Democrat Congressman Tim Mahoney (FL-16): Honoring Those Who Defended the Soviet Union [Updated]

[Update-7/1/08@1012CDT: Asked about the photo by Cox Newspapers-Washington, Mahoney spokeswoman Leslie Pollner-Levey said, “We’d like more time to respond. We’re looking into it.”

That tone changed quickly. When the staff realized the magnitude of their error, Charles Halloran, Mahoney's chief of staff, had this to say: “This was an honest staff error. We deeply apologize to those who were offended and we will take steps to ensure that this mistake doesn’t happen in the future.”

Kudos to them for being willing to "take steps to ensure that this mistake doesn’t happen in the future." After all, getting it right the first time -- which could have been ensured had one single U.S. military veteran been shown the mailpiece supposedly "honoring" veterans before it was sent out.

Sometimes it takes a massive screw-up to teach folks to kick the laziness habit and reinforce attention to detail, I suppose.]

Tim Mahoney, freshman Democrat Congressman from Florida, really, really loves the troops. Remember last March, when he responded to questions about whether or not the 'surge' in Iraq would work by famously saying "So what"? Well, forget it -- Tim Mahoney loves the troops, and don't you dare think otherwise.

He loves them so much that he wants every person in his district to know how much he loves, and honors, the efforts, dedication, and sacrifices of those who defend our freedom.

He loves them so much that he recently sent out a taxpayer-funded mailpiece titled "Honoring Those Who Defend Our Freedom" (viewable here in .pdf form, and here with Staff Advisory Opinion attached).

Read on.

Take a quick look at that mailpiece. Ignore, for a moment, the possibility that picture of the troops shown in uniform was taken in Iraq -- something that would be quite the faux pas on a Democrat's mailer "Honoring Those Who Defend Our Freedom," since we've all been told for quite some time now that Iraq is the wrong war, in the wrong place, at the wrong time, and that it has nothing to do with "defending our freedom," or anything else besides getting cheap-as-free oil and acting on Israel's subliminal directives.

No, ignore that photograph, and its possible implications, and look further down the piece at this fellow (pictured at right; click to enlarge).

Look closely at his medals. As any American veteran can tell you, it's as easy to spot the fact that those aren't American medals as it is to tell the difference between, say, an M4 and an AK-47.

In particular, take a look at the top right medal in the gentleman's array. Then, take a look at the image below at left. See a resemblance?

The medal is the "Order of the Patriotic War" -- "an Order (decoration) of the Soviet Union," which "was awarded to all soldiers in the Soviet armed forces, security troops, and to partisans for heroic deeds during the Great Patriotic War" [Auth. -- the Soviet designation for WWII].

The rest of the medals being worn by the gentleman on the mailer are identifiable as Soviet awards, as well.

The takeaway from this? Freshman "Blue Dog" Democrat Congressman Tim Mahoney, FL-16, loves the troops so much that neither he nor his staff could tell the difference between an American veteran and a former soldier in Iron Joe Stalin's Red Army.

First it was Barack Obama, the presumptive Democrat presidential nominee, whose pathological need to be a part of history led him to place his uncle in Stalin's Red Army at the time of its liberation of Auschwitz. Now, it's Tim Mahoney who "honors" our troops by including a photograph of a Soviet veteran on a mailpiece meant to reinforce just how much he loves America's troops.

If that doesn't show true love for the troops, then I don't know what does. After all, taking three minutes to grab a Defense Fellow from another office (Mahoney declined to employ such a Fellow himself, for whatever reason) and get a quick accuracy check on the taxpayer-funded mailer was clearly too great an effort to make for those brave men and women Mahoney and his staff are so passionately supportive of.