STUNNER: Veterans Tell Pollsters Who They Favor, Trump Or McCain. The Answer Is….
Image from nbcchicago.com
For the next fifteen months polls are going to be a major part of our lives here in the United States. Every now and then something stunning will come from them, too. Such is the case with this week’s Economist/YouGov poll on Republican presidential contenders.
Donald Trump is still ahead of the rest of the field – by a lot – in this poll, and the breakdown reflects every other poll out there (the more boring, but would do a great job, governors are pretty far down the list of populists), but it was the question asked specifically to veterans after last week’s Trump vs. John McCain he is not a war hero flap that is most interesting:
Well, isn’t that interesting. The general public may consider John McCain a war hero by a large margin, but his fellow veterans don’t seem to follow that line of thinking.
What makes it most interesting is that following last week’s dust-up, a four year old video made the rounds discussing John McCain, his war record from his fellow Vietnam Veterans’ standpoint and what he did to block legislation that would have been of great benefit to them and their families. To say that the tenor of the piece is disdainful – from people who served with him both in the Navy and Congress and those who were in the Hanoi Hilton at the same time in Vietnam – is an understatement.
- In 1992, McCain opposed a Senate Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs. He was opposed to attempts to find POWs. He more or less blocked the release of documents to help find prisoners of war in Vietnam.
- Claims are repeated that McCain was an enemy collaborator. That accusation is not new and is not helped by his visits to countries which we are nominally trying to neutralize. However, there are other accounts that dispute and contradict the claim.
- Fellow lawmakers from the time period claim McCain was more interested in protecting bureaucrats than releasing true information about what really happened in Vietnam.
Adding to the pile of incidents that feed the dislike is McCain once again being the member of Congress to block provisions within military bills for the return of veterans, this time military dogs. He insists on maintaining the label of “equipment” for military canines, even if they are living and breathing and bond with the units and men they serve loyally. This means that so many of the highly trained pooches are left behind once they have aged out of the program, and the efforts to reunite the dogs with their first handlers (really, they should never have more than one to be truly effective) are done strictly by the veterans themselves and true non-profit groups. McCain has blocked every effort in Congress to change the laws that would reunite handler and canine. No, this is not on par with blocking information on what happened to those missing in action and prisoners of war, but it is still mean and petty.
The reasons veterans and active military prefer Donald Trump to John McCain is a mystery. But given McCain’s track record on veterans affairs – especially the war that permanently disabled him – it should be no great surprise.
Read more at http://dcgazette.com/stunner-veterans-tell-pollsters-who-they-favor-trump-or-mccain-the-answer-is/
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