Yellow Elephants

A few readers thought this cartoon from a few weeks back unfairly targeted college Republicans. (Actually, a few impressively dense readers interpreted it as a swipe at all 18-to-22 year olds everywhere, but that sort of thing is just an occupational hazard.) At any rate, my friend August alerts me to this impressive act of self-sacrifice on the part of GWU College Republicans:

But the political cynicism prevalent on GW’s campus and across our nation tells a different and more disturbing story. Like our parents in Vietnam, we have lost the will to fight, to make the sacrifices that are necessary to protect our country. We have substituted healthy patriotism and deep reverence for American traditions with petty protests and condemnations of our nation’s highest leaders.

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Our generation has been courageous in combat, but the home front has yet to wholeheartedly endorse America’s historic mission to transform the Middle East. Generation Y, which includes the GW student community, has denied the troops the steadfast support required for victory. Unless we vigorously defend the mission in Iraq, our country will again suffer a devastating defeat and its reputation will be irreparably damaged. We can’t let this happen.

With President Bush’s recent proposal to commit more than 20,000 new American troops to Baghdad, our generation has an opportunity to renew its devotion to winning the war on terror and earn its billing as the new greatest generation. The GW College Republicans will do its part to answer this critical calling.

We invite all students, regardless of party affiliation, to join us in visiting wounded American soldiers at Walter Reed Hospital this Friday night. While war is an understandable source of disagreement, we must transcend partisan divisions and facilitate broad-based support for the men and women of the armed forces.

This is not satire. As August emailed, “The GW College Republicans are doing their part to support the war by going to Walter Reed and saying hi to troops who actually enlisted. And they’re bragging about it in an insurgent-destroying editorial for their school newspaper.”

Related links: the original 18-22 year old cartoon, and this recent Onion piece.