VIDEO: Jon Soltz was "Swift-Boated" by several Neocon blogs during YearlyKos!

Hello Everyone:

Jon Soltz was badly "Swift-Boated" and misrepresented in my opinion by several extreme right wing Neocon blogs and websites during the YearlyKos event last weekend. I think that these attacks deserve a direct and credible response!

Right below is the Neocon "NewsBusters" article dated August 4 which is titled "Soldier Prevented From Speaking at YearlyKos Convention," below that is an article from extreme right wing Neocon talk radio show host Hugh Hewitt's blog dated August 3 that is titled "Supporting the Troops, Yearly Kos Style," and below that is a Drudge Report headline from August 4 with the link to an article titled "Soldier Censored at Kos Convention."

The first two articles mention Gen. Clark and all of the articles accuse Jon Soltz of trying to silence a soldier in uniform.

Here is the video link to watch portions of this incident which lasts for 7 minutes and 40 seconds:

http://pajamasmedia.com/2007/08/soldier_censored_at_kos_conven.php (07:40)

Parts of this incident are also on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1_PWIkHn9M&feature=related

Uniformed Soldier censored at daily kos convention (1:48)

THEpenISmightier2007
August 15, 2007

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=soWyb5UI5JY&feature=player_embedded

Yearly kos tries to shut soldier up and threatens him (1:00)

klarkke
August 03, 2007

There were two attacks on Jon Soltz in the articles below that I will respond to:

1) Jon Soltz was accused of not answering a soldier in uniform who at the microphone and in front of the media said that he would give Soltz all of the money that he had if he could show that casualties have not gone down in Iraq since the troop surge began. Soltz replied to this soldier by making statements such as "you don't use a military uniform to speak politics, our military is above politics, it is against the law, it is illegal to wear your uniform..."

That soldier responded to Soltz in front of the media by saying things like he did not mind "seeing American soldiers break the rules to do what they think is right..."

I am NOT an expert in military law so I honestly do not know what the rules are about the kind of public political statements that a soldier in uniform can or cannot legally make so I will deal with this point in two parts:

A) If it was legal for Jon Soltz to discuss this issue with that soldier, then I would have used that situation as an excellent opportunity in front of the media to politely yet firmly teach him an important lesson about how that political progress MUST accompany military progress or the problems in Iraq will NOT be fixed no matter how many troops there are on the ground for any length of time:

http://securingamerica.com/ccn/node/12881

ANALYSIS: Michael O’Hanlon & Ken Pollack's Iraq Op-Ed "A War We Just Might Win"

Submitted by Mitch Dworkin on August 3, 2007 - 1:58am.

http://securingamerica.com/ccn/node/12945

Robert Novak: "Sign that Bush is not truly serious about achieving a settlement"

Submitted by Mitch Dworkin on August 7, 2007 - 3:28am.

http://securingamerica.com/ccn/node/12414

Bush & his Neocons are causing the world to have a "Diplomatic Heart Attack!"

Submitted by Mitch Dworkin on June 18, 2007 - 2:04pm.

I do NOT think that Jon Soltz would have been afraid to debate that soldier if he was legally allowed to do so because he has proven himself to be excellent at public debate against top Neocons in my opinion:

http://securingamerica.com/ccn/node/12786

IRAQ WAR DEBATE: Jon Soltz of VoteVets.org vs. Pete Hegseth of Vets for Freedom

Submitted by Mitch Dworkin on July 26, 2007 - 3:51pm.

"For those interested, Soltz got into quite a heated exchange with KSFO's Melanie Morgan on "The News Hour" earlier this year (videos in two parts available here and here)."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8rVeQ-lTlk

Jon Soltz on News Hour (Part 1)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0tvb_gYpZg&mode=related&search=

Jon Soltz on News Hour (Part 2)

B) If it was not legal in any way and if it was clearly against military rules for Jon Soltz to have publicly discussed this issue with that soldier in uniform, then Soltz definitely did the right thing not to publicly engage in a dialogue with him and he could put a statement on his website explaining why that is the case so it would not appear to the media in error that a "Soldier (was) Prevented From Speaking at YearlyKos Convention" as the "NewsBusters" article below says and is making a huge deal over!

