For A Vet, McCain's Record Sorely Lacking

By Seth Lovell

On July 7, at a town hall meeting in Denver, a Vietnam veteran confronted John McCain about his support of veterans' issues.

"I have a perfect voting record from organizations like the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the American Legion and all the other veterans service organizations," responded McCain.

Although this sounds good, it is inaccurate and misleading. The VFW and American Legion do not compile congressional voting records, and other veterans' organizations that do compile records aren't favorable.

Disabled American Veterans is an organization that was founded following World War I, and today has 1.4 million members.

It not only tracks this legislation, but tracks how politicians vote. John McCain is documented as having voted with DAV-supported legislation 34 percent of the time. Barack Obama has voted with the DAV 89 percent of the time.

Another organization that tracks legislation important to veterans is Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, the first and largest organization dedicated to those who served in Iraq and Afghanistan.

IAVA is only concerned with bettering the lives of returning veterans, and advocating for their rights. Its records show McCain voting with IAVA 58 percent of the time, and receiving a "D" rating. Obama voted with IAVA 89 percent of the time, receiving a "B-plus" rating.

If the overall records do not speak for themselves the specific examples will. In April 2003 McCain urged Senate members to table a vote that would appropriate more than $1 billion for National Guard and Reserve Equipment in Iraq. In October of 2003 once again McCain voted to table a bill that called for an additional $322 million for safety equipment for United States forces in Iraq.

On issues relating to veterans' health care McCain's record is even worse. Since 2004 McCain has voted twice against closing corporate tax loopholes to help fund healthcare for veterans. In March 2004 Senator McCain voted against an amendment that would have created a $1.8 billion reserve fund to increase Veteran's medical care.

Again in March 2006 McCain voted against an amendment to close corporate tax loopholes in order to increase veterans' medical services funding by $1.5 billion. In April 2006 McCain joined only 13 other senators in voting against an amendment to increase funding for the Department of Veterans Affairs for outpatient care and treatment of veterans. This amendment provided a paltry $430 million compared to the billions of dollars being spent each week in Iraq, yet McCain opted to vote against it.

His neglect of veterans goes on and on. Most recently in May of 2008 McCain spoke out against the updated GI Bill being sponsored by Virginia Sen. Jim Webb.

On the day of the vote McCain was not present, a convenient way to avoid criticism over his promised oppositional vote. The biggest injustice to those who worked so hard to make this bill a reality came when President Bush praised McCain for his work on this legislation.

Every American should appreciate and honor the service that Sen. McCain gave to our country during Vietnam. There is no doubt John McCain supports the war in Iraq.

It doesn't mean he supports the veterans who served.

Seth Lovell is a veteran of wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. He is pursuing his master at James Madison University. E-mail him at stlovell@comcast.net.

(Note: This column was first published on August 24, 2008 by The News Leader of Staunton, Virginia)