Purple Heart group gets flak over nod to Sen. Clinton

The Newsmax.com readers get all worked up thinking that Sen. Hillary Clinton received an actual Purple Heart. Don't they realize she's not in the service? And now the Purple Heart is so sacred to them, but during the Republican Convention, they walked around with purple heart band aids on their faces in an effort to diminish the value of the Purple Heart and mock John Kerry's service. One of the Rush Limbo copycat local talk show hosts this morning was feigning indignation that Hillary Clinton would claim to be the recipient of a Purple Heart. Don't these people realize how the Purple Heart medal is awarded?

By LISA HOFFMAN
Scripps Howard News Service
February 20, 2006

WASHINGTON - It was a simple plaque, the sort handed out every day on Capitol Hill by interest groups showing their appreciation for a legislator's efforts on behalf of their cause.

In this case, it was the Military Order of the Purple Heart organization that presented an award to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., last Thursday.

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But a story on the conservative media outlet NewsMax.com left the impression among some readers that Clinton had been awarded a Purple Heart medal itself by the group.

While the article described her award as "symbolic," its opening sentence implied otherwise. "New York Sen. Hillary Clinton has put in for a Purple Heart award - and she received the decoration yesterday," the Friday story said. Angry veterans erupted in protest.

Read the complete story here...

And here is the Newsmax story:

http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2006/2/17/91335.shtml

New York Sen. Hillary Clinton has put in for a Purple Heart award - and she received the decoration yesterday.

The former first lady garnered the award without being wounded in combat - or sustaining any kind of injury at all - as is usually the case with Purple Heart recipients.

Neither has Clinton ever served in the military, though she once claimed in a TV interview she tried to join the Marines.

Instead, Mrs. Clinton received a symbolic award from the Military Order of the Purple Heart "in recognition of her inspirational leadership and dedicated service to America’s military service members and America’s veterans."