2) The "NewsBusters" article below titled "Soldier Prevented From Speaking at YearlyKos Convention" also made this argument which is completely irrelevant to the circumstance that is under discussion:

"Allah also pointed out that Soltz features a picture of himself in uniform at his website."

http://www.votevets.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=199&Itemid=80

Jon Soltz is no longer an active duty soldier so there is not a conflict of interest that I can see in him showing a picture of himself from the past when he was in uniform! What does a past picture of Jon Soltz (or any retired soldier in uniform) have to do with public political statements that they make now when they are NOT currently in the military and when they are NOT officially wearing the uniform?

From what I have seen, soldiers (such as retired Major General John Batiste) leave the armed services on purpose in order to be free to politically speak out when they feel the urgent need to do so:

http://securingamerica.com/node/2403

General Batiste for VoteVets: "Protect America, Not George Bush"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMPIi03wSfY

General Batiste: "Protect America, Not George Bush"

Added: May 09, 2007

So "that Soltz features a picture of himself in uniform at his website" (mentioned in the "NewsBusters" article below) is NOT an argument that carries any weight and was either said in ignorance or was just used as a diversionary tactic to help try and take attention away from the real issue at hand!

The extreme right wing media in my opinion is not very difficult to answer but if you do not answer them and if you do not fight back, then they will define you however they choose to before millions of people in their audience. Here is a post where I discuss this concept using "Gunny Bob" Newman's false attack on Gen. Clark last week as an example of this:

http://securingamerica.com/ccn/node/12899

8/3 Worst Person of the World: Gunny Bob on Wesley Clark

Submitted by Stan4Clark on August 3, 2007 - 8:08pm.

http://securingamerica.com/ccn/node/12899#comment-229128

"Gunny" Bob Newman responded to KO very quickly on his website:

Submitted by Mitch Dworkin on August 4, 2007 - 1:05am.

I really like and I often quote what Gen. Clark specifically said about media response back on February 11, 2005 when he came to Dallas, Texas and I saw him speak:

http://securingamerica.com/ccn/node/7191#comment-111351

Gen. Clark on media response from 2/11/05 when I saw him speak!

Submitted by Mitch Dworkin on June 23, 2006 - 5:35am.

Jon Soltz in my opinion is a champion for foreign policy truth. Supporting him and VoteVets.org is an excellent way I see how to help avoid an unnecessary war of choice with Iran and to help bring more attention to Bush's arrogant Neocon foreign policy which I think is responsible for messing up Iraq!

Mitch Dworkin

http://www.securingamerica.com/

http://securingamerica.com/ccn/node/10756
StopIranWar.com: "War is not the answer"
Submitted by Wes Clark on February 21, 2007 - 11:40am.

http://www.securingamerica.com/ccn/node/7191
Listen to Gen. Wes Clark fight for Dems on Sean Hannity's radio program: An excellent example for all of us to follow and what we all need to be doing to help fight back against extreme right wing Neocon smear propaganda!

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http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2007/08/04/soldier-prevented-speaking-yearlykos-convention

Soldier Prevented From Speaking at YearlyKos Convention

By Noel Sheppard | August 4, 2007 - 15:56 ET

Pajamas Media is reporting that some fireworks broke out Friday morning during the YearlyKos convention in Chicago (h/t NBer Saw the Light).

http://pajamasmedia.com/2007/08/soldier_censored_at_kos_conven.php

During a breakout session ironically titled "The Military and Progressives: Are They Really That Different," an as of yet unidentified soldier in uniform stood up to address the panel -- which included Wesley Clark -- to discuss how the surge is going.

According to Pajamas Media (video available here):

http://pajamasmedia.com/2007/08/soldier_censored_at_kos_conven.php

He was unceremoniously escorted out by panelist John Soltz.

