Fortunately, there’s at least some backlash in response to Republicans mocking injured veterans during the convention.
Even leading Republicans said yesterday that things went a little too far when they had to publicly repudiate the actions of a delegate who was handing out adhesive bandages marked with Purple Hearts to mock Mr. Kerry’s war wounds.
The bandages, distributed by Morton Blackwell of Arlington, Va., included a message that read, “It was just a self-inflicted scratch, but you see I got a Purple Heart for it.” Mr. Blackwell said he was only trying to have fun, but the Military Order of The Purple Heart, an organization that says it represents wounded veterans, was not amused.
The group’s national commander, Robert N. Lichtenberger, said his 38,000 members were “outraged that an award that has been earned by them for shedding blood on the battlefields of the world would be so denigrated by using it for the purpose of political advantage.”
If there were any justice, this would continue to dog the Republicans for the rest of the campaign.