Update: The fact that
President
Obama had to sign an executive order to get the mental health access
our veterans need is proof that the Republican Party does not care about
veterans.
Dear Senator McConnell,
My
cousin joined a Facebook Group this morning called Let’s find 1 million
people who actually SUPPORT our Veterans. (Isn’t it cool how Facebook
enables us to watch what our friends and family do and it isn’t even
considered stalking). I didn’t click on the group because I’m often
disappointed to discover that people say they support troops and/or
veterans when, in fact, the only support they show is lip service
possibly with a little flag waving on the side. Instead of setting
myself up to be disappointed, I decided I would actually do something in
my cousin's honor.
I’ve protested wars. I’ve written
to people who served when my protesting didn’t do much good. I’ve had
Fort Knox soldiers over for meals, and I’ve written to politicians (I’m
sure you must remember my letters) asking that they not send our young
people to war unless absolutely necessary. In the past, I tracked down
many homeless vets to give them food, pocket change, gloves, etc, and I
wrote about them – even created a homeless group on Gather where we
could collect stories and articles about them all in one place. I’m sad
to say that I couldn’t afford to personally send the equipment they
didn’t have the first few years of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars – but
you can believe I would have sent it if I had had the money. I’ve even
stared into the frightened or dead eyes of young men who came home
changed forever, and tried my best to console them.
Since
you represent me, and your votes in the Senate are ultimately the most I
can offer troops and veterans, I decided to check out what I have
really done--via you--for them. I’m not real pleased with what I found. I
have the comfort of knowing that I voted for your opponents but, alas,
that didn’t really do the troops much good.
You voted
to send troops into Iraq under false pretenses and have yet –at least
that I can find—to apologize for that. Please direct me to those
apologies if I missed them because I sure would like to be wrong about
this.
In 2004, you countered an amendment that Senator
Ted Kennedy proposed asking that Bush submit reports to Congress on the
strategy in Iraq. Opponents (mostly Democrats, of course) thought your
amendment was not strong enough because it failed to require an estimate
of troops needed in the future. I’m still confused by your position on
this. For those who want to support the troops, will you ever explain
why you didn’t think planning ahead was important?
In
2007, you seemed (at least to me) to only muddy the waters when you and
Harry Reid tried to come to some sort of agreement regarding how to
debate nonbinding resolutions regarding the surge. If I understand
correctly, you pretended this had to be done quickly but then wanted
each of the three resolutions to require sixty votes to pass. In the
end, you and Reid couldn’t come to an agreement and Republicans blocked
that bill (sounds familiar, huh?) and you played it off like it wasn’t
important. It came up again, without much debate, and you guys
filibustered, holding Harry Reid hostage to a promise that the Senate
would continue to fund, without further debate, a war started on lies.
Sigh. In all honesty, this feels more like supporting the people who
wanted the war than it does like supporting the troops.
And
then, in 2007, you pulled what looks like bullying tactics to me by
threatening to block a Democratic effort to include a date for troop
withdrawal in the Iraq spending bill and then said something akin to,
“Oh, never mind, my buddy will veto anyway.” Again, sending those kids
into a war based on lies and then refusing to fund them if the funding
included a plan to get them out of a war they should never have been
sent to in the first place does not seem like support to me.
Since I’m no expert, I checked to see how experts rated you. Here are the results:
2007-2008 In 2007-2008 Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America gave Senator McConnell a grade of B.
2006 Senator McConnell supported the interests of the Disabled American Veterans 60 percent in 2006.
2006 In 2006 Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America gave Senator McConnell a grade of D.
2006
Senator McConnell sponsored or co-sponsored 0 percent of the
legislation favored by the The Retired Enlisted Association in 2006.
2005 Senator McConnell supported the interests of the Disabled American Veterans 33 percent in 2005.
2004 Senator McConnell supported the interests of the Disabled American Veterans 0 percent in 2004.
2004 Senator McConnell supported the interests of the The Retired Enlisted Association 0 percent in 2004.
2003-2004 Senator McConnell supported the interests of the Vietnam Veterans of America 50 percent in 2003-2004.
2003 Senator McConnell supported the interests of the The American Legion 100 percent in 2003.
2001 Senator McConnell supported the interests of the Vietnam Veterans of America 76 percent in 2001.
1999 Senator McConnell supported the interests of the Disabled American Veterans 33 percent in 1999.
1997-1998 Senator McConnell supported the interests of the Vietnam Veterans of America 0 percent in 1997-1998.
1989-1990
On the votes that the Vietnam Veterans of America considered to be the
most important in 1989-1990 , Senator McConnell voted their preferred
position 50 percent of the time.
I have one statement
about this list, and one question. If this were my report card, I would
have been grounded, and not very proud to claim it. My question – how’d
you manage to get on the good side of The American Legion?
Did
you really say, “Nobody is happy about losing lives, but remember,
these are not draftees, these are full-time professional soldiers”? To
whom were you referring? The kids who joined because they couldn’t
afford college? The ones who volunteered because they were told they’d
be next on the list anyway but would get a bonus if they went ahead and
volunteered, only to be sent home days short of the time required to get
that bonus and then sent back out weeks later? Surely, not the ones who
joined before they knew they would have to serve under Commander in
Thief Bush, who would send them into a senseless war? Please, tell me
you meant the Blackwater guys.
Filibuster. I know it’s a
sore topic these days but I have to bring it up. TWICE you filibustered
Senator Webb’s amendments to restore proper troop rotation and rest
between tours? Seriously? Nope. There is no way I can consider this
supporting the troops.
My cousin has the biggest heart
you’d ever hope to encounter and breaking it by telling her just exactly
how she supports the troops through you is going to be one of the
hardest things I’ve ever done. Worse even, I think she might have voted
for you.
Senator Mitch McConnell repeatedly refused to
provide any responses to citizens on the issues through the 2008
Political Courage Test when asked to do so by national leaders of the
political parties, prominent members of the media, Project Vote Smart
President Richard Kimball, and Project Vote Smart staff. What is the
political courage test?
Disappointed,
Me
