Adam Weinstein Accuses Rick Perry of Playing the "Military Respect Card"

It didn't take long for the Rick Perry attacks to begin.  Less than 24 hours, really.

A quick perusal through Memeorandum shows:

Michelle Goldberg at The Daily Beast is drumming up paranoia about Perry and Bachmann's Christian beliefs:

We have not seen this sort of thing at the highest levels of the Republican Party before. Those of us who wrote about the Christian fundamentalist influence on the Bush administration were alarmed that one of his advisers, Marvin Olasky, was associated with Christian Reconstructionism. It seemed unthinkable, at the time, that an American president was taking advice from even a single person whose ideas were so inimical to democracy. Few of us imagined that someone who actually championed such ideas would have a shot at the White House. It turns out we weren’t paranoid enough. If Bush eroded the separation of church and state, the GOP is now poised to nominate someone who will mount an all-out assault on it. We need to take their beliefs seriously, because they certainly do.

Really, I thought we quit worrying about a president's religious beliefs when America elected a Catholic.

Matthew Yglesias has sifted through Rick Perry's Fed Up to find "The Ten Strangest Ideas" in the book.  He primarily knocks Perry's belief in states' rights, which I don't find strange at all.

Even Karl Rove seems to suggest that Perry isn't electable in the general election.  Does he think Palin is?

Paul Krugman attacks Perry's record of job growth in Texas.  Because Obama's is so much better?

And then via my Twitter feed, here comes Adam Weinstein at Mother Jones supposedly "fact checking" Perry's statement yesterday that suggested the military has little respect for Obama.  Perry said in Waterloo last night:

"One of the reasons that I'm running for president is I want to make sure that every young man and woman who puts on the uniform of the United States respects highly the president of the United States."

He got a lot of applause for that line, by the way.

Weinstein whines:

The obvious implication is that America's roughly 3 million active-duty and reserve soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines don't respect President Barack Obama—whose administration drew down their numbers in Iraq and Afghanistan, revamped the Department of Veterans Affairs, increased Pentagon funding, and oversaw the operation that killed Osama bin Laden. Is Perry for real?

He's for real, Mr. Weinstein.

Weinstein claims that 37% of service members polled by Gallup approved of Obama.  In Weinstein's world, this is apparently a positive approval rating.  It's okay, you see, because at one time George W. Bush "the exact same approval numbers"!  Eureka!

Only 42% in the Gallup poll approved for the 18 to 29 age group.  By the time you get to the 40 to 49 age group, 37% approved and 51% disapproved.  Gallup points out:

Americans who currently serve or previously served in the U.S. military are less likely to approve of the job President Obama is doing than are those who have not served in the military, by about 10 percentage points. This approval gap occurs across age groups.

And of course, the problem with that whole polling of the military thing is that it's racist or something:

(It's also worth noting that, despite major gains by women and minorities in recent years, the military is overwhelmingly white, male, and Protestant, a demographic that never polls well for Obama.)

Weinstein's pitiful excuse that Perry is just beating up on Obama is weak:

But Perry's "respect" jibe isn't about the facts: It's about painting a beleaguered president as effeminate and indecisive.

Poor "beleaguered" and "embattled" Obama.  It's good that he has the media to take up for him.  Maybe he can gain a second wind while hanging out with the millionaires and billlionaires at Martha's Vineyard this month.  Nothing like a nice corporate jet, waygu beef, golfing vacation hob nobbing with the wealthy and getting away from the little people to re-energize yourself.

Weinstein suggests Obama campaign on his national security achievements.  No, I'm not making that up.

By all means, I think he should.  Let's throw Joe Biden in the argument, too, who put the finger on Seal Team Six.

If we're "fact checking" Perry's statement, I think Mr. Weinstein stands corrected and Perry is correct.  There's not a high level of respect for Obama among the military as a rule.

Let's do some unscientific polling here.  Are you military?  Ex-military?  Retired?  What do you think?