Veterans group to launch attacks on John McCain

As the daughter of a retired Marine, who served in both Korea and Vietnam, it is easy for me to understand why some veterans’ groups are upset by John McCain’s voting record in regard to veterans’ issues in the Senate.

His stance on the new G.I. Bill puts him in opposition to the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, the American Legion, as well as the national commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW).

McCain often cites his service in the military as evidence of his dedication to and support of his fellow veterans. But when some of these groups were crediting the two presidential candidates for their support of important issues to veterans, McCain came up short.

The Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of American gave Senator McCain a grade of “D” for his voting record against veterans, while in contrast Senator Obama received a grade of “B+.” The Disabled Veterans of America credited McCain with a 20 percent voting record on veteran’s issues, while Obama was credited with 80 percent, according to statistics posted on Think Progress.

All of these criticisms may well be reasons why some veterans groups are speaking out against John McCain in his run for president and many veterans from both sides of the aisle feel that these are valid and important reasons to lobby against him.

But earlier this year, a group was formed called Vietnam Veterans against McCain, the same group of people that famously “swiftboated” John Kerry in 2004. The goal of this group is to destroy McCain’s candidacy by attacking his military record. Having grown up in a military environment, seeing this type of tactic being used is reprehensible to me, whether the attack is against John Kerry or John McCain.

According to their web site “Vietnam Veterans against John McCain,” the group was formed to dispel the myth of “Straight talkin’, principled, maverick war hero McCain. Through more than two decades of investigation of his behavior, through open-source documents, public statements of his colleagues, and personal conversations with other Vietnam POWs, we have come to the unavoidable conclusion that he is unfit by virtue of his temperament, character, dishonesty, and emotional instability to serve as president of the United States or in any position of public trust.”

Vietnam Veterans against McCain plan to run a series of television ads that they say will expose John McCain’s support of the communist regime in Vietnam, as well as allege that if elected president he would allow “illegal immigrants” to have driver’s licenses, according to a Huffington Post article.

According to the same article, the types of attacks used against John Kerry will be brought against John McCain: “That while being held and tortured in North Vietnam, McCain collaborated with his captors to avoid being tortured, recorded dozens of propaganda tapes for the North Vietnamese, and provided classified information which jeopardized the lives of other American pilots. And the war-hero persona that he bases his campaign on is merely a fabrication.”

These types of allegations about a man who served his country in a time of war and endured being held prisoner are truly unconscionable, particularly when that person is in the running to become president of the United States.

Much of the criticism that Senator McCain has encountered with Vietnam veterans has to do with actions he has taken as a U.S. senator in regards to unaccounted for prisoners of war (POWs) and those missing in action (MIAs). McCain is accused by these veterans as being complicit, due to his close ties with the Pentagon, in keeping sealed documents pertaining to POW/MIA classified documents. Vietnam veterans demand that these thousands of documents be declassified.

His detractors insinuate that his refusal to push for the release of this information is due to his own behavior when held captive and his fear that it would become public knowledge if the documents were ever released.

The most disturbing action that McCain has taken in the minds of the Vietnam veterans is his role as senator in the normalization of relations between the United States and Vietnam. They are appalled by his willingness to take part in any dealings with a country that once tortured him.

Vietnam Veterans against McCain appears to be gathering in strength and in numbers in their opposition to his presidential candidacy. As their web site professes, “We have been forced to conclude that only by producing our own newspaper ads, radio and TV commercials can we expose the ‘real McCain’ to the American people. We believe this media campaign has the potential to avert the very likely devastating consequences of a McCain presidency.”

It is a shame that the same thing that happened to John Kerry in 2004 appears to be happening to John McCain in 2008.

ABOUT THE WRITER
Carol Jensen is a long-time Barstow resident, graduating from Kennedy High School and Barstow College, where she was an English instructor for many years. Much of her time now is spent writing political and social commentary. She may be contacted at cajensen49@msn.com.