Liberal website Salon slammed for ‘disingenuous political smear’ against Sen. Cotton's military service
'This is not about my military record, this is about my politics,' Cotton said
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Liberal website Salon was slammed for publishing a "a disingenuous political smear" that questioned Republican Sen. Tom Cotton’s use of the term "Army Ranger" to describe himself.
Salon published the controversial Saturday report headlined, "Sen. Tom Cotton campaigned on his ‘experience as an Army Ranger’ — but he didn't have any," that claimed Cotton "felt compelled to repeatedly falsify that honorable military record." The story noted that Cotton was a highly decorated hero but claimed he has been inaccurately identifying himself.
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"In his first run for Congress, Cotton leaned heavily on his military service, claiming to have been ‘a U.S. Army Ranger in Iraq and Afghanistan,’ and, in a campaign ad, to have ‘volunteered to be an Army Ranger.’ In reality, Cotton was never part of the 75th Ranger Regiment, the elite unit that plans and conducts joint special military operations as part of the U.S. Army Special Operations Command," Salon reporter Roger Sollenberger wrote.
"Rather, Cotton attended the Ranger School, a two-month-long, small-unit tactical infantry course that literally anyone in the military is eligible to attend. Soldiers who complete the course earn the right to wear the Ranger tab — a small arch that reads ‘Ranger’ — but in the eyes of the military, that does not make them an actual Army Ranger," Sollenberger added.
Cotton spokesperson Caroline Tabler scolded the liberal publication when asked for comment.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"Senator Cotton graduated from Ranger school and is more of a Ranger than a Salon reporter like you will ever be," Tabler told Sollenberger.
Cotton himself addressed the situation on Monday, telling Fox News’ Bret Baier the report is simply about his politics.
"I graduated from the Ranger school, I wore the Ranger tab in combat with the 101st Airborne in Iraq. This is not about my military record, this is about my politics," Cotton said, noting that even the "liberal media" used the term Ranger to describe someone with his experience until a Conservative veteran decided to use the term.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The National Review published a scathing breakdown of the situation, writing that Salon smeared Cotton with the report.
"Salon can’t point to a single instance in which Cotton said he served in the 75th Ranger Regiment because Cotton — an infantry officer who served a combat tour in Iraq with the 101st Airborne and another combat tour in Afghanistan with a provincial reconstruction team — never claimed he served in the 75th Ranger Regiment," National Review’s John McCormack wrote.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"While Salon belittles the grueling Ranger school as something ‘that literally anyone in the military is eligible to attend’ and claims that graduating from Ranger school does not make one an Army Ranger, there are many veterans, Democrats in Congress, and media outlets that do, in fact, call Ranger school graduates Army Rangers — even if they don’t serve in the 75th Ranger Regiment," McCormack added, noting that Retired Command sergeant major Rick Merritt, who served in the 75th Ranger Regiment, called Salon’s attack "absurd," "unfair," and "almost slanderous" when speaking to an Arkansas newspaper.
"It’s a slap in the face for any veteran -- any Ranger -- to be attacked that way," Merritt told the National Review. "It’s not a controversy. It’s a fact that he is a Ranger, just like I’m a Ranger. They’re just playing semantics on the unit in which he served as a Ranger."
The National Review then noted that two women who graduated the school in 2015 were widely considered the first female Amy Rangers when the story was covered by the mainstream media. Newsweek even issued a correction to a six-year old story about the female Rangers to coincide with Salon’s criticism of Cotton.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"Correction: This article has been changed to note that completion of the course allows one to wear the Ranger tab, but does not make one a Ranger," Newsweek wrote after altering language that referred to the female graduates as Rangers.
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McCormack listed other examples of major publications –including Salon – and prominent politicians using the term "Ranger" to describe someone with Cotton’s background.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"There are surely some Americans who sincerely believe only those who served in the 75th Ranger Regiment should be called Army Rangers. But if several military officials, Obama’s secretary of the Army, every Democrat and Republican in the Senate, and dozens of news outlets — including Salon — thought it was appropriate to refer to all Ranger school graduates as Army Rangers the day before yesterday, then it’s hard to see Salon’s attack on Cotton as anything other than a disingenuous political smear," McCormack wrote.