I Think He Does It On Purpose

I’m not sure if it’s generally true, or just reflects my choices of reading, but in my experience the Nashville blogosphere tends to lean more to the left than the right. But Channel 2 did manage to hire one of the more intelligent conservative bloggers for their political blog.

Kleinheider strikes me as a pretty sharp fellow but every couple of weeks, like clockwork, he says something totally inflammatory. Personally, I think it’s a plan on his part. For professional bloggers, readers put food on the table. So if the numbers start to get a little low, Kleinheider knows how to bring them back up. If this week’s double whammy is any indication, he must be planning ahead for his Christmas bonus. That’s the only motivation I can see for him to agree with John Kerry.

I’m not going to try and do any sort of thorough refutation of what he has said, that’s been done by people better than I at it. But I do have a couple of points that he may have overlooked when calling the U.S. Army a catchall for the stupids of the country.

A friend of mine who serves in the Army as an officer mentoring young enlisted men also has a brother who coaches football at a community college. The brother is constantly complaining about having to deal with the uncoachable wild young men of limited intelligence in his charge.

My friend could only respond to his brother that he was lucky because he was charged with leading and shaping young boys who couldn't even get in to community college. It was said jokingly, but it was funny because it was true.

You’re sort of selecting the sample that proves your point. The ‘young enlisted men’ who are well put together and staying out of trouble don’t actually need your friend as a mentor. The pool of men your friend mentors may be useful to your point in a deceptive sort of way, but they don’t necessarily represent the army as a whole.

The elite does not enlist in the military. They don't go to war. They avoid service. If they do enlist, they serve as officers.

What kind of elite are we talking about here? I assume we’re talking about the intellectual elite due to the context with Senator Kerry’s comment and all. So what makes someone intellectually elite? A college education? Native intelligence? If it’s a college education that makes you elite, then I suppose at least that sentence is mostly correct, while doing nothing to prove your overall point about stupid soldiers. I’ve known a lot of very intelligent people who could get into college but couldn’t pay for it. The U.S. military provides one of the best ways to fund college in the form of the G. I. Bill. So the ‘elite’ that can afford college don’t have to sign up, but the smarter folk from lower class families have to go get shot at before they can pay for college.

Kleinheider in the comment section:

The composition of the military in total is not what we are talking about we are talking about the people on the ground, the people who actually die.

I guess now we’re talking about infantry instead of the radar tech or mechanic or translater. That’s a finer distinction than was made by Senator Kerry or Kleinheider's original post. It sounds a little like back pedaling to get out of trouble.

Feel free to point out the gaping holes in my arguments. Any of you.

Update:
This post was pretty cynical of me, so rather than question the man's integrity I want to clarify myself. Kleinheider probably really is sincere. It's just that the incendiary posts come with such regularity it's hard to not come to the point of thinking "Oh, it's been two weeks since Kleinheider said something mean. It's about time for a new controversy."