No. of Recommendations: 2
Clarifying his statements on the Medals of Honor and Freedom from a few days earlier, in an interview with a local news reporter after his rally in Wilkes-Barre, PA, on Saturday, August 17
WHEN I SAY BETTER, I WOULD RATHER IN A CERTAIN WAY GET IT BECAUSE PEOPLE THAT GET THE CONGRESSIONAL MEDAL OF HONOR, WHICH I HAVE GIVEN TO MANY ARE OFTEN HORRIBLY WOUNDED OR DEAD. THEY'RE OFTEN DEAD. THEY GET IT POSTHUMOUSLY. WHEN YOU GET THE CONGRESSIONAL MEDAL OF HONOR, I ALWAYS CONSIDER THAT TO BE THE ULTIMATE, BUT IT IS A PAINFUL THING TO GET IT. WHEN YOU GET THE PRESIDENTIAL MEDAL OF FREEDOM IT IS USUALLY FOR OTHER THINGS, LIKE YOU HAVE ACHIEVED GREAT SUCCESS IN SPORTS OR YOU HAVE ACHIEVED GREAT SUCCESS SOMEPLACE ELSE. WHEN YOU GET THE MEDAL OF HONOR GENERALLY SPEAKING, AND I HAVE MET MANY OF THEM AND I HAVE SEEN THE FAMILIES OF MANY OF THEM, IT IS AN INCREDIBLE HONOR, BUT IT WAS A STATEMENT THEY'RE MUCH MORE PAINFUL TO GET BECAUSE OFTEN TIMES THEY'RE IN VERY BAD SHAPE. I HAVE SEEN THEM COME UP AND THEY'VE SUFFERED GREATLY WHEREAS THE PRESIDENTIAL MEDAL OF FREEDOM TO MY KNOWLEDGE I DON'T THINK ANYBODY HAS SUFFERED OTHER THAN THEY WORKED HARD AND HAVE DONE GREAT THINGS. ONE IS A MILITARY AWARD, ONE IS A CIVILIAN AWARD, BUT SOMETIMES VERY PAINFUL TO GET THE OTHER.
(Sorry about the all caps. That's how the captions are in the video and I'm too lazy to clean it up today, although I did correct the voice recognition in a couple of places.)
--Peter
