Post discovers that Vets support McCain

In a “duh” moment, the Washington Post discovered this morning that veterans support John McCain;

“He is one of us, a military man, and he has never forgotten who we are,” said retired Maj. Gen. Edward Mechenbier. “He is a person that I could look at with great admiration and pride and say, ‘He is my commander in chief.’ ”

McCain has never attracted huge crowds and mass followings the way his opponent, Sen. Barack Obama, and his own running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, have. But throughout his campaign, the former prisoner of war has enjoyed the fervent backing of a fraternity of veterans and their families, who rallied to his cause even when he looked like a sure loser in the Republican primaries and now provide a key core of support in the final days of his quest for the presidency.

Even their own polling confirms overwhelming support for a McCain candidacy;

As a group, veterans lean Republican, and a Washington Post-ABC News poll in late August showed McCain leading Obama by 54 percent to 37 percent among them. Many of the nation’s 19 million veterans live in some of the biggest battleground states of the election, including Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia, giving McCain a built-in boost. And, unlike other groups, such as younger voters, veterans traditionally turn out in large numbers.

But they try to inject a sort of class warfare between younger military veterans and the older;

Obama, who did not serve in the military, has attracted some support among veterans groups, particularly younger veterans who have served in Iraq or Afghanistan and want to see U.S. troops return from Iraq soon. According to a report by the Center for Responsive Politics, Obama has received more money from troops deployed overseas than McCain has through June. At that time, Obama’s donations from deployed troops totaled $60,642, compared with $10,665 for McCain.
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There are also groups of veterans, some backed by liberal advocacy organizations, that have produced Web sites and online ads opposing McCain and questioning whether he has the temperament for the presidency.

Cute. they don’t mention which liberal advocacy groups they’re talking about, but the readers of this blog can probably name a few. The report they quote about deployed troops contributing more to Obama’s campaign than McCain’s comes from this piece at OpenSecrets and is a month old.

It shows that 139  DEPLOYED troops contributed $60,000 to Obama and 34 contributed $10,000 to McCain. Now, I know it sounds like these troops are in a war zone when they contribute money, but I find it hard to believe anyone deployed and fighting is sending money to a campaign – anyone’s campaign. The article just says “deployed overseas” so I tend to think that troops serving in Korea, Poland, Germany, England – all of the world’s hot spots – are the ones sending money.

I suppose that out of a million or so troops, there’s 139 that would send money to Obama. Especially guys like Jay Navas, the Army specialist quoted in the OpenSecrets article, who has been with the Obama campaign in his county since before he was deployed to Iraq. He even comes home on leave to campaign. I wonder if he’s the same Jay Navas, who in 2003 was a finance co-chair for Alice B Toklas Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Democratic Club – it might not surprise anyone he supports Obama if it’s true.

Category: Politics