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Categories: National Security, Media Accountability, Peace and Armed Conflict, News, Featured
From Think Progress.org
Posing the first question in a Denver town hall meeting yesterday, a Vietnam veteran challenged Sen. John McCain on his Senate voting record regarding veterans issues, remarking he had voted against increasing vets health funding four years in a row. Ignoring the veteran’s point, McCain testily — and repeatedly — insisted that he had “received every award from every major veteran’s organization in America”:
Watch the video, via AHiddenSaint:
McCain has made the exact same claim before — and it is just a false today as it was then.
As ThinkProgress documented, McCain’s so-called “perfect” record has been roundly criticized by prominent veterans groups:
He received a grade of D from the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America and a 20 percent vote rating from the Disabled Veterans of America; Vietnam Veterans of America noted McCain had “voted against us” in 15 “key votes.”
As for the American Legion and the Veterans of Foreign Wars — with whom McCain claims to have a “perfect voting record” — both groups vigorously supported Sen. Jim Webb’s (D-VA) GI Bill that McCain tirelessly opposed.
Later in the town hall, McCain admitted he does “not have a perfect voting record,” but then declared that questions about veterans issues were off limits: “I will be glad to debate a lot of things, but not that one,” McCain said.
So, the veteran John McCain lies in the face of a veteran about his endorsements and voting record regarding veterans.
