"During his years as an undergraduate at Manhattan College and then at New York University Law School, Giuliani qualified for a student deferment. Upon graduation from law school in 1968, he lost that temporary deferment and his draft status reverted to 1-A, the designation awarded to those most qualified for induction into the Army. At the same time, Giuliani won a clerkship with federal Judge Lloyd McMahon in the fabled Southern District of New York, where he would become the United States attorney. He naturally had no desire to trade his ticket on the legal profession's fast track for latrine duty in the jungle. So he quickly applied for another deferment based on his judicial clerkship. This time the Selective Service System denied his claim. That was when the desperate Giuliani prevailed upon his boss to write to the draft board, asking them to grant him a fresh deferment and reclassification as an "essential" civilian employee. As the great tabloid columnist Jimmy Breslin noted 20 years later, during the former prosecutor's first campaign for mayor: 'Giuliani did not attend the war in Vietnam because federal Judge Lloyd MacMahon [sic] wrote a letter to the draft board in 1969 and got him out. Giuliani was a law clerk for MacMahon, who at the time was hearing Selective Service cases. MacMahon's letter to Giuliani's draft board stated that Giuliani was so necessary as a law clerk that he could not be allowed to get shot at in Vietnam.'"
The elite club of draft dodgers includes:
- GW Bush - who served in the Air National Guard. I was around for the draft in the 60s and I know what a desirable way out the National Guard was at that point in history. Bush also decided that a six-year National Guard commitment really means four years. Still says that he's "been to war."
- Dick Cheney - who says he had other priorities.
- Karl Rove - avoided the draft, did not serve.
- Former Speaker Newt Gingrich - avoided the draft, did not serve.
- Former Att'y Gen. John Ashcroft - did not serve; received seven deferment to teach business ed at SW Missouri State.
- Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-KY - did not serve.
- enate Assistant Minority Leader Trent Lott, R-MI - avoided the draft, did not serve.
- Senate Republican Conference Chairman Jon Kyl, R-AZ - did not serve.
- National Republican Senatorial Committee Chair John Ensign, R-NV - did not serve.
- House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-OH - did not serve.
- House Minority Whip Roy Blunt, R-MO - did not serve.
- House Republican Conerence Chair Adam Putnam, R-FL - did not serve.
- House Republican Policy Committee Thaddeus McCotter, R-MI - did not serve.
- National Republican Congressional Committee Chair Tom Cole, R-OK - did not serve.
- Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani - did not serve.
- Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney - did not serve in the military but did serve the Mormon Church on a 30-month mission to France. NOW THAT'S serving one's country!
- Former Senator Fred Thompson - did not serve. Fredrick of Hollywood is running for president this time around.
- Senator John McCain - McCain's naval honors include the Silver Star, Bronze Star, Legion of Merit, Purple Heart and Distinguished Flying Cross. Why did the Bush campaign smear him so in 2000? At least Senators Cleland (D-GA), Kerry (D-MA), Kerrey (D-NE), Robb (D-VA) and Hagel (R-NE) defended him.
- Former Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert - avoided the draft, did not serve.
- Former House Majority Leader Dick Armey - avoided the draft, did not serve.
- Former House Majority Leader Tom Delay - avoided the draft, did not serve. "So many minority youths had volunteered ... that there was literally no room for patriotic folks like himself." (You've GOT to be KIDDING!!)
- Former House Majority Whip Roy Blunt - did not serve
- Former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist - did not serve. (An impressive medical resume, but not such a friend to cats in Boston.)
- Rick Santorum, R-PA, formerly third ranking Republican in the Senate - did not serve.
- George Felix Allen, former Republican Senator from Virginia - a supporter of Nixon and the Vietnam war, did not serve.
Frankly, it's easier to find pro-war Republicans who didn't serve than it is to find members of the Republican leadership who actually did serve. It's easy to be for war when someone else has to fight it.
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