Nicholson explains: Serving country is "something conservative," "battlefields in Iraq" prepared him for Main Street America?

I never fully understood why "veterans" were the exclusive property of the Republican Party.

This is part of a debate I've had for years when I did talk radio. Some did not agree with my point of view.

Were veterans Republicans because they carried firearms or came across as extremely patriotic? And why do people always thank them for their service, but don't thank those truly hard-working Americans supporting our economy and raising families? The military is simply a career choice like anything else. It doesn't immediately make someone a hero. 

The Conservative Veteran Myth...Explodes: Let's give a big thank you to absolutist thinker and Senate candidate Kevin Nicholson for exposing the ugly thinking behind "veterans are always great Republicans." It continues the theme that Democrats are terrorists, enemies working within the country that must be stopped, whether you like GOP policies or not:

JS: Nicholson has made his U.S. Marine service a centerpiece in his (campaign) ... during a Steve Scaffidi of WTMJ-AM (620) radio interview Nicholson took a shot at military veterans who are Democrats, questioning their "cognitive thought process." Nicholson said...

"And just because some people that don't call themselves conservatives and don't always act conservative do something conservative, like, let's talk about John Kerry — and signed up to serve this country. That doesn't mean that that's not a conservative thing to fundamentally protect and defend the Constitution.

Because I'll tell you, the Democrat Party has wholesale rejected the Constitution and the values that it was founded upon. So I'll tell you what: Those veterans that are out there in the Democrat party, I question their, their cognitive thought process. Because the bottom line is, they're signing up to defend the Constitution that their party is continually dragging through the mud."

The blowback was immediate. Even Nicholson's slogan, "Send in the Marine" suggests it's time for military-like action to take back the country, stop those Democrats. Arrogance like this does have its plus side. But Republicans, believe it or not, have even politicized the backlash, proving they really don't mean it:

A defiant Republican U.S. Senate candidate in Wisconsin who is a former Marine refused to apologize Thursday amid a growing bipartisan backlash...Nine Republican veterans, all of whom support (his opponant) Vukmir, called on Kevin Nicholson to apologize ...

The Vukmir-supporting veterans ... said not even Democratic Sen. John Kerry, of Massachusetts, “used his military experience as an excuse for far-left positions on abortion, taxes, and immigration.”

Nicholson is now enjoying the backlash and free publicity:

  “I’ll never apologize for saying that, ever,” Nicholson said.

Yet Nicholson thinks his experiences "on the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan" has readied him for battlefields in...Wisconsin?

Swing-and-a-miss response from Dumb Ron Johnson: The media decided to toss a softball question to Johnson over Nicholson's bizarre statements. Wow, hate to endanger a Senate seat:

Johnson said, “I’ll let the voters make their own judgment.”

Democratic Veterans Respond:

Crystal Banse, a Democrat, and attorney who served six years in the Wisconsin U.S. Army National Guard, including three years of active duty and rose to captain. said she was offended by Nicholson's remarks. 

"To me, the Constitution does not have a partisan slant. The military is a microcosm of our society. I served next to people of all genders, races, sexual orientations, conservatives, liberals, independents. Your role in the military is to defend people's ability to have different political views. It's all about freedom of speech and protecting our Constitution. Politics has no place in that."

Tom Palzewicz, a U.S. Navy veteran and Democrat from Brookfield seeking to challenge U.S. Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner in the fall, took issue with Nicholson's comment. 

"It’s simply un-American to suggest that patriotism is partisan. For almost every member of the Armed Forces, for veterans, for military families, country comes before party, but apparently not for Kevin Nicholson. He should be ashamed."