Gard should have left Guard alone

The picture for this story about the Appleton-based National Guard returning home made me cry. Look at the expression on the boy's face and tell me you can't get a sense of the fear this boy has been trying to deal with while his father was gone for a year.

Then I saw this news release from the Republican candidate for Congress, John Gard, and it made me sick. He might as well have written "Yes they are heroes but look at me!"

If you want to show up and thank the men and woman coming back from Iraq, that is great. But don't make it a campaign moment. You can't tell me Gard thought the return needed press coverage either. I'm quite certain the news industry was well aware that the Guard unit was coming home.

No, that release was all about John Gard. And that's what made me sick to my stomach. If John Gard couldn't let the National Guard unit have their moment, he should have stayed home.