What more can I give you people? I put in the effort and then I slip in a tasteful photographic study sometime in the late comments. What else can I do? It's about Lieutenant Peter Hegseth, a smarmy creep who runs one of the most influential Republican 527s right now. But sure, read one of the short ones about somebody liveblogging their cat. Okay, I would click that. But you know what I mean.
Hi ,Mom
First, I’d like to thank Mr. Hegseth for his service to the nation as a soldier. He has a Bronze Star for meritorious service. Indeed. I wish he had left it at that. But yes I mean it and yes I'm sticking by it. He lied about who he was while in uniform and he has consistently misrepresented his military experience.
Indeed, scant months after he went to active duty Peter Hegseth made it his business to break Federal law - certainly in spirit, possibly in letter - by constantly engaging in partisan political activity while on active duty at least by my understanding the following:
"DOD defines "partisan political activity" as "activity supporting or relating to candidates representing, or issues specifically identified with, national or State political parties and associated or ancillary organizations."
Naming your Iraqi interpreter "John Kerry" is funny – for you - in Iraq. Reporting that fact to the Family Research Council is not, perhaps, in the best tradition of a non-partisan military. And suggesting in your hometown paper that Senator Durbin "handed our enemies a propaganda victory" is quite clearly inappropriate.
It is unclear to me how Mr. Hegseth had time to complete the four years of active duty required by his ROTC scholarship. And yet this person had the gall to argue with General Wesley Clark – 34-year veteran who won the Silver Star for Valor for commanding his unit after being shot 4 times – that the Webb amendment would give too much time off to soldiers and ruin unit cohesion. This he knew from his "firsthand experiences" Of course Pete switched units after just a few of his NINE MONTHS in Iraq, so obviously, well, he has no idea that the hell he's talking about.
Hegseth "debating":
But you- it's oversimplifying the problem, oversimplifying the solution to something. What you have got right now is, you've got a one-for-one ratio that the Congress is trying to legislate, that when you bring troops over there, you, we can bring them back and have them stay the exact amount of time that they were in Iraq
Clark should have fired his staff on the spot for allowing him to "debate" this tyke of a soldier. There’s still time to fire them, General Clark.
Hegseth is 27-years-old, trained and fit. He shouts his patriotism at the top of his lungs. He presumes to "represent the troops". Is it astonishing that this young man does not volunteer to go back to Iraq? Should we be surprised he has only barely fulfilled his obligation to the US military, if indeed he has? No, of course not. He’s a Republican and patriotism is, to him, a "broad phylactery"
Matthew 23:
For they preach but they do not practice. / They tie up heavy burdens (hard to carry) and lay them on people's shoulders, but they will not lift a finger to move them./ All their works are performed to be seen. They widen their phylacteries and lengthen their tassels. / They love places of honor at banquets, seats of honor in synagogues, / greetings in marketplaces

I ask you, is this not a fetching couple?. Lovely girl.
And let’s talk about that military career I thanked Lieutenant Hegseth for. It was laudable service, but unusual. At Princeton, the Family Research Council had Hegseth on a Witherspoon Fellowship. Young Hegseth was also on an ROTC scholarship. After all, Princeton is VERY expensive. But as much as Hegseth flaunts his five or six months of combat experience, he did not feel the need, while in ROTC, to do any of that ranger training or get a parachutist badge, as one of his Princeton?ROTC classmates,...

...who is a girl, did.
And why would he? He had basketball to play. And after officer basic, he was headed to the New Jersey National Guard, marriage to his beautiful sweetheart and a job at Bear Stearns, the investment bank. But, one year after the initiation of the war in Iraq, this soldier has the...fortune?...misfortune?...of being called up and sent to dangerous duty in sunny Cuba – on guard detail at Guantanamo Bay.
From "The Nation" Magazine:
....with financial backing from well-heeled sources, conservative students founded a magazine called The Princeton Tory, which once declared "Open Season on Liberals," featuring a photograph of a rifle-toting hunter on its cover.
Does Anybody Have That Graphic?
Oh, did I forget to mention that Hegseth had been the editor at the Princeton Tory? Yes, he’s always been very keen indeed on politics. It was his major and he "plans to pursue a Masters in Public Policy at the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton" I wonder if anyone knew that when they sent him to Guantanamo – for example, Princeton alumni . Who could it have been? Not Rumsfeld, obviously, he wouldn’t have known about some kid. Bolten? Seems unlikely. Mitch Daniels? No. But there’s another fellow I’m trying to thing of. Not undergraduate, but Wilson School...hmm...MPA, PHD, spoke at the Wilson School. Eh, can’t remember. Maybe it will come to me later.
Anyway, Hegseth immediately used his estimable writing skills to become a flak for the Administration from the second he got home (if not before). After 12 months. In Cuba. During a War. Nice patriotism, Jackass.
Then comes a story you’ll find repeated across the Internet:
"I was drinking my coffee, and I opened the paper to read that a suicide bomber in Iraq had just blown up 18 kids and one American soldier," he said. "It hit me: this is the face of pure evil. An enemy that would something like this has to be defeated."That day was one of the most difficult of my life, " he added. "I had to go to my wife and say, ‘Meredith, I love you, but I’m seeking your permission to volunteer for duty in Iraq.’ "
I love that story. This is Meredith:

I dunno, Pete, I prefer a slightly curvaceous girl, myself............... ....................................................................................................
...........
....um, what was I saying?
Anyway, after Pete "volunteered" to leave his new bride behind and actually finish his...um...military oblig.................
I was going to be snarkier here, but I keep looking at that picture and admiring the young man’s sacrifice.
But whatever personal treasure.......he may have left behind, Hegseth was not going just anywhere. He was going to the "IRON RAKKASANS" – 3rd Battalion, One-Hundred and First Got-Dam Airborne. The only airborne unit to have served in every American war since its inception. Storied. Heroic.
Tough.