The soldier’s words were either suppressed or inaudible on the convention’s own video. They can be heard hear on this exclusive PJM Video by Andrew Marcus, who also interviews the soldier and tries to interview Soltz.

Soltz claimed that the soldier was trying to talk politics with a uniform on, which he said is against the law.

However, from the video, it appeared that all the soldier was doing was trying to inform the panel and the attendees what is happening in Iraq after the surge.

Hot Air's Allahpundit has more:

http://hotair.com/archives/2007/08/04/video-pajamas-media-interviews-soldier-who-spoke-up-at-yearly-kos/

Even more interesting than the rules governing what he did yesterday will be the rules governing what he can do this week. The media’s going to want to talk to him as much as his commanders are going to want to stop that from happening lest it draw more attention to his probable breach of military regs yesterday.
[...]
Soltz is the head of the anti-war veterans’ group VoteVets; he’s on cable news every other day precisely because he’s a vet whose view of the war coincides with the media’s. He’s not wearing his uniform in those appearances but he might as well be. The only significant ethical difference between him and the mystery soldier is that an observer might think the mystery soldier is speaking as an official military spokesman.

Allah also pointed out that Soltz features a picture of himself in uniform at his website.

http://www.votevets.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=199&Itemid=80

Can you say "Do As I Say, Not As I Do?"

For those interested, Soltz got into quite a heated exchange with KSFO's Melanie Morgan on "The News Hour" earlier this year (videos in two parts available here and here).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8rVeQ-lTlk

Jon Soltz on News Hour (Part 1)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0tvb_gYpZg&mode=related&search=

Jon Soltz on News Hour (Part 2)

—Noel Sheppard is an economist, business owner, and a contributing editor to NewsBusters.

Noel Sheppard's blog
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Daily Kos
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Pajamas Media
YearlyKos

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http://hughhewitt.townhall.com/g/7d051633-95d6-4444-9d35-c1edcbb29935

Friday, August 03, 2007

Supporting the Troops, Yearly Kos Style

Posted by Dean Barnett | 1:23 PM

Notorious right-wing poodle Ezra Klein reports from the Yearly Kos conference:

http://www.prospect.org/csnc/blogs/tapped_archive?month=08&year=2007&base_name=post_4468#017493

As the Military and Progressives panel came to an end, a young man in uniform stood up to argue that the surge was working, and cutting down on Iraqi casualties. The moderator largely freaked out. When other members of the panel tried to answer his question, he demanded they "stand down." He demanded the questioner give his name, the name of his commander, and the name of his unit. And then he closed the panel, no answer offered or allowed, and stalked off the stage,

Wes Clark took the mic and tried to explain what had just occurred: The argument appears to be that you're not allowed to participate in politics while wearing a uniform, or at least that you shouldn't, and that the questioner was engaging in a sort of moral blackmail, not to mention a violation of the rules, by doing so. Knowing fairly little about the army, I can't speak to any of that. But it was an uncomfortable few moments, and seemed fairly contrary to the spirit of the panel to roar down the member of the military who tried to speak with a contrary voice.

HT: Exurban League

http://exurbanleague.com/2007/08/03/shouting-down-the-military.aspx

Compliments? Complaints? Contact me at Soxblog@aol.com

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http://www.drudgereport.com/

FIREWORKS: Soldier [In Uniform] Censored at Kos Convention...

http://pajamasmedia.com/2007/08/soldier_censored_at_kos_conven.php

Soldier Censored at Kos Convention

PJM LA
August 4, 2007 7:52 AM

video Fireworks broke out at a Friday morning session of the second day of the YearlyKos Convention titled “The Military and Progressives: Are They Really That Different?”. An as yet unidentified uniformed soldier attempted to address the panel on the subject of the “Surge”. He was unceremoniously escorted out by panelist Jon Soltz. The soldier’s words were either suppressed or inaudible on the convention’s own video. They can be heard here on this exclusive PJM Video by Andrew Marcus, who also interviews the soldier and tries to interview Soltz.

view ?

http://pajamasmedia.com/2007/08/soldier_censored_at_kos_conven.php