This following are the words of the de facto leader of our House of Representatives, Tom DeLay, on the subject of his lack of service in the Vietnam War.
He and [Dan] Quayle, DeLay explained to the assembled media in New Orleans, were victims of an unusual phenomenon back in the days of the undeclared Southeast Asian war. So many minority youths had volunteered for the well-paying military positions to escape poverty and the ghetto that there was literally no room for patriotic folks like himself. Satisfied with the pronouncement, which dumbfounded more than a few of his listeners who had lived the sixties, DeLay marched off to the convention.
Is he saying that the good military jobs, the best officer positions, weren't available, and that the other positions were not worthy of his patriotism, or is he saying that the military has well-paying jobs as a rule, and that there just wasn't a spot for him?
As for him being the de facto leader of the House, ask yourself...why? What does this tell us about ourselves as a nation?
It's not that he didn't fight, or serve - it's that he gets away with such absurd self-serving statements without public humiliation.
