McCain Lies Again, Repeats False Claim He ‘Received The Highest Honor And Awards’ From Every Vets Group
McCain Lies Again, Repeats False Claim He ‘Received The Highest Honor And Awards’ From Every Vets Group
Yesterday, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) held a telephone town hall meeting, in which “thousands” of Nevadans — according to the McCain campaign — called to listen in. Among some of the hostile, pointed, and critical questions came one from a veteran, who challenged McCain on his voting record regarding funding for the Veterans Administration and veterans’ priorities:
Q: I know you voted for lesser increases, and sometimes they were so much less, and our VA desperately needs the money. Can you tell me why you would vote for less money for the VA when there’s a war going on?
M: Well of course I have not and I’m afraid I’ve been endorsed by the VFW in every election that I’ve been in. I have been — received the honors, the highest honor and awards from all our veterans organizations for my consistent support of them. I don’t know what you’re looking at, but the DAV, the VFW, the American Legion, all of them have given me their highest awards for my consistent support of them.
Listen here:
As ThinkProgress has repeatedly documented, McCain is either willfully lying or he is delusional about his record — and the meaning of “highest awards.” In fact, McCain has recently stood on the opposite side of all three of the groups he mentioned:
– Disabled American Veterans (DAV): In a list of 36 “key votes,” shows McCain “Voted Against Us” 16 times. (Obama “Voted With Us” 17 times, and against only once.)
– Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW): Endorsed Sen. Jim Webb’s (D-VA) GI Bill that McCain vigorously opposed; called McCain’s alternative GI Bill “very partisan” and said they “didn’t have much input” in its crafting.
– American Legion: Endorsed Webb’s GI Bill and criticized McCain’s concern about how it would affect retention, saying the bill “would encourage young men and women to join the military.”
Just last week, the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America gave McCain a grade of D for his record of voting against veterans. (Obama got a B.) The Vietnam Veterans of America (VVA) have noted that in its “Key Votes,” McCain “Voted Against Us” 15 times and “Voted For Us” only 8. (Obama voted for VVA 12 times, and against only once.)
Earlier this month, Rep. Chet Edwards (D-TX), a leading veterans advocate, excoriated McCain in an interview with ThinkProgress: “If you look at John McCain’s record on veterans issues, it’s a failed one.” It’s a sentiment IAVA executive director Paul Rieckhoff agrees with. Noting McCain’s dismal voting record on VA funding, Rieckhoff told ThinkProgress, “If he says the VA’s not working, it’s in part because he hasn’t funded it properly.”
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To be fair to McDopey, since he was in the bottom five of his class, Ds and Fs are high honors and awards.
October 20th, 2008 at 10:59 amMcCain lies, Obama lies, the election is a farce and bears do make doody in the woods.
You know they are lying because there lips are moving.
October 20th, 2008 at 11:01 amMcCain is so full of it. I never wanted to believe he was evil. But evil–like Hannah Arendt denoted– more often comes in ordinary packages rather than encased in shooting stars.
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October 20th, 2008 at 11:02 amZooey Says:
To be fair to McDopey, since he was in the bottom five of his class, Ds and Fs are high honors and awards.
That is just toooooo funny :)~
October 20th, 2008 at 11:06 amClusterTim says:
Cappy McPoopyhead isn’t necessarily an idiot. But he depends on the idiocy, imbecility, oafishness and pinheadedness of his audience. Hallelujah!
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October 20th, 2008 at 11:07 amMcCain is in Missouri today, how many people will see him? I believe I read 175,000 saw Obama last week in Missouri.
October 20th, 2008 at 11:12 amRight now McCain is telling the same lies about Obama going to Joe the Plumber’s house and attacking him. The man has not a shred of decency.
October 20th, 2008 at 11:12 amWow some POW veteran McCain is! This is just despicable! God help us all if this fool gets elected.
October 20th, 2008 at 11:12 am(I am not a McCain Supporter)
Obama raised 150 miilion dollars the headlines told us. . . but where did that money come from? Wallstreet.
The other ominous headline read . . . “McCain gives up on popular vote” . . . that’s right, you don’t have to win the most popular votes because elections are decided by the “electoral college”.
October 20th, 2008 at 11:12 amPoor McStain – tripped up by his own “inconvenient truth”
PEACE
October 20th, 2008 at 11:14 ammccain claims he knows how to part the seas along with winning wars along with knowing how to fix the economy.
hey john. please just stfu…. nevermind, we’ll do that for you nov 4th.
October 20th, 2008 at 11:14 amMcCain in St. Charles, MO today: “…and I’ve been fighting for this country since I was 17…and I have the scars to prove it!”
Eyefreakinroll.
October 20th, 2008 at 11:18 am“The Emperor has NO clothes!”
