Veterans Issues

Interesting take HERE on Veterans issues vis a vis the two candidates. I have two family members that are veterans -- one of whom is a disabled OIF vet, so I follow veterans issues closely. And I mean CLOSELY.

McCain has consistently voted (his entire career) for veterans' legislation that made sense. He has sometimes voted against spending proposals for new programs because he believed that there were other BETTER programs in place that had not been amply funded and that some of the "new" programs being promoted for veterans were just pork projects being promoted for the benefit of legislators rather than for the benefit of Veterans.

And McCain is absolutely correct when he says,

"America has a moral obligation to care for those who have served our nation with honor," McCain said in response to questions to the presidential candidates from the group Disabled American Veterans.

But McCain told the group that, after "dramatic increases" over the past eight years in veterans health-care funding, money isn't always the answer.

"We should expect a matching increase in accountability and efficiency," McCain said. "Increased funding is not proof of supporting our veterans unless it is also accompanied by efforts that ensure our taxpayers' hard earned dollars are being spent wisely and in a manner that best supports and cares for our service members and veterans."

I should note that the "grades" given by IAVA to the Senators have pretty much been debunked as bogus. HERE and HERE and HERE also HERE. Be sure to read the comments and track the follow up posts at each site... an extremely interesting and engaging look at these "report cards" generally. (And in case you don't read those posts, when the top grades are ALL for the Dems and the bottom grades are ALL Republicans... and the founder of the organization is head of one campaign's veterans outreach (one guess which campaign)... yah. You pretty much get the picture.)