Lost Soul, you are a hatelfilled liar. Not only is such phoney claims made by those of both political stripes, it is done so with more success by those who are Republican because of the gullibility factor of Republicans. Here in Oregon we have had more than one Republican claiming a combat Vet status whose claims were simply lies. On the National level, there was the television evangelist that made a run for the Republican Presidential candidacy who made a false claim of combat Vet status.
Wes Cooley - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Wester Shadric Cooley was born March 28, 1932, in Los Angeles, California. He served in the United States Army from 1952 to 1954, and is described in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress as a rancher. He owns the vitamin supplements company Rose Laboratories. Cooley graduated from the University of Southern California with a Bachelor of Science degree in 1958.
Cooley was elected to the Oregon State Senate in 1992. He was tagged with the nickname "Wanderin' Wes" because moved his mobile home barely inside his state Senate district just long enough to meet the residency requirement. In 1994, midway through his State Senate term, Cooley was elected to the House of Representatives as a Republican from the 2nd District.
In the 104th Congress, Cooley was an advocate of private property rights, American military superiority, tort reform to limit recovery by plaintiffs, and other planks of the Republican Party's proclaimed Contract with America. Cooley was liked by ranchers and by the mining and timber industries, and he was outspokenly hostile to environmentalists and environmental laws; he once compared U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service agents to the Gestapo.
[edit] Disputed veterans status
Cooley became embroiled in controversy after it was alleged that he had made false claims about serving in the Korean War. Cooley maintained that he had indeed served in the Korean War but that he was unable to prove his claim because he had served in the top-secret Army Special Forces and had been sworn to secrecy. He also claimed that the records of his service had been "destroyed in a fire", and that his immediate commander, Sergeant Major Clifford Poppy, had been killed in action.
A newspaper reporter tracked down the still-living Poppy, who had not been a member of the Special Forces but a drill instructor who had participated in Cooley's basic training at boot camp. When asked about Cooley's claims, Poppy harshly replied, "Tell him he’s a liar. Tell him Sergeant Poppy said that.” Poppy's response was later corroborated by three other former soldiers who, like many veterans, were concerned about a veteran with disputed status. Cooley responded with a veiled (and unsubstantiated) accusation that Poppy was suffering from Alzheimer's Disease.
Cooley became something of a national laughingstock, a caricature of the lying politician. He was a repeat subject of derisive coverage in News of the Weird, as it further came to light that he had "mistakenly" claimed a Phi Beta Kappa key and had fabricated or exaggerated achievements in a world motorcycle competition. When asked about the Phi Beta Kappa "mistake," Cooley responded that he was actually a member of another honor society, but he couldn't recall that society's name. When further pressed on both incidents, he stated that the "liberal media was engaging in character assassination."
The embattled Cooley was additionally plagued by allegations that his wife, Rosemary Herron Cooley (whose first husband died in a military plane crash in 1965), continued to receive benefit checks from the government as the widow of a veteran, several years after she had married Cooley (which would make them both felons, as a widow's benefits immediately cease upon remarriage, and there are severe penalties for falsifying federal documents). Cooley refused to answer questions about the date of his marriage, and his press spokesman explained that before Cooley could make a statement about when he got married, the congressman would first need to gather all the "facts at his disposal." Cooley finally stated they had been married in 1991, which is when his wife had stopped receiving the benefit checks; this was a full six years later than they had previously claimed.