Who will stand up – at whatever point – and say, “No, Senator McCain. That’s a lie.”
Not like Keith and Rachel do, but in public, to his face, in the presence of tens of people – with cameras rolling and America watching.
I want to see Joe the Veteran to stand up – and not ask a question – but demand that McCain stop lying about his voting record on veterans’ affairs and “top honors.”
October 20th, 2008 at 11:18 amTypical Republican, he thinks the goal is to be the most despised.
October 20th, 2008 at 11:19 amBadmoodman Says:
McCain in St. Charles, MO today: “…and I’ve been fighting for this country since I was 17…and I have the scars to prove it!”
Eyefreakinroll.
What McStain means is he’s been fighting against the interests of the citizens of this country since he was elected to Congress and we’ve got the scars to prove it.
Cueing Fat Lady in 3…2…1…
PEACE
October 20th, 2008 at 11:23 amradiodujour Says:
Obama raised 150 miilion dollars the headlines told us. . . but where did that money come from? Wallstreet.
October 20th, 2008 at 11:12 am
______
Every single dollar of those $150 million came from Wall Street?
I doubt that.
Yes, Obama does got a lot of individual contributions from people who works on Wall Street, but he also gets a lot of individual contributions from people who DON’T work on Wall Street.
In fact, Securities & Investiment is only #4 on the category list of Obama donors, with $10.8 million raised from this industry. Ahead of securities and finance are people in education, retirees, and lawyers.
October 20th, 2008 at 11:25 amTHIS is what McCain is up against:
Hope Defeats Hate in 2008: (the video giving Repubs heartburn and Dems the warm fuzzies)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfZxP3hOCcc
So he HAS to lie
October 20th, 2008 at 11:26 amThe lifers are mostly republicans
Those of us who worked for a living are supporting Obama 6 to 1.
Someone make mccain admit this well known fact please.
October 20th, 2008 at 11:30 amObama’s $150 million came from an average of $89 each
It’s the PEOPLE that donated, not the corporations on wall street
Hope Defeats Hate in 2008:
October 20th, 2008 at 11:32 am(the video giving Repubs heartburn and Dems the warm fuzzies)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfZxP3hOCcc
hussein toasterhead Says:
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radiodujour Says:
Obama raised 150 miilion dollars the headlines told us. . . but where did that money come from? Wallstreet.
October 20th, 2008 at 11:12 am
______
Every single dollar of those $150 million came from Wall Street?
I doubt that.
Yes, Obama does got a lot of individual contributions from people who works on Wall Street, but he also gets a lot of individual contributions from people who DON’T work on Wall Street.
Thanks for clearing that up. I was pretty sure that I don’t work on Wall Street.
October 20th, 2008 at 11:32 amShayne Says:
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Right now McCain is telling the same lies about Obama going to Joe the Plumber’s house and attacking him. The man has not a shred of decency.
Shaaaayne, you have some ’splaining to do. What did I miss?
October 20th, 2008 at 11:35 ambarracks9: I think we will see that the McCain campaign learned the hard way not to put the microphone in the hands of people in their audiences. It really looks like Palin will make it through the campaign season without having to answer any questions (except Hannity and Rush).
October 20th, 2008 at 11:38 amReally, does anyone actually give a damn about the Privacy Center. Well other than ClusterTim of course…
October 20th, 2008 at 11:40 amJohn McCain:
October 20th, 2008 at 11:43 amKeating
&
Cheating
It’s not the “privacy center”
it’s just a link to anonymity software
irrelevant to the discussion or the election
now for some spam of my own: (lol)
Hope Defeats Hate in 2008:
October 20th, 2008 at 11:44 am(the video giving Repubs heartburn and Dems the warm fuzzies)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfZxP3hOCcc
Progressive Jazz (with RantingTommy on piano):
http://ere.digi-one.com
I’m curious, why does ClusterTim get to advertise on each and every thread? Every day? With no repercussions?
October 20th, 2008 at 11:44 amI mean, it’s not like he’s contributing any discussions and/or ideas.
It’s always a one hit generic post to appear progressive?
Isn’t this against the terms and conditions?
“ClusterTim Says:
How can anyone with a single ounce of common sense support this idiot. Its just one lie after another!
Jif”
Sense, at least as far as republicans go, is never common.
October 20th, 2008 at 11:48 amAt least MY spam is spam to support Obama
:)
October 20th, 2008 at 11:50 amThe question was about McCain’s unfavorable voting record with regard to Veterans Of Ameirca.
October 20th, 2008 at 11:52 amBut McCain answer was again ,and as usual, all about McCain himself and how great he is.
I have noticed that McCain and Sarah have the habit of use the word ‘I’ self flattering themselves, while Obama uses the word ‘We’ adressing issues in this campaign.
