Tom Cotton's "Army Ranger" dissembling goes back at least eight years

[marmar]

(Salon) Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., has over the years routinely puffed up his political bona fides by embellishing his military service record, claiming in multiple interviews and campaign ads not only to have been a U.S. Army Ranger, but to have served in action as a Ranger — and, at one point, to have earned the Bronze Star "as a Ranger."

Salon reported on Friday that during Cotton's first congressional campaign, the Harvard Law grad claimed to have served as a Ranger and acquired "experience" as a Ranger in combat zones in Iraq and Afghanistan. A number of people came to the senator's defense, observing that as a graduate of the U.S. Army Ranger School, Cotton — who once said that "bombing makes us safer" — is within his rights to lay colloquial claim to the title. Salon's original article has been upheld as correct by the fact-check site Snopes, but even those who believe it's acceptable for Cotton to call himself a Ranger, as opposed to the more accurate "Ranger-qualified," would likely agree that he can't claim battlefield experience as a Ranger, nor that he served as one. Yet the Arkansas senator appears to have done both, on more than one occasion.

Cotton still has not provided comment to Salon, but he addressed the issue directly in an interview with Fox News' Bret Baier on Monday.

"Were you straightforward with voters about your military service?" Baier asked.

....(snip)....

But with Cotton, a war hawk who has been deemed a "maniac" even by the conservative Washington Examiner, the issue goes deeper: Cotton hasn't simply said that he was a Ranger, but has strongly suggested or implied that he had deployed, even fought, as a Ranger. .................(more)

https://www.salon.com/2021/01/26/tom-cottons-army-ranger-dissembling-goes-back-at-least-eight-years/

[Cracklin Charlie]

1. "Bronze star"

Oh, Tom...you should be so ashamed of yourself.

Resign now.