Hell, anyone who AGREED with invading Vietnam should have no business in the White House.

Grandmother of four here.

was a concientous objector when it was was his turn to serve. Bernie actually didn't qualify as a CO because in order to qualify as such, one would have had to object to ALL WARS not any particular war. So instead, Bernie like many others, choose to use the Student Deferment policy until his clock ran out. By the time his number came up, he was too old. As someone with two sons, and 3 grandsons, I would have a problem with someone like Bernie calling up one of them to a war, when he chose not to serve when it was his turn.

It doesn't bother me at all.

The G.I. Bill was the only realistic way I was going to be able to afford a college education and like many before me, in 1987 I signed my name on the dotted line.

In retrospect, the cost was far too high. Desiring an education shouldn't require someone to put their life up as collateral.

On another note, I think free or very low cost education would decimate military recruiting because the G.I. Bill is an attractive carrot to offer to high school students. Sander's goal of free education is probably viewed with great concern by those candidates that are proponents of the MIC.

If you didn't have a problem with Clinton then why with Sanders?

Anyone who thinks invading that country was a Good Idea is someone who does not deserve the honor of being Commander in Chief.

Hillary, on the other hand, much more likely.

It is not serving one's country to fight in an unnecessary war.

ABSOLUTELY necessary as a last resort.

My family tree is full of South Carolina Quakers who moved away from SC and joined the Union Army in the Civil War because they considered slavery to be the greater sin.

End of discussion.

CONSCIENTIOUS!

My spelling sucks.

but to suggest that he was and is a conscientious person: (of a person) wishing to do what is right, especially to do one's work or duty well and thoroughly.

and what was Trump's?

Not fair but the Rs would use it

Because 5 deferment Cheney really weighed the Bush/Cheney ticket down.

None of the other candidates served to the best my knowledge and at least two, Kasich and Trump, were draft age during Vietnam.

I'm not saying it's fair or right but It would fit into the likely narrative they would use to define Bernie. If Bernie's campaign was smarter they would get out in front of it now like they should have done more effectively with the self proclaimed Socialism moniker. Bernie's motive for adding "democratic" when he decided to run just looks very self serving. If Bernie wins the nomination I will vote for him but he has a number of vulnerabilities that the Rs could make a lot of hay with. To her credit, Hillary has been very disciplined about going easy on Bernie for a number of reasons.

My father objected. They still sent his ass.

I'm glad he made it out.

FYI

http://www.snopes.com/bernie-sanders-dodged-draft/

Considering my fathers duties, he made it out a lot better than many of the men with him. Like many, he only recently started talking about it.

I have a hard time faulting anyone who didn't go for any reason. Our government had all the cannon fodder they needed.

I'd expect him to be very stingy with the blood of our men and women in military service. That's how it should be. I trust Bernie to only support fighting wars that cannot and must not be avoided. If it had been WW2 and not Vietnam, I have no doubt in my mind he'd have served.

No.

I didn’t hold it against Bill Clinton.

FYI...Bill Clinton was considered to be a draft dodger by some.

http://www.nytimes.com/1992/02/14/opinion/bill-clinton-s-vietnam-test.html

Does that disqualify her?

objector status, btw; it was rejected. By the time his number came up he was too old.).

Please don't tell lies. She was against the war in Vietnam, organized protests after Kent State, and campaigned for anti-war candidate George McGovern. Both opposed the war, and neither is unfit to be commander in chief.

I said she was a Republican. She was. I never mentioned one word about her feelings on the Vietnam Nam war. So put your straw man back in the closet and back away from the ledge.

Bernie has unimpeachable ethical standards.

Being pro-war in a PNAC kind of way like his opponent does not equate to being a strong leader.

was very, very, very common at the time, but people don't realize that you had to be able to convince the draft board people that you were sincere and committed, just saying that you felt that way wasn't enough.

He understands that bullshit wars are bullshit. I'd like someone like that in the White House.

I agree that it doesn't disqualify him. As I have stated before, the American soldier has not fought for our "freedom" since WW2 except maybe in Afghanistan.

Topics get rehashed here endlessly, as you well know.

the draft by using a student deferment until 1964 when he graduated,after that he was too old to be drafted. That's why the drafted soldiers were almost exclusively working class and poor men who weren't in college up until that point.

working class and poor who weren't eligible for college deferments. I grew up in a blue collar town where very few young males went on to college and went to work in the auto factories instead,many got drafted. My comment wasn't aimed at Bernie,it was aimed at a very hideous rule that allowed college kids to stay out of the war as if they "counted" more than other kids.

He applied for CO status and by the time it was rejected, he was too old for the draft.

Bernie's family were poor working class Jews, they lived in a small apartment, never had a house, and they worried about expenditures for things like curtains or a rug.

Please don't paint him as a a rich white privileged male. Especially when your candidate, a WASP, came from a very privileged background, grew up in what most people would regard as a mansion, and went to elite schools.

college deferment until he graduated,just like every other college student at the time. He didn't have to worry about being drafted.