When most of us here instead of just a few of us start flagging his posts as spam he will dissappear.
Is everyone ready to get rid of him?
October 20th, 2008 at 11:53 amThe Obama campaign has been raising money from small donors like me from the beginning. Trust me I don’t expect any special favors for my $300. Surprisingly though with the last $50 I received a t-shirt, 5 buttons, a magnet for my fender and a lawn sign. But I’m guessing you aren’t interested in the facts.
October 20th, 2008 at 11:58 amRantingTommy Says:
Your’s is not spam, it is about the issues of the day.
You also have real thoughts to post, not just sound bites to exuse posting something to sell.
You have my support.
October 20th, 2008 at 11:58 amFred, DrxJ, dbadass,
I flag clusterfcuktim every time I see him and he seems to be protected by TP. Maybe paying them for his advertising?
October 20th, 2008 at 12:01 pmI, as a combat veteran of Vietnnam and a member of VVA, Vetvoice and VVAW, I find McCain’s constant bullshit spouting about his ’support’ of us veterans and what he has earned from the groups totally disgusting. Whatever respect for him I had, went away in the 2000 Primaries and has sunk so low now, he has to look up to see whale shit.
October 20th, 2008 at 12:04 pmHey this is scary. Last night Olbermann was channeling Ricky Riccardo and now you are. Spooky. Hey, you weren’t watching football were you?
October 20th, 2008 at 12:05 pmour precious bodily fluids
October 20th, 2008 at 12:07 pmWell, he certainly earns my VietNam Veteran single finger salute!
October 20th, 2008 at 12:13 pmRadioIdiotOfTheDay,
$50.00 of that came from me. Piss off.
October 20th, 2008 at 12:15 pmI doubt it. He would show on the sidebar instead of posting in the threads if that were true, like green recovery’s advertisement.
October 20th, 2008 at 12:21 pmreceived every award from every major veterans organization.
maybe he DID at one time or another, years ago…
has anyone compiled that list?
i don’t care enough to do it, but it would be interesting…
October 20th, 2008 at 12:22 pmEvery time McCain lies about his non support for veterans, this veteran’s blood boils.
Does he think we veterans are stupid and that we do not keep an eye on who actually votes for and against us?
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radiodujour Says:
(I am not a McCain Supporter)
Obama raised 150 miilion dollars the headlines told us. . . but where did that money come from? Wallstreet.
Funny, I don’t work on Wall Street and $250 of that 150 million came from me.
October 20th, 2008 at 12:30 pmIs McCain the “ONLY” POW in American Military History?
October 20th, 2008 at 12:34 pmWayne Says:
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Does he think we veterans are stupid and that we do not keep an eye on who actually votes for and against us?
I have 2 schools of thought on this: 1, he knows he has lost most of the current veterans’ support but wants to get the ‘old farts’ (me included, from Vietnam) to buy into his crap. or 2, he ACTUALLY believes his own crap.
Neither answer works for me!
October 20th, 2008 at 12:36 pmIf there was a list don’t you think mccain himself would have made it public? He makes many claims that he doesn’t back up, like that he knows how to win wars….that one alone is enough to make you laugh out loud.
October 20th, 2008 at 12:38 pmMcCain was warned by his friends in the Media not to ride his Military record as it would be bad. Now the Vets see our soldiers come home in coffins not POWs. Most others have injuries that aren’t treated because the Pentagon using the money for other things. Walter Reed is still a mess. I can’t repeat the names soldiers in Iraq call McCain but he lost them at hello. Now McCain is out right lying even his memory lost can’t be used this time as an excuse. Time to call in Joe Lieberman to explain what McCain really means.
October 20th, 2008 at 12:49 pmStrange how McCain can keep get away with his lies about his support for veterans.
I guess since McCain is a veteran commonly considered a “war hero” a lot of people take his support for veterans for granted. Nobody not the media or his opponent has the guts to call him on it. Hopefully most veterans keep themselves up to date about the candidates voting record
October 20th, 2008 at 12:55 pmKaty, from factcheck.com
It seems he has a few to use in balance of his voting record:
http://www.factcheck.org/askfactcheck/does_mccain_have_a_perfect_voting_record.html
On awards:
October 20th, 2008 at 1:02 pm
hey, thanks fred!
October 20th, 2008 at 2:06 pmShayne Says:
Hey this is scary. Last night Olbermann was channeling Ricky Riccardo and now you are. Spooky. Hey, you weren’t watching football were you?
No, I don’t watch football.
I wanted to know what’s up with Obama going to Joe the plumber’s house and attacking him. Why is McCain saying this? I haven’t heard anything about this.
October 20th, 2008 at 2:30 pmOf course, as you get senile you start remembering events from the distant past better than from the very recent past.
October 20th, 2008 at 5:54 pm