USS Gabrielle Giffords

[Sdiver]

Originally Posted by PSM

The Huey were a vicious, evil tribe!

Pat

Originally Posted by The Reaper

Iroquois.

TR

Originally Posted by PSM

The Iroquois were wimps compared to the Huey!

Pat

Pat,

I'm sure you meant the Huey Cobra, didn't you ????

Now THAT was a tribe that couldn't be conquered.

YO JOE !!!!!!

[CSB]

OK, just wait until some nervous speaker stutters a "c" into the description:

Littoral Combat Ship Gabrielle Giffords.

[Sigaba]

Originally Posted by Hognose

The fact is, no ship should be named after a living politician. Cripes, we're still uncovering scandals about the long-dead ones.

FWIW, I agree.

[The Reaper]

Originally Posted by Sigaba

FWIW, I agree.

Concur.

At the rate the Navy is going, you will be able to limit it to naval MoH recipients and historical US Naval vessel names pretty soon, with plenty of names left over.

Not politicians.

TR

[Hognose (RIP)]

Originally Posted by Richard

[COLOR="Lime"]Well - until the proposal for the USS Gifford, there were only two members of Congress to have been so honored.

First, thanks for posting the link to the SecNav position on this name. And you're also right to point out that many ships were named for pols historically -- I hit the books on this a little. I hesitate to re-engage, because Utah Bob is probably right (Isn't the best response to Naval boat names DILLIGAFF?) .

But I'd like to make several points:
1. No I don't think that Mssrs. Stennis and Vinson deserve ships named for them. Nor John Warner. Maybe an RB-15/IBS?
2. The basic model needed to understand Congress is this: they're all crooks. Why celebrate that?
3. I know some of you guys want to say the same thing you said when you were dating a dancer from Rick's Lounge: "Mine is not like all the others, she's really special." Uh-huh.
4. Murtha. I said the ship was named after him while he was still alive. I was wrong. The official memo from SecNav Mabus came out a couple weeks after he ceased stealing oxygen. True, the information leaked while he still lived, but the ship was not named after a living man.

If he'd taken one hand or the other out of the taxpayers' pockets and used it to cling to life instead, he might still be with us!

It's all kind of moot, anyway. We will not be convincing the Navy to rename any of its ships. It's vaguely European in its memorilizing temporary and ideological heroes ("I see you have a 'Richthofen' squadron still but where's the 'Schlageter' squadron?"). It suggests a government of men, not laws, but that's the way things trend.

Finally, I think TR nailed it with his mordant post. Navy ship names? What navy?

[Hognose (RIP)]

Here's some naval guys on the subject.

http://dailycaller.com/2012/02/14/fo...elle-giffords/

Here's a quote from one:

Former U.S. Naval Institute CEO, retired Marine Maj. Gen. Tom Wilkerson, expressed disappointment at the recent evolution of ship dedication.

“If you were to look at one thing that has changed with Secretary Mabus it has been going from naming warships to honor people who have served or are intimately connected to the sea services to reaching into a more political environment and doing things almost on a feel-good basis,” he said, noting his dismay at recent decisions to name ships after Cesar Chavez and former Pennsylvania Rep. John Murtha.

Wilkerson went on to say that what happened to Giffords was a tragedy, but that she was neither a service hero nor a major supporter/sponsor of the sea services and their contributions to national security.

However, I guess that one thing they need to learn, as I did, is that when you retire your ability to speak out increases, but only at the cost of your ability to actually influence anything!