A Fool In Love

Near the end of the first presidential debate, John McCain said "I know the veterans. I know them well. And I know that they know that I'll take care of them. And I've been proud of their support and their recognition of my service to the veterans. And I love them. And I'll take care of them. And they know that I'll take care of them."

I wanted to see if that was true, so I did a little research. I started with the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America website (http://www.veteranreportcard.org/index.html). On this website they grade the performance of Congressmen and -women on how often legislators took the pro-veteran position and voted with IAVA Action including the new GI Bill. Senator McCain received a "D" grade while Senators Obama and Biden both received a "B." McCain's grade was due in large part that he missed 6 of the 9 votes. Furthermore, McCain’s votes have given him the lowest favorability rating of any Senator from the Disabled American Veterans - a 20 percent rating.

Kevin Altman served in Iraq from December 2003 to December 2004, and again from January 2006 to January 2007 and sustained 10% hearing loss and chronic tinnitus from repeated close proximity, high-velocity concussion blasts. He said “For too many of my fellow veterans, care from the Department of Veterans Affairs is too often an uphill fight. Every single veterans organization agrees that the VA is woefully underfunded and overstretched, and yet Senator McCain has been a consistent opponent of increasing VA funding. It really hurts to see a fellow injured veteran consistently vote against us. Not all of us have the luxury of being a wealthy Senator, like John McCain.”

Cindy McCain (speaking of guilt by association, what does it say about your judgment when you are married to a former addict to Vicodin and Percocet who used a doctor employed by her charitable group to obtain those drugs illegally and only avoided jail time after she agreed to court-imposed rehab?) said this yesterday in a speech in Pennsylvania: "The day that Senator Obama decided to cast a vote to not fund my son when he was serving sent a cold chill through my body." What she failed to mention is that two months later Senator McCain also voted against a similar bill to not fund her son as well.

Next, I looked to see which candidate military personnel were backing with their money. Military members abroad were overwhelmingly supporting Obama by a 6 to 1 margin ($60,642 to $10,665). Obama was also leading in all donations from military personnel and groups by about 10%. Jon Soltz, Iraq War Veteran and Chairman of VoteVets.org, said that this discrepancy is due to McCain's plan, which is just a extension of Bush's failed foreign policy.

The McCain campaign tried to spin this by issuing a statement that said "John McCain has been endorsed by more retired admirals and generals than Barack Obama has military donors." But retired admirals and generals aren't the ones who are in combat right now who would like to come home.

Soltz also said "A vote for him is a vote for the draft. Period. Unless Senator McCain radically changes his worldview, there would be a draft to implement his plans. When you take into account his indefinite military commitment to Iraq, his desire to send more troops to Afghanistan, record lows in recruiting and retention, and possibly more wars he is looking to get into, like “Bomb Bomb Bomb” Iran, his numbers don’t add up without a draft. Whether America likes it or not isn’t relevant - a draft is the only way to do everything Senator McCain wants to do.”

McCain has tried to change his tune on the draft, but has occasionally stumbled at his town hall meetings and referred back to his position that he would "consider a draft if it could be fairer that the Viet Nam-era version in which many avoided any risk of being called up using deferments." But service members oppose the draft because they do not want to serve with someone who was plucked from a lottery next to them when they are in harm's way.

When it comes to judgment about each candidate and the military, I'll defer to the military. And although there are a few groups out there that support McCain (you'll see their swift boat ads soon I presume) , it is obvious that the majority don't agree with Senator McCain's assessment of himself. McCain has once again proved to be out of touch - this time with a group that he claims he loves and will take care of.