Bush props unhappy about violating prohibition against partisan activities

Scott McClellan ducks another great question.

A bit of background from "DoD Directive 1344.10, Political Activities by Members of the Armed Forces on Active Duty" (link):

Prohibited political activities. A military member on active duty may not:
...
=> Participate in partisan political campaigns, speeches, articles, TV/radio discussions;

From the press conference (link):

Go ahead, Greg.

Q Scott, this is going back a little bit, but we've received some complaints from soldiers, both former and current, about the Tobyhanna speech and the Elmendorf, Alaska speech. They cite their own regulations that say U.S. soldiers cannot participate in partisan political activity. But when the President attacked Democrats, they are -- they feel like they were put in the position where they're supporting a democratic cause in uniform. Does the President feel --

MR. McCLELLAN: Who said that? I think the President was talking as Commander-in-Chief to our troops and talking to them about the war that we're engaged in.

Q Well, he was talking about Democrats, as well. "Some Democrats who voted to authorize use of force are now rewriting the past." He said, "It is irresponsible Democrats --

MR. McCLELLAN: That's true.

Q -- "claim we misled them."

MR. McCLELLAN: Now, I notice -- now, I notice they're not making those same claims recently.

Q Well, nevertheless, does the President feel like it's appropriate to inject the troops into what is, I think, quite clearly a partisan debate?

MR. McCLELLAN: No, I disagree. The President is the Commander-in-Chief. No one has been more involved in this war on terrorism than our troops and their families. And our troops understand the importance of the mission. They understand what they're working to achieve in Iraq, and they know that they're going to win. And they know they have the full support of this White House and this President. We're going to make sure they have everything they need to be able to accomplish that mission. And General Casey and General Pace both today in the meeting talked about how high the morale was of our troops, and what a great job that they're doing, and how clearly they understood the stakes involved, and how clearly they understood the importance of completing the mission.

Not only has Bush forced active duty members of our armed services to violate the directive prohibiting their participation in partisan speeches, his entire regime constitutes a violation of the following bit from the directive:

Spirit and intent of Directive prohibits activity that may be viewed as directly or indirectly associating DoD with partisan politics.

Where in his response is the answer to the partisan question? NO WHERE
What a fuckin' hack this guy is - I don't know why these "reporters" still show up for these things.

I need to send the guy a thank-you card.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/administration/whbriefing/correspondents.html

The only Gregs on list from August are

Greg Kelly - Faux
Greg Clugston - Salem Radio Network

Or, perhaps McClellan has taken to calling David Gregory "greg"? (doubt it, but he has called him "Gregory" rather than David in past briefings)

I find that fact absolutely detestable. Never at any time should the military become a polarized force by politicalization. People's lives are at stake. I know the way I currently feel about Republicans and I were in the service and in Iraq I would find it difficult to come to a Republicans defense and I feel like they feel the same way about Democrats. Rush has been telling them for years without counterbalance that Liberals are Traitors. Is politicalization good for necessary cohesion? I think Rush Limbaugh is endangering our soldiers lives. To me this is one of my most top priorities. Get all politics off Armed Forces Radio. All politics period.........