Yesterday in Las Vegas McCain attended an event for DAV, Disabled American Veterans. He spent the time attacking Barack Obama instead of focusing on veterans issues. Only 1 in 14 of the veterans interviewed after the event voiced full support for the Republican Presidential Candidate. The words of Duke Hendershot, a former marine, a double amputee and an active combat Vietnam veteran, resonate soundly on the impression McCain gave a lot of the veterans in attendance. Hendershot (condensed):
John just isn’t the same as he used to be. He’s not his own man. A lot of that has to do with how he’s wanted this job so bad for so long that he’s tied himself to President Bush... a draft dodging coward... He should have been talking about veterans issues, not his opponent.Ouch. That can not bode well for the Arizona Senator.
That a former war hero whose entire political career started because of his military service could lose support with veterans paints a grim picture of just how far McCain has fallen from his days as a maverick. Most, if not all, of McCain's speeches give the impression that he believes it is his God given right to be President of the United States. He addresses every demographic he speaks to as though their support is simply understood. He also uses every speaking engagement to deride his opponent, apparently thinking that every audience he addresses shares his love for mean spirited rants and his loathing of Barack Obama.
VetVoice discussed the event and McCain today. There are far more veterans disenchanted with John McCain than I would have imagined. As more and more veterans find out exactly where they stand in John McCain's world, his support among them is fading fast. In the words of Tammy Duckworth:
John McCain has said that improving veterans' health care would be his top domestic priority as President, yet he has repeatedly voted against increased funding for veterans health care. And now he offers up an plastic card option that will lead to privatization of veterans health care. No one knows how to help and heal veterans like veterans -- had I ended up in a regular hospital after returning from Iraq, I would lost my arm. McCain's plan will only hurt the VA and our veterans more than they are already hurting.I will do my best to keep this story alive. There are veterans who don't watch the news because it's just too depressing to learn what has been done to our nation and our constitution. I can understand why some people would not want to know anymore. Hopefully, for those people, there will be concerned friends and loved ones to tell them. As long as the story doesn't go away, McCain will continue losing support from a group he definitely takes for granted.
Posts
