July 16, 2008 - 4:24pm

News

Ridge to announce N.H. Veterans for McCain

By Brian Lawson, PolitickerNH.com Reporter

Former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge will announce the formation of New Hampshire Veterans for McCain tomorrow in Manchester.

Ridge is also scheduled to attend a fundraising in Bedford.

Ridge often campaigned with John McCain in the Granite State during the primary and has been mentioned as a possible vice-presidential nominee.

Brian Lawson is a PolitickerNH.com Reporter and can be reached via email at brian.lawson@politickernh.com.

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Comments

The Laundry List

posted by Jack Mitchell

If Ridge reads the the list of votes McCain has made to support veterans over the years, the announcement will be short.

What he hasn't done here:
http://obsidianwings.blogs.com/obsidian_wings/2008/05/mccain-on-veter.ht...
and here:
http://www.vetvoice.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=1566

07/16/08 6:00 pm

Obviously John McCain will be the best President for veterans, Jim Webb's bill had serious flaws and McCain had the guts to say it. Tom Ridge is an honorable man and will introduce a NH veterans coalition of hundreds.

07/16/08 9:48 pm

Some veterans support McCain

posted by Jack Mitchell

Many do not.

Honor binds us to one another, vet-to-vet. Honor binds us to the Commander-in-Chief and he, to us.

Barack Obama will honor the sacred trust .

"My Secretary of Veterans Affairs will be just as important as my Secretary of Defense," he said to growing applause. "No more shortfalls; it's time to fully fund the VA medical center. No more delays; it's time to pass on-time VA budgets each and every year. No more means testing; it's time to allow all veterans back into the VA."

07/16/08 11:18 pm

McCAIN REPEATEDLY VOTED AGAINST VETERANS

posted by Jack Mitchell

McCAIN REPEATEDLY VOTED AGAINST VETERANS' HEALTH BENEFITS

McCain Opposes the 21st Century GI Bill Because It Is Too Generous.
McCain did not vote on the GI Bill that will provide better educational opportunities to veterans of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, paying full tuition at in-state schools and living expenses for those who have served at least three years since the 9/11 attacks. McCain said he opposes the bill because he thinks the generous benefits would "encourage more people to leave the military." (S.Amdt. 4803 to H.R. 2642, Vote 137, 5/22/08; Chattanooga Times Free Press, 6/2/08; Boston Globe, 5/23/08; ABCNews.com, 5/26/08)

McCain Voted Against Increased Funding for Veterans' Health Care.
Although McCain told voters at a campaign rally that improving veterans' health care was his top domestic priority, he voted against increasing funding for veterans' health care in 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007. (Greenville News, 12/12/2007; S.Amdt. 2745 to S.C.R. 95, Vote 40, 3/10/04; Senate S.C.R. 18, Vote 55, 3/16/05; S.Amdt. 3007 to S.C.R. 83, Vote 41, 3/14/06; H.R. 1591, Vote 126, 3/29/07)

Opposed an Assured Funding Stream for Veterans' Health Care.
McCain opposed providing an assured funding stream for veterans' health care, taking into account annual changes in veterans' population and inflation. (S.Amdt. 3141 to S.C.R. 83, Vote 63, 3/16/06)

McCain Voted Against Adding More Than $400 Million for Veterans' Care.
McCain was one of 13 Republicans to vote against providing an additional $430 million to the Department of Veterans Affairs for outpatient care and treatment for veterans. (S.Amdt. 3642 to H.R. 4939, Vote 98, 4/26/06)

Voted Against Establishing a $1 Billion Trust Fund for Military Health Facilities.
McCain voted against establishing a $1 billion trust fund to improve military health facilities by refusing to repeal tax cuts for those making more than $1 million a year. (S.Amdt. 2735 to S.Amdt. 2707 to H.R. 4297, Vote 7, 2/2/06)

McCain Opposed $500 Million for Counseling Services for Veterans with Mental Disorders.
McCain voted against an amendment to appropriate $500 million annually from 2006-2010 for counseling, mental health and rehabilitation services for veterans diagnosed with mental illness, posttraumatic stress disorder or substance abuse. (S. 2020, S.Amdt. 2634, Vote 343, 11/17/05)

McCain Voted in Support of Disabled Veterans Only 25 Percent of the Time from 2004-2005.
While McCain claims he "has been a leading advocate" for veterans with disabilities, statistics show he supported the Disabled American Veterans' interests only 25 percent of the time in 2004-2005. In 2006, that figure slipped to 20 percent of the time. (Project Vote Smart)

McCain Voted Against Providing Automatic Cost-of-Living Adjustments to Veterans.
McCain voted against providing automatic annual cost-ofliving adjustments for certain veterans' benefits. (S. 869, Vote 259, 11/20/91)

http://www.aflcio.org/issues/politics/mccain_vets.cfm

07/17/08 11:29 am

AFLCIO=Dinosaur

posted by DFM-Salem

Ah, the AFLCIO an aging dinosaur without a real purpose in life.. with the exception of imposing thug tactics. No wonder why union rolls are at such paltry levels.

What the poster Jack Mitchell fails to point out is that these programs were all loaded into big pork spending bills.

As a veteran and recipient of the GI Bill I would say that the democrats version of the GI Bill would cause military turnover at a record pace. The 3 year mark is significant as units after a deployment would need time to refit, and retrain. How can you conduct real world missions when you could have a chunk of the service leave every 3 years. Some training (such as a linguist) take over a year to complete.

07/17/08 11:55 am

GI Bill

posted by Keith Simpson

Well DFM - you got yours - and I got mine. Fortunately there's enough representative's in Congress to overrule you, Bush, and McCain on this one. Our Iraqi vets deserve their's to.

And this argument that you use is ridiculous. Not even worth the time or energy to address.

07/17/08 2:12 pm

I am an Iraqi Vet. My

posted by DFM-Salem

I am an Iraqi Vet.

My arguement riduculous? I think not.

07/17/08 3:05 pm

Many questions around McCain

posted by Jack Mitchell

OK, so you don’t like working class folks, that’s your opinion and your entitled.

If those Vet programs were surrounded by pork, why didn’t Sen.McCain put forth a more streamlined bill to help vets for every "no" vote he cast?

Where do you get 3 years? All military hitches are for 8 years, being comprised of different assignments between active, reserve and IRR status. For cost intensive and mission critical specialties, like linguists, DOD doesn’t let you waltz away after 3 years.

I admire that Sen. McCain choose the Navy as a career, but that is not how most of us choose to serve. Does the Senator favor ‘lifers’ over those of us that only do one hitch? As an Infantry vet of Desert Storm that went to college after “H.W.” had a huge early out program to shrink the DOD, I thought I had served well enough.

I certainly served proudly. Did I not serve honorably in Sen. McCain’s book? My DD214 says I did.

07/17/08 3:12 pm

Why limit it to only a specific time period.

posted by 3rd ID -Former Linguist

I would agree with the linguist comment as I was a linguist in the Army from 1992-2000. My basic training lasted 3 months at Ft. Jackson, and from there I went to AIT at Ft. Wachuka for 6 months, and ended my training at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey California where i was stationed for about 9 months learning the language. My total training time was 18 months. However, to be a linguist you had to enlist for a 6 year obligation.

I like the 100% idea but why only apply it to people who served after 9/11. There were plenty of military operations during the 80s and 90's. Limiting it to just a certain time period just makes it that much more political.

07/17/08 3:24 pm