Odd.
No, not the Rakkasans, of course. Just a little odd that he joined them. Because I’m adding up the months....hmm....Where did the Airborne training come in? Parachutist’s badge? Certainly not Ranger school. Advanced infantry training? Because the Rakkasans are a pretty hard-core airborne group, so, you’d think that a combat lieutenant.....
Oh, wait, NOW I remember! The Princeton alum who might have made note of young Hegseth:

General David Petraeus! He commanded the Rakkasans!
After his brutal year in the Guantanamo sun, and three months at Bear Stearns, Hegseth was off to command a combat platoon in one of the toughest, most highly-trained light infantry units in the Army. Although he himself may for some reason have been just a touch light on training. We’ll see that won’t stop him.

Fantastic. I’m sure his unit did well. Thanks again, Lieutenant No-Training. "After six months of hunting insurgents, I will now spend my last six months helping Iraq get back on its feet" - he told his funders at the Family Research Counil. And then, it was back to Media Flak City. This time as a Phony Banker! The Defense department was so psyched about it, they put out a glossy and misleading profile of this important cog in their anti-terror machine
U.S. Army
1st Lt. Peter Hegseth
New York Banker Helps Rebuild Iraq Infrastructure

By Sgt. Waine D. Haley
133rd Mobile Public Affairs Detachment
SAMARRA, Iraq, March 23, 2006 — A New York City banker steps into the Army’s Civil Affairs world to help stabilize and rebuild Samarra’s infrastructure.
Three months at Bear Stearns. Three months. He’s a fucking banker.
"I’ve been in this position for about three weeks. This position continuously develops into different responsibilities." With a background in banking and politics, Hegseth has an insight into many aspects of civil affairs. One of his many tasks is to evaluate the cities’ ability to sustain a financial institution. "There are no banks in Samarra," said Hegseth. "We are trying to evaluate if it’s feasible to open one here. Security is a big issue with that – as are most things in Samarra."
Really.
Hegseth and the Civil Affairs team are trying to coach the leadership of Samarra on how to obtain the funding to bring the city up to proper standards. At this point they are relying on Coalition Forces for this funding.
How to obtain funding – which he would know about, because he's a banker.
"We don’t want a lot of U.S. money coming into the area," Hegseth said. "With this money comes inflated prices and more security issues. For us to think we can just give them money is over-simplifying the problem."
We don’t want money coming in and the soldiers don’t need rest. The key is not to over-simplify the problem.
"I majored in politics in college, so I’ve been very interested in how the government and how politics work," Hegseth said. "Starting at the base level of the democratic institution has been a great learning experience."
As long as you learned something, Pete. That’s the important thing. A whole country just for Petey’s resume.
Hegseth said working in this environment has taught him what is important personally and professionally. He said the leadership challenges and problem solving he has learned here will assist him when he gets home. "If you can solve a problem in Samarra, you should be able to solve a problem in the states,"
And if you can’t?...You're, um,...a useless fraud? Oh, well how would Pete know anyway? He was gone three months later.
You’re gonna love this one:
"Government needs to provide security and basic services," Hegseth said. "In America we tend to overlook that."
Are you fucking kidding me?
When the young flak returned, which career do you think he pursued: military or banking? That’s right, he was a flak for the Manhattan Institute on the ill effects of liberalism in universities. To the extent, that is, that he did anything at all for them other than to collect a check and take over Sons of Confederate Veterans oh, no I’m sorry that’s the racist, sexist veterans group registered from the same address. I mean "Swiftboat Veterans For Truth, oh, no sorry, those are the military liars who had the same site creator, administrator, fundraising and PR people, The Donatelli Group. No Hegseth took over Veterans For Freedom and then he left the Manhattan institute after the trustees gave him a href="00,000 No, not HIM, sorry. He left the Manhattan Institute, created by Former CIA Director Bob ""I Invented The Car Bomb, Shiite-Killer"" Casey and the trustees gave VFF a lot of money. But all these things I’ve mentioned are causally unconnected.

Then, because of his very short time in Iraq, paucity of military command training and absolute political bias, the Wall Street Journal published his article about banking. No, sorry again. He was a phony banker. They published his opinion piece about why we needed more troops.
But even the "liberal" Washington Post gave this young rascal with no qualifications or intent to do anything but FLAK for the Republicans a bunch of FREE space on their opinion page. It’s awful when papers undercharge political groups for space on their opinion pages, isn’t it?
Here’s my favorite quote:
Iraq today is the front line of a global jihad being waged against America and its allies. Both Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri have said so.
It’s cute. It’s like he’s saying "Dad said so" – as long as you don’t mind the idea of US policy being dictated by pig-ignorant, violent fundamentalists.
Which he clearly doesn’t.