Hopefully an end to that bit of scaremongering

[vakkotaur]

Some folks, too full of balloon juice for anyone's good, have been scaremongering about the possibility of a draft, suggesting it was some plan of President Bush and pointing to a long-stalled House Bill (HR 263) started as a political stunt by Charles Rangel (D).

Today it was brought out of committee and voted on. It was defeated. Charles Rangel, the joker who instigated the stupid thing, voted against it thus confirming it was merely a political stunt and not something he actually believed in.

Was this a devastating blow to President Bush or the Republicans? Not at all. It was voted down 402 to 2. 402 to 2 is hardly a split down party lines. It was the House Republicans way of putting a solid end to the silly rumors. The defeat of this bill was welcomed by the President who said in a statement: "If this bill were presented to me, I would veto it."

Comments

[michaelmink.livejournal.com]

Rangel's excuse for voting against his own bill (there was a Senate version introduced by retiring Sen. Ernest Hollings D-SC) was that there had been no hearings, &c. on the matter. (Translation: no face time to stir up class warfare.) Rangel is the congresscritter for Harlem.

One oddity: Rangel himself is a decorated Marine(?) (either Silver or Bronze Star) from Korea, one of the few Korean War vets still in Congress. Which means, of course, that if he was a Marine he himself probably was not drafted.

Drafts are, frankly, pointless. The quality of the armed forces these days is largely traceable to the fact that motivated people serve in them. Recall Tom Lehrer's song on the subject.