A wounded veteran responds to Meghan McCain's Quote.( Updated )

by Broken Skull Tue Sep 09, 2008

  I respect everyone's military service, and I think that most of us feel the same way. We respect our brothers and sisters in arms, whether or not we agree with them. We all respect the service of the families left behind when a service member deploys. Although this is a different type of service, it is service none the less and should be respected. Even though I disagree with Sen. McCain's policies, I respect his service. He stood up and took the oath and went to combat, he spent 5 and a half miserable years as a prisoner of war. It is important as vets and supporter of vets to respect each other's service.

  Thats not the message we are getting today from the McCain family.

  This morning Meghan McCain sat down for an interview as a McCain surrogate on the today show. While making her way through an answer about her father she stated: "No one knows what war is like other than my family. Period."

  There are 4155 families that lost a loved one in Iraq, 584 that have lost a loved one in Afghanistan. There are tens of thousands of injured soldiers like myself, who not only deal with their injuries but have families that deal with the injuries too. Does Meghan McCain think that those 4,739 families that are grieving the loss of their loved ones don't know about war. Does she think that the tens of thousands of us wounded soldiers don't know about war. Yes, she does.

  This is not a simple mistake or a gaffe, this is a freudian slip and it gives us an insight into how Sen. McCain feels about the service of those of are not him. Sen. McCain has shown us by his voting record  that we don't matter.

  Sen. McCain was publicly against the bi-patisan Webb/Hagel GI Bill.  He tried to introduce his own watered down version because the Webb/Hagel bill was "too generous". If you did 3 tours in Iraq and want to get out and go to school...Sen. McCain thinks you don't matter.

  Sen. McCain voted against the bipartisan Webb/Hagel Dwell time amendment. This amendment would have required troops to be home for the same amount of time as they are deployed. If you are going on your third tour to Iraq just 90 days after you returned from your last one...Sen. McCain thinks you don't matter. Even if that means that your propensity for PTSD is now much higher.

Sen. McCain has voted against increasing veterans and military health care 29 times. These bills would have fully staffed the va and dod hospitals, money that could have been used to clean up Walter Reed before it became a national disgrace. If you have to wait in line for an increasing amount of time because they are an increasing amount of veterans and not enough staff...Sen. McCain doesn't care.

  These are just 3 examples of the myriad of times that Sen. McCain has used his vote to say "your service doesn't matter". Now we have Sen. McCain's daughter acting as an agent for the campaign saying your service doesn't matter.

  This isn't the first time we have heard claims like this from the Republican side of the house. When asked about Iraq on the Today Show, Laura Bush said "no one suffers more than their President and I do."

  Your service does matter, to me and thousands of veterans like me. There is one veteran that your service does not matter too, and he is running for President.

Crossposted at www.vetvoice.com

Technorati Tags: Meghan McCain,John McCain,veterans