McCain Hired Swift Boat Advertising Firm Designed to Attack Veterans. “Senator John McCain, intent on succeeding where his freewheeling presidential campaign of 2000 failed, is assembling a team of political bruisers for 2008. And it includes advisers who once sought to skewer him and whose work he has criticized as stepping over the line in the past. In 2000, Mr. McCain, Republican of Arizona, said the advertisements run against him by George W. Bush, then the governor of Texas, distorted his record. But he has hired three members of the team that made those commercials -- Mark McKinnon, Russell Schriefer and Stuart Stevens -- to work on his presidential campaign. In 2004, Mr. McCain said the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth advertisement asserting that Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts had not properly earned his medals from the Vietnam War was ‘dishonest and dishonorable.’ Nonetheless, he has hired the firm that made the spots, Stevens Reed Curcio & Potholm, which worked on his 2000 campaign, to work for him again this year. [1]
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#78 GI Bill
For more on McCain and Bush's record on the GI Bill, go to the "100 Days, 100 Ways" web site (www.100days100ways.com). For more on McCain's embrace of Bush's failed policies, visit McCainpedia.org (http://mccainpedia.org/index.php/Main_Page).
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MCCAIN WATCH: MCCAIN RHETORIC VS. MCCAIN RECORD: SUPPORTING OUR VETERANS
As John McCain addressed the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) in Orlando, FL, this morning, he was practicing more of the same old politics. McCain claims to be an advocate for America's veterans despite his record on veterans' issues. Like Bush, McCain will continue sending American soldiers - along with billions of dollars - to Iraq and Afghanistan, but he'll block programs for health care and education for veterans here at home.
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McCain Falls Flat in Speech to Disabled Veterans
John McCain's plan to improve veterans healthcare is not getting any standing ovations. To help veterans who live far from VA hospitals or need specialized care the VA can’t provide, McCain proposed giving low-income veterans and those who incurred injury...
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MCCAIN WATCH: MCCAIN IS WRONG ON ISSUES IMPORTANT TO HISPANICS AND VETERANS
Today John McCain will speak to Hispanic veterans at the American GI Forum's 60th National Conference in Denver. McCain's remarks come on the heels of a new Pew poll that shows him lagging far behind Obama among Hispanics. McCain trails Senator Obama by a margin of 43 points, 66 to 23 percent, among Hispanic voters. McCain is a full 18 points behind President Bush's level of support among Hispanic voters in 2004.
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Webb: Bush "Made A Real Bad Mistake" On GI Bill
President Bush and John McCain teamed up to try to defeat the 21st Century GI Bill, which doubles college benefits for troops and veterans. In the end, it still passed, was signed into law yesterday, and now both are trying to take credit for the very bill that they worked so hard to defeat.
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Veterans Groups Didn't Have That Much Input
Veterans groups said they were not consulted for the Graham-McCain version of the GI Bill, calling their measure “very partisan
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McCain Claiming to Have Highest Awards From All Veterans Organizations?
Another claim he'll likely be forced into backtracking from, since it's clearly not true. Here are some of the failing grades that McCain has received from these organizations, via Think Progress:
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McCain Puts Politics Ahead of Our Troops and Veterans...Again
While John McCain was campaigning and raising money in California today, the Senate voted on a bipartisan to bill to support our brave men and women in uniform by helping them pay for college when they complete their service. Unlike both Democratic presidential candidates, who took time off the campaign trail to support our troops by voting for the 21st Century GI Bill, Senator McCain refused.
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McCain Myth Buster: John McCain and America's Veterans
Today's McCain Myth: John McCain will support America's veterans and military families.
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McCain Puts Politics Ahead of Our Troops
Today the Senate voted to help the brave men and women who defend this country pay for college once they've completed their service. It was a historic vote, and McCain wasn't there to see it. Instead he attended a fundraiser.
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Not Just a Fraction
Via ThinkProgress, VoteVets Action Fund is coming out with new ad pressuring McCain sign onto Senator Webb's 21st Century GI Bill.
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Support the Troops
The must-read piece for the day is this one, which takes John McCain to task for failing to help give the troops and veterans the education benefits that they've more than earned.
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MUST READ: 'DOING THE TROOPS WRONG'
In today's New York Times, columnist Bob Herbert details how John McCain's talk about supporting our troops falls far short of the action needed to help ensure our brave troops are taken care of when they come home.
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Sometimes Pandering Gets You Nowhere
McCain earmark cutting would leave Military families out in the cold.
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McCain Says No To GI Bill
It's bipartisan legislation that would "greatly expand educational benefits for members of the military returning from Iraq and Afghanistan." But that didn't stop John McCain from coming out against the bill yesterday.
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MUST READ: McCain Must Lead The Charge For GI Bill
In an op-ed in today's Los Angeles Times, General Wesley Clark and VoteVets chairman Jon Soltz point out that John McCain is "casting doubt on his own commitment to the newest generation of American heroes" by "hedging" his support for a 21st Century GI Bill.
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McCain Myth Buster: John McCain and the 21st Century GI Bill
Today's McCain Myth: John McCain would fight for America's service members and veterans.
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George Bush and John McCain Lack the Courage To Ban Torture
"It is shameful that George Bush and John McCain lack the courage to ban torture," said Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean. "And it is reprehensible that McCain changed his position on torture just to win an election. That's not the kind of leadership Americans want, and it's exactly the reason why voters will reject John McCain in November. The last thing we need is another president who will put politics over principle."
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Walter Reed Anniversary Exposes More McCain Double Talk
One year ago today, the American people first learned about the dreadful conditions at military hospitals and outpatient facilities treating wounded soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. Amid the national outrage sparked by those reports, John McCain saw an opportunity to bolster his presidential campaign. Days after the story broke, McCain blamed the scandal on former Secretary of Defense Don Rumsfeld, saying "the fruits of Rumsfeld's policy were on display at Walter Reed military hospital in Washington." [Atlanta Journal Constitution, 2/22/2007]
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McCain Myth Buster Day 3: John McCain and Veterans Health Care
After casting himself as a "Maverick" in 2000, the new John McCain is walking in lockstep with President Bush, pandering to the right wing of the Republican Party, and embracing the ideology he once denounced. On the campaign trail McCain has callously abandoned many of his previously held positions, even contradicted himself, in a blatant attempt to remake himself into a candidate Republicans can accept in 2008. So just who is the real John McCain? The Democratic National Committee will present a daily fact aimed at exposing the man behind the myth.