McCain Hired Swift Boat Advertising Firm Designed to Attack Veterans. “Senator John McCain, intent on succeeding where his freewheeling presidential campaign of 2000 failed, is assembling a team of political bruisers for 2008. And it includes advisers who once sought to skewer him and whose work he has criticized as stepping over the line in the past. In 2000, Mr. McCain, Republican of Arizona, said the advertisements run against him by George W. Bush, then the governor of Texas, distorted his record. But he has hired three members of the team that made those commercials -- Mark McKinnon, Russell Schriefer and Stuart Stevens -- to work on his presidential campaign. In 2004, Mr. McCain said the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth advertisement asserting that Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts had not properly earned his medals from the Vietnam War was ‘dishonest and dishonorable.’ Nonetheless, he has hired the firm that made the spots, Stevens Reed Curcio & Potholm, which worked on his 2000 campaign, to work for him again this year. [1]
Recent veterans stories
Support the Troops
The must-read piece for the day is this one, which takes John McCain to task for failing to help give the troops and veterans the education benefits that they've more than earned.
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MUST READ: 'DOING THE TROOPS WRONG'
In today's New York Times, columnist Bob Herbert details how John McCain's talk about supporting our troops falls far short of the action needed to help ensure our brave troops are taken care of when they come home.
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Sometimes Pandering Gets You Nowhere
McCain earmark cutting would leave Military families out in the cold.
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McCain Says No To GI Bill
It's bipartisan legislation that would "greatly expand educational benefits for members of the military returning from Iraq and Afghanistan." But that didn't stop John McCain from coming out against the bill yesterday.
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MUST READ: McCain Must Lead The Charge For GI Bill
In an op-ed in today's Los Angeles Times, General Wesley Clark and VoteVets chairman Jon Soltz point out that John McCain is "casting doubt on his own commitment to the newest generation of American heroes" by "hedging" his support for a 21st Century GI Bill.
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McCain Myth Buster: John McCain and the 21st Century GI Bill
Today's McCain Myth: John McCain would fight for America's service members and veterans.
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George Bush and John McCain Lack the Courage To Ban Torture
"It is shameful that George Bush and John McCain lack the courage to ban torture," said Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean. "And it is reprehensible that McCain changed his position on torture just to win an election. That's not the kind of leadership Americans want, and it's exactly the reason why voters will reject John McCain in November. The last thing we need is another president who will put politics over principle."
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Walter Reed Anniversary Exposes More McCain Double Talk
One year ago today, the American people first learned about the dreadful conditions at military hospitals and outpatient facilities treating wounded soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. Amid the national outrage sparked by those reports, John McCain saw an opportunity to bolster his presidential campaign. Days after the story broke, McCain blamed the scandal on former Secretary of Defense Don Rumsfeld, saying "the fruits of Rumsfeld's policy were on display at Walter Reed military hospital in Washington." [Atlanta Journal Constitution, 2/22/2007]
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McCain Myth Buster Day 3: John McCain and Veterans Health Care
After casting himself as a "Maverick" in 2000, the new John McCain is walking in lockstep with President Bush, pandering to the right wing of the Republican Party, and embracing the ideology he once denounced. On the campaign trail McCain has callously abandoned many of his previously held positions, even contradicted himself, in a blatant attempt to remake himself into a candidate Republicans can accept in 2008. So just who is the real John McCain? The Democratic National Committee will present a daily fact aimed at exposing the man behind the myth.
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McCain Can't Buy His Way Out of Votes Against Funding for Veterans
McCain's campaign strategy may include buying endorsements, but no speeches or campaign cash can hide the fact that McCain voted six times in the last Congress to deny critical funding for our veterans.
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DNC Calls on McCain to Apologize to Troops
The Democratic National Committee called on John McCain to apologize to American troops and their families who've served in Iraq for telling David Letterman on the Late Show last night that "American lives" are being "wasted" there.