"Please don't paint him as a a rich white privileged male". I swear to God,some of you are in a permanent state of manufactured outrage.

You phrased it in terms of class privilege. I responded in kind.

if he were to win the nomination.

The likely republican nominee, Trump, was draft age during Vietnam, as was Kasich. They don't want to open that can of worms.

Cruz wasn't of age during a draft, but he'd still have to justify his lack of service if he wanted to question Sanders about his.

would attack anyone for anything. He has no shame.

How military personal would react to a CO CinC sending them to war if it was needed.

Only thing we have to give us an idea at this point.


Military Times survey: Troops back Donald Trump, Bernie Sanders for president

In an exclusive survey of American military personnel, Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders emerged as active-duty service members' top choices to become the next commander in chief.

http://www.militarytimes.com/story/military/election/2016/03/14/military-times-election-survey-donald-trump-bernie-sanders/81767560/

If yes, it doesn't officially disqualify him from serving ... but it will make a lot of Vietnam vets not like him very much.

Honestly.

That status was very difficult to obtain.

Bernie was like most other college students of his time. He didn't want to be drafted. Totally understandable. However, he was not granted conscientious objector status.

I knew a genuine conscientious objector. There's no need to exaggerate in this way.

I suggest self-delete.

And what about the morale of the rank and file members of our armed service men and women.?

He applied for CO status and by the time it was rejected he was too old for the draft.

I say he is an eligible Commander in chief no matter how this one spins..

This is probably not a winning issue for him.

It should be noted Trump and Kasich were draft age during Vietnam.

The only more unjust war was Iraq.

Bernie supporters have always insisted he does better once voters get to know him. Democrats who are not yet aware of his application for CO status are more likely to give him a pass.

Independents and moderate members of the GOP are likely to see it as a disqualifier.

But, it wasn't about COs. Mostly about the idiots in charge who definitely weren't COs.

get to call the shots on all things military. The retired brass won't be backing Bernie. No way, no how.

I think you underestimate the Pentagon. They aren't all crazy war mongers. Ike himself hated war.

I don't give a rat's ass what the Pentagon thinks about ANYTHING. They work for US, though they do not like that at all.

I'm so fucking sick of the kowtowing to the military on everything.

a heck of a lot more than a candidate who never met a war she didn't like. Plus, he was right about Vietnam, just like he was right about Iraq.

Those of us old enough remember the predictions that if the war in Vietnam was lost "the commies would be coming down the Potomac." I don't see any Commies coming down the Potomac except on tourist visas.

And I'm a Hillary guy.

I think folks are just wondering how well it will go over in the GE.

in 'nam and I've no problem with Bernie's stance. In fact if I'd been a little more educated on the war I'd more than likely been a CO too. It took me all of a few days to realize the wrongness in what we were doing there.

I was raised in a poor family. I enlisted in the USAF as a way to get ahead in life. Really. Most of my childhood friends believed that going into the Navy or the Air Force was a good thing to do in 1968. It didn't take me too long to figure out the war was a big con job. The ARVN, up to and including General Thieu, later President Thieu, was deeply involved in drug smuggling. Many of our guys came back to the world hooked on smack, thanks to the ARVN. One day I mentioned to a friend of mine that we were on the wrong side in the Vietnam civil war. "I know that you moron", he replied. "But you shouldn't say that around here".

We have had many presidents who never fought in a war.

Bill Clinton didn't go. On the other side it's ok to warmonger after refusing to serve one's self. Sometimes you have to fight. Vietnam was not one of them.

We haven't had a President with real combat experience for a long time.

He might not get the votes of some rigid Republicans who care about such issues, but he wasn't going to get those votes anyway. Is conscientious objector any worse than "socialist"?

Calling themselves conscientuous objectors.

George Bush valiently defended Texas.

Bill Clinton just told them he didn't feel like honoring his committment to serve

Thankfully we won't have to worry about that.

He wasn't one of those who tried to get out of serving for selfish reasons. Like Hillary's husband, with endless student deferments.

I'm a veteran, the mother of three sons, and I'd much rather have someone who is not eager to go to war in the White House. That means Bernie, for those a few pages behind.

He was smart enough to know an unjust war.

You may or may not agree with his choice in the 60s, but Hillary's choice in the 60s was to be a Goldwater girl. Since those are the only two Dem candidates, if what they did in the 60s matters to you, those are your choices. (Though Bernie does have some good civil rights activity to his name from back then, too.)

I think having a Commander-in-Chief who likes War is a very bad idea, don't you?

But by older I mean like 80 or something. And some right-wingers would object, but they aren't going to vote for him anyway.

The Constitution decides what disqualifies people for office. Your Facebook friends do not.

those who were eligible all found a way out.
At least with Bernie he stood up for something. He didn't just game the system.

I have less problems with someone who does not look to the gun as the first solution to any problem than I do with those who were cultured in fighting at first insult.
I believe history shows us that the founders feared a standing army for many reasons. One reason that if one has an army, one looks for fights.

"War will exist until that distant day when the conscientious objector enjoys the same reputation and prestige that the warrior does today." -- John F. Kennedy