Serious spittle is flying between Portland's two nationally syndicated radio talk-show hosts.
On Monday, The Oregonian profiled Thom Hartmann, the progressive-plus talk jock who's had a local show on KPOJ 620-AM since 2005. Hartmann's star got elevated this month when the national program he also does took over the spot once held by Al Franken, the Air America poster boy who left radio to run for the U.S. Senate in Minnesota.
In the O's profile, Peter Ames Carlin quotes Hartmann saying of the Vietnam War that "Lyndon Johnson wanted to kill me." Carlin then writes, "Still, Hartmann joined the Air Force in 1968, thinking he could work as an engineer, thus avoiding dangerous duty. Quickly realizing he was wrong, Hartmann managed to flunk an end-of-basic-training physical, earning a quick ticket back to civilian life."
Lars Larson pounced on that admission. (For those who have been brain-dead for the past decade, Larson is the award-winning journalist who years ago traded his notebook for a radio mic; his conservative local show on KXL 750-AM regularly twists the underwear of Oregon Democrats, and his national show now airs on 175 stations.) In an article this week for the online version of the national conservative journal Human Events (humanevents.com), Larson wrote, "From this it's only reasonable to infer that Hartman lied his way out of the Air Force, which is a federal crime."
Larson, who was 15 when the Vietnam War ended, then cites the Uniform Code of Military Justice, adding, "The man who will now lead the liberal battle against Rush Limbaugh in talk radio and who will tell America daily about the illegal war by the illicit president with the questionable military record has some very serious questions to answer about his apparent violation of the UCMJ."
Hartmann wasn't immediately available for comment because he was broadcasting this week from New York, but we're guessing he might have something to say about it on the air. Stay tuned.
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Instead, he gets “ramped up” about twisting Thom Hartmann’s underwear because it’s “reasonable to infer” that intentionally flunking a post-training military physical is a “lie.” Words fail me. What does one say in the face of such a stunning display of hypocrisy and disingenuousness?
There is no link to his column on the Web site you list.
I enlisted in the Air Force in July 1964 and was in basic when Johnson trumped up his phony Gulf of Tonkin incident to have an excuse to expand the war so I know a little about the Air Force of that era.
One, Hartmann had no reason to believe he was going to be an engineer or anything else for that matter. The Air Force didn't guarantee squat when you enlisted back then. You were sent to various schools based on test results and needs. But I can also tell you that Air Force enlisted personnel were rarely put in combat situations unless they volunteered for it. In the AF, officers are the ones taking the risks for the most part. There are combat jobs for enlisted that are highly dangerous, but they are all on volunteer basis. I don't buy for a second that Hartmann was fearful of being put in harm's way. He sounds more like a whiner who tried to avoid the draft and then decided that unlike the other enlistees, he shouldn't have to fulfill his commitment. Not a guy I would like to sell anything to on a contract.