Veterans

Media Matters catches Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele repeating (and botching) the false charge that the Department of Veterans Affairs, by making available a guide to writing a living will, is telling veterans to kill themselves.
[Y]ou have a manual out there telling our veterans stuff like “are you really of value to your community?” [...]

Republicans put some effort into painting presidential candidate Barack Obama as an insufficient friend of American soldiers, with Exhibit A being his decision not to visit wounded soldiers in Germany. Once Obama became commander-in-chief, it became harder to argue that he hated his own troops. But the Department of Homeland Security report on right-wing extremism [...]

Most of the criticism of the Department of Homeland Security’s guide to right-wing extremism has been along the lines of Pamela Gellar’s panic about “the fascist blueprint to create a police state and legalize gulags.” But the American Legion is jumping in to give a patina of respectability to the panic. From its letter to [...]

Something for the “What in the World?” file:
Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki confirmed Tuesday that the Obama administration is considering a controversial plan to make veterans pay for treatment of service-related injuries with private insurance.

Sen. John McCain, first debate:

Part 2: Sen. John McCain’s military service is central to his campaign, despite a record in Congress that raises doubts about his support of veterans.

PHOENIX — Sen. John McCain paints himself as a pro-veteran’s veteran, but his voting history tells a different story.

In 2006, McCain voted against, while Obama supported, an amendment to provide $20 million to the Dept. of Veteran Affairs for health-care facilities. The measure was defeated, 39-53.
In March 2006, McCain opposed — and Obama backed — an assured funding stream for veteran’s health care that took into account annual changes in veterans’ population and [...]

DENVER–Tammy Duckworth — Iraq war veteran, Illinois Veterans Affairs director, amputee and netroots favorite — is smacking John McCain silly. She’s talking about supporting troops with more than rhetoric. Wants us to win in Afghanistan. “Instead of destroying the enemies who attacked us on 9/11, we diverted our military might to Iraq, which had nothing [...]