Disclaimer: This article may contain the personal views and opinions of the author.
Support of the military, one would think, would be a fairly innocuous and bipartisan concern. After all, our military quite literally does things that allow us as Americans to live. This writer will go on record saying that he is fairly on the side of living.
This bipartisanship has generally been returned from the standpoint of the military in regards to its politics. The military and its members should respect (or at the very least appear to respect) the office of the Presidency regardless of weather the office is inhabited by a Democrat or a Republican.
But this bipartisanship will apparently not continue under the reign of gaffe machine, President Joe Biden.
It is now being reported that:
Following President Joe Biden’s speech at Independence Hall in Philadelphia on Thursday, left-wing commentators blasted the president for the use of two Marines that flanked the president in the background of the blood-red speech as he maligned his political opponents as threats to “the very foundations of our republic.”
Whatever you think of this speech the military is supposed to be apolitical. Positioning Marines in uniform behind President Biden for a political speech flies in the face of that. It’s wrong when Democrats do it. It’s wrong when Republicans do it.
— Brianna Keilar (@brikeilarcnn) September 2, 2022
“Whatever you think of this speech the military is supposed to be apolitical,” tweeted Brianna Keller, host of CNN’s New Day. “Positioning Marines in uniform behind President Biden for a political speech flies in the face of that. It’s wrong when Democrats do it. It’s wrong when Republicans do it.”
While Keller was direct in her criticism of the use of the Marine Corp, CNN Chief National Affairs Correspondent Jeff Zeleny took a lighter touch tweeting, “There’s nothing unusual or wrong with a President delivering a political speech — it’s inherent in the job description — but doing it against a backdrop of two Marines standing at attention and the Marine Band is a break with White House traditions.”
“We need to make sure that our military is as removed from politics as possible and it’s not right if a Democrat uses the military as a political pawn and it’s not right if the Republican Party does it as well,” explained Allison Jaslow, a former executive director of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee on CNN’s New Day. “None of our politicians or elected leaders should do that.”
“I agree with the President’s message and I’m glad that he is speaking up in this way,” she continued, adding, “That doesn’t make it right that they picked, you know, window dressing for their event and included Marines in it.”
While the White House has been battered for the use of the military during Biden’s address, the administration has stood by the decision, claiming that the presence of Marines was meant to show “respect.”
But looking back, Biden has not been shy about using the military for political gains when warranted. Fox News went on to report that:
The Washington Post reported that the use of two Marines in the background of President Biden’s campaign-style speech Thursday was intentional, in a move civil-military scholars called “unwise.”
Washington Post reporter Dan Lamothe revealed in a Friday report, titled “Marines at Biden speech prompt debate about politicizing the military,” that a White House official, under the condition of anonymity, said there was a “conscious decision” to feature the military figures during Biden’s speech “for symbolism.”
“The President gave an important speech last night about our democracy and our values, values that our men and women in uniform fight every day to protect,” the official’s statement read. “The presence of Marines at the speech was intended to demonstrate the deep and abiding respect the President has for their service to these ideals and the unique role our independent military plays in defending our democracy, no matter which party is in power.”
Republicans have been calling out Democrats for showing partisan anti-military stances for some time. Back in May, we reported Rand Paul went off on Democrats for their support of a domestic terrorism bill that would effectively brand the military and its police as white supremacists. We went on to report towards the end of July that Florida Governor DeSantis launched a broad attack on Biden’s rhetoric in what he deemed a war on the military. So, at the end of the day, this was sadly not really a new discussion.
