Aug

22

McCain’s POW Defense: Devaluing Our Service and His Own(19)

By Lt. Gen Robert G. Gard Jr., USA (Ret.)

The McCain campaign has spent weeks trying to portray Obama as out of touch with the concerns of ordinary Americans. Today, an interviewer at Politico.com asked McCain how many homes he and his wife owned, to which he responded that he was not sure but would get someone from his staff to answer.

Contrary to what many will tell you, this does not make McCain out of touch with ordinary Americans, as many families today are in trouble with their banks and trying to figure out how many homes they have - zero or one.

Still, it’s the campaign’s defense we find deeply troubling:

“This is a guy who lived in one house for five and a half years — in prison.”

We obviously honor and respect McCain’s service and the five-and-a-half years of horror that he went through at the hands of the North Vietnamese; but it’s not an excuse for everything. He has already used it to explain away his infidelities in his first marriage. He’s used it to defend his healthcare plan. He just the other day used it to deflect accusations of having skirted the rules of the Saddleback forum.

It’s time for the Senator to stop cheapening the war experiences of thousands of vets and his fellow POWs, and his own as well, by stretching the boundaries of logic to make his POW status a wild-card rebuttal to all accusations or an answer to all difficult questions.

We are veterans who like John McCain, who served honorably, but and we continue to serve our country honorably by not using our military experiences as unjustifiable necessary shields or stepping stones. John McCain has faced and will continue to face many difficult questions that he does not have an answer for, and problems to which that he will provide no solutions to, in the 70 days between now and the election. When he uses his status as a veteran to deflect legitimate questions and concerns, it devalues not just his service to our country but ours as well.

So today, we ask not as Veterans for Obama, but as Veterans of America that Sen. McCain respect the service of his fellow POWs and combat veterans, and stop cheapening their service by hiding behind his own.

McCain on Reenacting the Draft: “I Don’t Disagree”(13)

Today at a townhall meeting, a McCain supporter suggested reenacting the draft. Sen. McCain’s response? “I don’t disagree.”

QUESTIONER: If we don’t reenact the draft, I don’t think we’ll have anyone to chase Bin Laden to the gates of hell.

[Appaluse]

MCCAIN: Ma’am, let me say that I don’t disagree with anything you said.

Watch it here:

This isn’t the first time McCain has stated that he might consider a draft. Last September, he said that if there was a draft where everyone equally served, he might consider it.

Indeed, the woman asking McCain the question is correct. There are no troops left to follow Bin Laden to the gates of Hell — but don’t ask us, ask the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Michael Mullen:

We are exploring a number of options and opportunities to get a better understanding of the scope of the threat and the best means with which to counter it. I’ve made no secret of my desire to flow more forces, U.S. forces, to Afghanistan just as soon as I can, nor have I been shy about saying that those forces will not be available unless or until the situation in Iraq permits us to do so.

It’s nice to at least see Sen. McCain being honest here. If he wants to add troops in Afghanistan and indeed follow Bin Laden to the gates of hell, but also wants to stay in Iraq for as long as it takes to achieve his shapeless, undefined concept of victory, the troops will have to come from somewhere — and that somewhere just might be a draft.

Obama to FL vets: “I will let no one question my love of this country.”(0)

Sen. Obama spoke to an audience of Veterans of Foreign Wars in Orlando, FL today, and chided John McCain for suggesting that Obama’s foreign policy positions were based on his own political interest, spoke in frank terms about the lack of political reconciliation in Iraq in the wake of the surge, and how Iraq has diverted attention away from the real central front in the war on terror.

The LA Times has more:

On Iraq, the Illinois senator said that while the surge may have worked militarily, it has failed politically.

“We have lost over a thousand American lives and spent billions of dollars since the surge began, but Iraq’s leaders still haven’t made hard compromises or substantial investments in rebuilding their country,” he said. “And while we pay a heavy price in Iraq — and Americans pay record prices at the pump — Iraq’s government is sitting on a $79-billion budget surplus from windfall oil profits.”

