Love the War, Neglect the Warrior: McCain's lack of support for veterans

Amy Silverman's "Love the War, Neglect the Warrior: His fame's based on his POW status, but Senator John McCain's made a point of voting against fellow veterans," tells the story of McCain's voting record on support for war veterans, and how various veterans' groups and retired military personnel feel about him:

Most vet special-interest groups decline to officially take sides (even VoteVets hasn't made a presidential endorsement).

But VoteVets is among many veterans groups to note the discrepancy between John McCain's talk and his actions.

In both 2006 and 2007-08, the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America gave McCain a D for his record on key congressional votes.

The Disabled American Veterans scored him at 20 percent in 2006; 25 percent in 2005; and 50 percent in 2004.

And the Retired Enlisted Association gave him a 0 in 2006 and a rating of 18 percent in 2004. These are the most recent rankings released by the groups.

Another organization, Veterans for Common Sense, posted this comment on its website earlier this year: "John McCain is yet another Republican...military veteran who likes to talk a big game when it comes to having the support of the military. Yet, time and time again, he has gone out of his way to vote against the needs of those who are serving in our military. If he can't even see his way to actually do what the troops want, or what the veterans need, and he doesn't have the support of veterans, then how can he be a credible commander in chief?"

The article notes that while polls tend to show military support for McCain over Obama, Obama has raised $74,000 from active military personnel, to McCain's $16,000.