Oddly enough, Norris seems to be under the impression that having visited the troops twice in Iraq has somehow endowed him with a certain moral authority he can now wield against "liberals." After listening to his nearly unhinged, whackjob rant on Larry King Live last night, I came away with the feeling that Missing in Action guy felt as though he had actually sacrificed for his country by going over there; that having talked to a few "commanders," he was now a military expert.
It's weird, but a lot of people think that way, I guess. Luckily, Arianna Huffington was around to straighten him out:
LARRY KING: The question about the money spent on Iraq was a fair question, Chuck. Isn't that a lot of money?
CHUCK NORRIS: It's a lot of money, but we're spending a lot of money everywhere. We're spending a lot of money on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and we're spending a lot of money that we'll probably winnd up paying off the car dealers, the cars, and the airlines. I mean, we're bailing everybody out. And, uh, we can debate the question of whether we should be in Iraq or not, but we are there and we gotta take care of the situation there. I've been there twice, Arianna. I've done two tours over there. I know what's going on over there. You haven't been there.
ARIANNA HUFFINGTON: This is really the most absurd response. Because the fact that you've been to Iraq, I'm sorry to say, makes no difference compared to the fact that-
NORRIS: Yeah, it does. I've talked to the troops over there.
HUFFINGTON: If the President. . .
NORRIS: I've talked to the troops. . .
HUFFINGTON: . . .and John McCain and Sarah Palin. . .
NORRIS: . . .and they believe that we should stay there until we finish the job. You know, you would pull tail and run.
HUFFINGTON: You know there are many, many people in the military. . .
NORRIS: Yeah, that's your liberal view, Arianna. You're so liberal.
HUFFINGTON: Let me just finish the sentence. There are many people in the military who are deeply concerned about what's happening to our military. We are destroying our military. Suicides rates. . .
NORRIS: Not the military people I've talked to. I've talked to all the military commanders over there and they don't feel that way, Arianna.
HUFFINGTON: If I were a member of the John McCain campaign, I would accuse you of sexism right now because you keep interrupting me.
NORRIS: Why? I'm backing Sarah Palin so I'm sexist?
HUFFINGTON: Let me just finish one sentence. What's happening to the American military is something all of us need to be concerned about, as is the fact that we are absolutely spending trillions of dollars.
Guys like Chuck Norris are more despised by the troops than any other type of person. It's because posers like Norris try to claim something they haven't earned. He attempts to browbeat others into believing that they don't "understand" combat the way he does, because he's "been there." He thinks he speaks for the troops. But Norris has never "been there," and he will never go there.
