that we enjoy in this country is the right of free speech, expression and assembly. That right has been made possible through the defense of our nation by our nation's veterans. I don't have to agree with what you say, but I will defend your right as an American to express your opinion. That's the law we live by as written in our U.S. Constitution.
Trump – unlike Mr. Dunkin and countless Rio Grande Valley residents – was able to acquire draft deferments during the Vietnam War. The first four were student deferment. He – unlike most poor whites and minorities – could pay to go to college. The fourth was for a bone spur in his heel – he doesn't remember which one it was now – that kept him from servig in the war.
When asked to produce the letter from his doctor explaining the bone spur which "went away in time," as he told the New York Times, he was unable to produce it.
Is this what Dunkin would call a "draft dodger?"
Mr. Dunkin's standards for presidential nominees strikes me as dubious at best, and malicious at worst. While we can respect his military service – an air controller in radar station removed from the action – we must question his obvious double standard in the case of both presidential nominees.