Bush, Republicans Losing Support of Retired Veterans

Published on Sunday, July 27, 2003
Knight-Ridder

by Steven Thomma

WASHINGTON - President Bush and his Republican Party are facing a political backlash from an unlikely group - retired veterans.

Normally Republican, many retired veterans are mad that Bush and the Republican-controlled Congress are blocking remedies to two problems with health and pension benefits. They say they feel particularly betrayed by Bush, who appealed to them in his 2000 campaign, and who vowed on the eve of his inauguration that "promises made to our veterans will be promises kept."

"He pats us on the back with his speeches and stabs us in the back with his actions," said Charles A. Carter of Shawnee, Okla., a retired Navy senior chief petty officer. "I will vote non-Republican in a heart beat if it continues as is."

"I feel betrayed," said Raymond C. Oden Jr., a retired Air Force Chief Master Sergeant now living in Abilene, Texas.


http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/0727-02.htm

The way this administration treats the people in the military is, well, scandalous.

do in 2000 was vote for the veteran: Al Gore. Where did they get the idea that a spoiled, lazy, soft-headed, idiotic mushbrain who hid out in the National Guard during Vietnam only to go AWOL from his unit was the guy for veterans to vote for? 'Cause he had an R- after his name? How stupid is that?

Retired veterans, thank you for your service to our great nation, but DAMN!

I almost choked a mid-manager repug after 9/11 saying how grateful he was Gore wasn't president. Like Gore would have cowered in the corner and shit his pants or something! We need Kerry and Clark to reverse this fucked-up perception about the R's being tougher on defense and security than the dems. This draft-dodging limpballs wannabe would have said the same thing about Bob Kerrey, I guess their minds are already made up.:puke:

Why is that so? Have the repukes done more for them in the past than the Dems? The military is a socialist organization. Wouldn't the Dems be closer in ideology to military thinking?

ministers at church telling them day in and day out that Republicans care about the military and Democrats hate the military.

This next election will change all that for sure. I can't WAIT for that BIG LIE to be laid to rest once and for all. It has hurt Democrats for far too long now.

Veterans for Kerry
www.johnkerry.com

after all if the moderate GOP of 1945 didnt like the GI Bill why would they trust the conservative GOP of today. Dems have done a lot more than the republicans in the past.

& he said to me recently that he has nothing but contempt for the vets who believe the big lie that conservatives are "better" for the military & veterans than Democrats. He is really very angry about this; & said that if they were fooled, it is their own fault for being so gullible, & not seeking out the facts for themselves.

Jimmy Carter was elected to the presidency, and one of my drill sergeants told our platoon that the military would suffer as a consequence, as only Republicans cared about the military and took care of it via pay raises, etc.

Man, have I come a long way :D

in uniform and on duty?

I thought that was against the UCMJ?

I don't get it, they like the chickenhawk wingnuts on radio & TV, and voted for this group.

The key thing in the article for me is:

While there are no recent polls to measure veterans' political leanings, any significant erosion of support for Bush and Republicans could hurt in a close election. It could be particularly troublesome in states such as Florida that are politically divided and crowded with military retirees.

I have noticed a shift in their feelings about bush. Now they are either speaking out against him or will not defend him when he's being bashed. Of course these vets are former spooks, and you know what Bush is doing to spooks.

It was the cuts to benefits that angered him. Just wait until hazardous duty pay gets cut.

..everyday"? Thanks for this info. It bothered me in the 2000 debacle that the military was going for bush.

It's time for the pendulum on the side of truth for our Military! :kick:

Is the same as hiring the undertaker and buying the plot. You're dead.

this matters.

That's a good sized voting block.