Joe Biden --Draft Dogger?

[Biernutz]

Biden received 5 deferments before being declared medically ineligible for Vietnam

By RANDALL CHASE
|Associated Press


August 31, 2008 DOVER, Del. (AP) _ Democratic vice presidential nominee Joe Biden received five student draft deferments during the Vietnam War, the same number of deferments received by Vice President Cheney, and later was disqualified from service because of asthma as a teenager.
Officials with Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama's campaign released Biden's Selective Service records at the request of The Associated Press. Less detailed records were available from a National Archives facility in Philadelphia.

According to the do ents, Biden, 65, received several deferments while he was an undergraduate at the University of Delaware and later as a law student at Syracuse University. A month after undergoing a physical exam in April 1968, Biden received a Selective Service classification of 1-Y, meaning he was available for service only in the event of national emergency.

"As a result of a physical exam on April 5, 1968, Joe Biden was classified 1-Y and disqualified from service because of asthma as a teenager," said David Wade, a campaign spokesman.




In "Promises to Keep," a memoir that was published last year and became an instant best-seller after he was tapped as Obama's running mate, Biden never mentions his asthma, recounting an active childhood, work as a lifeguard and football exploits in high school.

The Obama campaign pointed to media interviews from 1987, when Biden was making his first bid for the presidency, that mention his asthma.

Military service and questions about which presidential ticket would be stronger on national security are intertwined in the presidential race. Republican John McCain, a former Navy pilot who spent 5½ years in a Vietnamese prison, has argued that he has stronger background to be commander in chief. Democratic nominee Barack Obama counters that McCain would continue a wrong-headed foreign policy from the Bush administration.

Biden has had extensive experience with national security issues in the Senate. McCain's running mate, Sarah Palin, has been Alaska governor for two years and before that was a small-town mayor.

Biden's five student deferments equal the number given to Vice President Cheney, who has been quoted as saying he had "other priorities" than military service in the 1960s.

According to records AP obtained from the National Archives, Biden registered Feb. 15, 1961, with the Selective Service, when he was an 18-year-old student at Archmere Academy in Wilmington. The archives do ents do not include any information about his classification or physical exam.

Do ents provided by the Obama campaign indicate Biden received a classification questionnaire in October 1963, when he was enrolled at the University of Delaware, and received his first 2-S student deferment a month later. Additional deferments were granted in roughly 12-month intervals, the last coming in January 1968, shortly before he graduated from law school at Syracuse University.

Then in April 1968, when he was 25, Biden was disqualified from service due to asthma.


http://www.courant.com/news/politics...,2934547.story

[Mr. Peabody]

So.....you're saying Biden's really a Republican....?

[cool hand]

He shouldn't have even been considered if he had asthma in the first place. He just didn't realize that would have disqualified him from the start.

[Bartleby]

[romad_20]

I fail to see the point. Cheney did the same thing, soooo two wrongs make a right? Really though, the things I did while in the service would have kept me out of any public office anyway, lol.

[JoeChalupa]

I fail to see the point. Cheney did the same thing, soooo two wrongs make a right? Really though, the things I did while in the service would have kept me out of any public office anyway, lol.

Me too. I was partying up a storm and made some true friends who I still keep in touch with to this day and we never talked politics back then. We served together. I remember going and partying with my entourage that consisted of whites, blacks, asians, hispanics, city boys, country boys, richers and trailer park trash and we all got along and when push came to shove we fought together. I had their back and they had mine.

[PixelPusher]

What is a Draft "Dogger" anyway?

[George Gervin's Afro]

Biden received 5 deferments before being declared medically ineligible for Vietnam

By RANDALL CHASE
|Associated Press


August 31, 2008 DOVER, Del. (AP) _ Democratic vice presidential nominee Joe Biden received five student draft deferments during the Vietnam War, the same number of deferments received by Vice President Cheney, and later was disqualified from service because of asthma as a teenager.
Officials with Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama's campaign released Biden's Selective Service records at the request of The Associated Press. Less detailed records were available from a National Archives facility in Philadelphia.

According to the do ents, Biden, 65, received several deferments while he was an undergraduate at the University of Delaware and later as a law student at Syracuse University. A month after undergoing a physical exam in April 1968, Biden received a Selective Service classification of 1-Y, meaning he was available for service only in the event of national emergency.

"As a result of a physical exam on April 5, 1968, Joe Biden was classified 1-Y and disqualified from service because of asthma as a teenager," said David Wade, a campaign spokesman.




In "Promises to Keep," a memoir that was published last year and became an instant best-seller after he was tapped as Obama's running mate, Biden never mentions his asthma, recounting an active childhood, work as a lifeguard and football exploits in high school.

The Obama campaign pointed to media interviews from 1987, when Biden was making his first bid for the presidency, that mention his asthma.

Military service and questions about which presidential ticket would be stronger on national security are intertwined in the presidential race. Republican John McCain, a former Navy pilot who spent 5½ years in a Vietnamese prison, has argued that he has stronger background to be commander in chief. Democratic nominee Barack Obama counters that McCain would continue a wrong-headed foreign policy from the Bush administration.

Biden has had extensive experience with national security issues in the Senate. McCain's running mate, Sarah Palin, has been Alaska governor for two years and before that was a small-town mayor.

Biden's five student deferments equal the number given to Vice President Cheney, who has been quoted as saying he had "other priorities" than military service in the 1960s.

According to records AP obtained from the National Archives, Biden registered Feb. 15, 1961, with the Selective Service, when he was an 18-year-old student at Archmere Academy in Wilmington. The archives do ents do not include any information about his classification or physical exam.

Do ents provided by the Obama campaign indicate Biden received a classification questionnaire in October 1963, when he was enrolled at the University of Delaware, and received his first 2-S student deferment a month later. Additional deferments were granted in roughly 12-month intervals, the last coming in January 1968, shortly before he graduated from law school at Syracuse University.

Then in April 1968, when he was 25, Biden was disqualified from service due to asthma.


http://www.courant.com/news/politics...,2934547.story

Now let's wait and see if he calls anyone who served our country an appeaser!!! I

[PixelPusher]

Oh, Draft Dodger...I get it.

So does this mean, if elected, Joe Biden will spend most of his vice-presidency in secret bunkers, only watch tv's tuned to Fox news, and occasionally shoot old acquaintances in the face?

[Mr. Peabody]

What is a Draft "Dogger" anyway?

He was making fun of the draft....?

[Cant_Be_Faded]

W, Cheney, et. al were all dodgers as well

[Wild Cobra]

I don't care if he tried to get out of the war like so many others.

Can we let this thread die? Neither candidate is going to make such a thing an issue.