That's 2nd Lt. Prince Harry (Henry Charles Albert David) of Wales on the right, Lt. Col. Bill Connor on the left, in 2008 (or late 2007; I'm not sure): "He called me Bill and I called him Harry."
Remember all the back-and-forth between the candidates for Democratic Party chair back before the convention, some of which I kept track of here (to the point that I was sort of sorry I started)?
I just didn’t get those kinds of releases from the candidates for GOP chair beforehand. Oh, I saw some back-and-forth on Twitter about how Nikki Haley was backing one candidate, and her critics at SCTruth were backing another, and so forth and so on. But they didn’t give a lot of context, and if there was a battle of emailed press releases, I missed it. Even though I had specifically asked to be kept in the loop (and folks, I seldom ASK for press releases), and at least two of the three campaigns said they’d send me whatever they sent out.
But about all I received via that medium in the last days was this one Facebook alert from Bill Connor, on the day of the royal wedding:
“Brad,
Thought you might like this bit of history in honor of the Royal Wedding (the picture is on my fb profile). Hope you are well!: http://www.facebook.com/l/ae801_1klnj9MQbQucenXRWIjsA/seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2004253009_harrypal01.html“
As it happened, I had already known that about Connor. In fact, he had written us an op-ed piece about it, right after his highness had spent a brief time serving alongside SC Guard troops in Afghanistan (before the word got out and they had to yank him out of the country). The above photo ran with that piece.
Anyway, so much for any of the fairy-tale effect of the royal wedding rubbing off. Bill Connor came in third in the competition state GOP chair.
Which reminds me — I need to get winner Chad Connelly in here for a “Brad Show.”
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Whoa! @SCHotline just responded to this as follows:
“@BradWarthen Nice as if Bill did not have enough crap thrown at him…”
OK, wait a second — did anyone think I was trying to give Bill Connor a hard time here?
Hey, I like Bill. And I was sort of surprised that his service in Afghanistan didn’t count for more with the delegates Saturday. As I wrote then:
“BradWarthen: Connor leading with his strong suit. Last speaker said he’d been a county chair. Whoopee. Connor was out fighting the Taliban.”
Anyone who needs a translation from the Warthenese: To me, fighting the Taliban is a way more worthwhile experience than being a county party chairman…
Anyone notice that these two British military men sure have a lot of leave time built up. I wonder how many other British soldiers can just up and leave anytime they wish?
“I want to drive a tank, no I want to fly helicopters, no I want to be in the infantry, no I want to fly helicopters again…” British military brass must love having to deal with these two spoiled brats.
It’s their army, and their tanks and helicopters. Or rather, their grandmother’s.
That’s the thing about being sovereign.
I heard recently that some people complained about William taking a military chopper to go to a party Harry was having on the Isle of Wight. I thought, hey, that’s about like borrowing your grandma’s car, if Grandma is the queen…
It’s not a democracy. Or a republic.
And yes, I realize the monarchy isn’t what it was, and there actually are rules and regs that even a royal should obey about such things. But it seems that as long as you DO have a monarch, ultimately you are talking about granting those individuals certain prerogatives their subjects don’t have. It’s just a question of where you draw the line.
It’s kind of like what Samuel tried to warn the Hebrews about: If you want to have a king, here’s what to expect…
It’s a *constitutional* monarchy.
Connor spent an awful lot of time playing up his military service. Personally, I’m a little leary of a soldier who constantly pats himself on the back for simply doing his job.
Millions of other Americans have gone overseas and served their country – without feeling the need to turn it into an advertising slogan.