Anti-war candidates Clinton and Obama will have to tread lightly when addressing the veterans group in Kansas City.
The anti-war credentials that Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are brandishing on the campaign trail might not do them much good this week in Kansas City. As featured speakers at the national convention of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the top Democratic presidential candidates could face a challenge in defending their views without sounding critical of their hosts.
President Bush, who will speak Wednesday, is a wartime commander in chief. Sen. John McCain, a Republican presidential candidate, is a former prisoner of war and military hero. His support of the war has been unwavering. “We expect a warm reception,” said Brooke Buchanan, a spokeswoman for the senator from Arizona. Likely Republican presidential candidate Fred Thompson, a former senator from Tennessee, also will be there. He opposes a timetable for withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq.
There is little question that the positions that Clinton and Obama have taken differ from many of the nearly 6,000 people who will be in Bartle Hall, said John Green, who teaches politics at the University of Akron in Ohio. "It might serve them well to be able to address that audience and get a respectful showing. It shows they can reach out to a diverse constituency, not an easy thing to do,” Green said.
=====================================================================================================
Yeah, right, does this organization really have the troops interest at heart?????
----------
After all, this is the same group that last year endorsed a Republican who was not a veteran in a high-profile Illinois congressional race over a Democrat who was.
Tammy Duckworth was an Army helicopter pilot in Iraq who lost both legs when a rocket-propelled grenade exploded. Duckworth, who said she considered the war a mistake, lost the race.
More recently, the VFW publicly backed the troop surge.
======================================================================================================
The VFW’s last endorsement for president came in 1996, when it backed World War II veteran and former Sen. Bob Dole of Kansas over President Bill Clinton. ((They always endorse a republican)
“We’re really concerned that it’s not just about talking the talk, but walking the walk,” said Dana Balicki, a spokeswoman for the group. (((AND BUSH DOES, who skipped out of even the Nat Guard, did everything in the world to keep from going to Nam)))
((((entire story @ link))))
http://www.kansascity.com/105/story/237689.html