When Ted Cruz, Mike Lee and Sarah Palin showed up for yesterday's Million Vet March on the Washington Mall, they acted like they were in charge; like they had been specifically invited to lead this protest against the President and his "overreach" in closing the WWII Memorial.
Nothing could be further from the truth. Here is the official response from the Million Vet March organization, that was posted on their Facebook page just this morning:
Official Stance of the Million Vet March on the Memorials:
The political agenda put forth by a local organizer in Washington DC yesterday was not in alignment with our message. We feel disheartened that some would seek to hijack the narrative for political gain. The core principle was and remains about all Americans honoring Veterans in a peaceful and apolitical manner. Our love for and our dedication to remains with Veterans, regardless of party affiliation or political leanings.
Feel free to check out the 60+ apolitical and peaceful rallies of the Million Vet March across the nation at our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/....
The Million Vet March was a real attempt to honor veterans from across the nation. Here was their invitation:
Join fellow Veterans and Americans at the war memorials in Washington DC on Sunday October 13th at 9 AM and at memorials across these United States.
It is indeed true that the Million Vet March was designed to bring attention to the fact that the Government Shutdown closed war memorials across the country. This post on their Facebook page speaks to that:
We are all military brats, current and former military spouses and some veterans. We cannot express how utterly disappointed we were that our Greatest Generation were being used as political pawns in the ongoing government shutdown and budget crisis. This should never be the case.
We do not care what political leanings you may be; be it liberal, conservative, Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, Independent or whatever. The actions of the U.S. government this week with regard to barricading and shutting down the World War II Memorial to veterans, that may or may not be on their last trip to Washington DC, is a despicable act of cowardice.
Veterans this week were unwillingly pitted as pawns in this crisis. We feel that this should never be the case. This is why we will go to Congress after the budget crisis and ask for a bill to be introduced that would prevent any member of the government from closing our memorials down to any American, except for maintenance purposes. In the meantime, we will have our March in Washington DC on October 13th! Our veterans deserve that!
Many in our group have decided that enough is enough. We are Americans. We are proud of our heritage and our service. As all of us were military brats and spouses, we have served in some form or another our entire lives. This is our way of life. We will not stand by and let the U.S. government dishonor the legacy of sacrifice of the generations before us. It is time to make a stand! We hope that you will join us in our peaceful protest against anti-American policies.
So the march was designed to protest the closings of the memorials. I can't say that I agree with all that they wrote in that last statement. Too much false equivalence to suit me. But I do agree that the government should be reopened, including all of the memorials, and that all of our veterans should be honored.
But Cruz, Lee and Palin have only dishonored our veterans with their weekend antics, especially since they were accompanied by a Confederate flag: the antithesis of American patriotism