On Afghanistan, Obama said that the border region of Pakistan and Afghanistan is now “the central front in the war on terrorism,” where the Taliban is resurgent and “Osama bin Laden and the same terrorists who killed nearly 3,000 Americans on our own soil are hiding and plotting seven years after 9/11.”

Declaring that “this is a war that we have to win,” Obama pledged that “as commander in chief, I will have no greater priority than taking out these terrorists who threaten America, and finishing the job.” He also called for what he termed an Afghanistan strategy of “more for more,” more from NATO allies, more from the Afghan government, more from the U.S. military.

On Pakistan, Obama said that for years he has argued the need to move from “a Musharraf policy” to “a Pakistan policy.” Now that President Pervez Musharraf has resigned, he said, “we will have the opportunity to do just that.” He advocated tripling non-military aid while making sure that military aid is targeted on fighting the Taliban and Al Qaeda.

Click here to read the full article.

McCain Tries To Steal Credit for New G.I. Bill(3)

In a speech before the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW), John McCain tried to take credit for Senator Jim Webb’s 21st Century GI Bill, claiming that he fought for “a better bill” while the Webb GI Bill, that was passed by the Senate by a margin of 75-22, was “flawed legislation.” This distortion of the truth comes as one more example of the Republican candidate presenting himself as a friend to veterans when his legislative record indicates otherwise.

As a political proposition, it would have much easier for me to have just signed on to what I considered flawed legislation. But the people of Arizona, and of all America, expect more from their representatives than that, and instead I sought a better bill. I’m proud to say that the result is a law that better serves our military, better serves military families, and better serves the interests of our country.

McCain calling the Webb-Hagel bill “flawed legislation” is particularly galling because that’s the bill that eventually passed, not McCain’s own. Then McCain immediately takes credit for the benefits derived from the version he opposed.

The bi-partisan Webb-Hagel bill received widespread support in the Senate and from veterans’ organizations, but fierce opposition from McCain and President Bush. A comprehensive overhaul of the original, the new GI Bill extends up to 36 months of educational benefits, the equivalent of four academic years, to service members who served in Iraq or Afghanistan, covering expenses for tuition, books, and other fees. Veterans can also receive a $1000-a-month living stipend and have a longer window of time - 15 years - during which to use their educational benefits.

The Webb-Hagel GI Bill was endorsed by the VFW, Vietnam Veterans of America (VVA), the Air Force Sergeants Association (AFSA), the Enlisted Association of the National Guard of the United States (EANGUS), Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA), and the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC).

Instead of supporting this important extension of benefits to our brave soldiers involved in our current wars, McCain chose to draft his own proposal with Senator Lindsey Graham. Their version would have increased education benefits for only active duty servicemembers from $1100 per month to $1500, and to $2000 for members who served on active duty more than 12 years. But this proposal unfortunately left a lot of servicemen and women out in the cold.

The VFW also took a dim view of McCain’s proposal. According to Eric Hilleman, the VFW’s Deputy Director for Legislative Affairs, called the Graham-Burr-McCain draft “very partisan and is seen as a way to convolute the GI bill, or to slow the Webb-Hagel proposal down.”

For his part, Senator Obama has been a steadfast supporter of Webb’s bill, saying in May, “At a time when the skyrocketing cost of tuition is pricing thousands of Americans out of a college education, we should be doing everything we can to give the men and women who have risked their lives for this country the chance to pursue the American Dream.”

Fortunately for our brave brothers and sisters in the military, McCain’s draft failed to garner support and the Webb-Hagel GI Bill was passed into law on June 30, a vote that McCain was absent for. He was at a fundraiser in California.

McCain can’t claim credit for a bill he opposed and we can’t let this distortion of the truth pass unchallenged. We have to hold our candidates to their record. Obama voted for the Webb GI Bill. McCain didn’t even show up.

Full Archives

Pages

Archives

Recent Comments