Carly slimes Chuck

Although close campaigns get nasty at the end, I can’t think of a candidate who ever attacked an opponent’s actual military standing. But that’s what Carly Fiorina has done to Chuck DeVore.

DeVore lists on the ballot his occupation as “Assemblyman/Military Reservist.”

On her Twitter at 7:06 am on May 20, she tweeted:

. @chuckdevore predicted doubling in polls due to deceptive ballot title. It worked, but he’s still a distant third. @carlyforca in lead!

But the ballot title wasn’t deceptive at all. As this page notes, Chuck retired from the U.S. Army Reserve, which means he’s still a commissioned officer in the Reserve who can be called up at any time he’s needed.

I wonder why Carly even brought this up. Maybe it’s because she’s a part of the elite in America that has isolated itself from the rest of us, the Americans who actually join the military.

I remember learning about the status Chuck has when I was in the U.S. Army back in 1978-82. I wasn’t a lifer myself. But everybody knew that, if you retired from the military, they could call you back.

This even has been a controversy during the current Iraq War, as this article describes. The Federal Register announce in 2006:

It is DoD policy that military retirees be ordered to active duty as needed….

The DoD … shall plan to use as many retirees as necessary to meet national security needs.

Is that clear enough, Carly?

— John Seiler