Republicans Use Military as a Stage Prop (Yet Again)… And This Time May Break the Law
by Rob Diamond – Navy Veteran and Security Fellow with the Truman National Security Project – Org. Posted: January 28, 2010 12:22 PM
The GOP Rebuttal To The State of The Union was a US Army Sergeant looked to be used as a prop in a partisan event.
You did not have to be paying much attention during last night’s Republican response to President Obama’s State of the Union address to notice a young Army Staff Sergeant in full dress uniform seated prominently right behind Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell and enthusiastically applauding and cheering at the Governor’s attacks on Democrats.
Slight problem, you see. That is probably against the law.
Look it up for yourself right here in the Department of Defense (DoD) Directive entitled “Political Activities by Members of the Armed Forces.” The purpose of this DoD Directive is to mirror the Hatch Act, which prohibits government employees from engaging in partisan political activity in an official capacity. Since a DoD Directive is considered to be in the same category as an order or regulation, and military personnel violating its provisions can be considered in violation of Article 92 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, our Republican friends may have just caused this brave young soldier to break the law. Thank you for that, Governor McDonnell.