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Obama Guns for Veteran Voters

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May 17, 2012 RSS Feed Print
Veterans Against the War are among the anti-Iraq war protestors demonstrating in Washington on the 5th anniversary of the start of the war in Iraq.

Veterans Against the War are among the anti-Iraq war protestors demonstrating in Washington on the 5th anniversary of the start of the war in Iraq.

The Obama campaign is vowing to reverse historic veteran voting trends in the upcoming election. In announcing its veterans and military family outreach effort on Thursday, the campaign director overseeing the effort said the incumbent Democrat is aiming to top his rival Mitt Romney among veteran voters, despite the fact that vets traditionally vote for Republicans.

"We're going to break down that mythology about the military voting history and the veteran voting history," said Rob Diamond, the Obama campaign official, speaking to reporters on a campaign call. "In 2004, veterans voted 57-41 for Bush. In 2008, they voted 55-45 for McCain. But the fact is we won the under-60 veteran vote with 51 percent [against McCain]. We won those between [the ages of] 55-45 with 53 [percent] for President Obama. There's a changing demographic out there, and there's a changing military."

[See photos of first lady Michelle Obama with military families.]

The campaign is banking on the fact that Obama has overseen dramatic troop draw-downs in Iraq and Afghanistan, including the official ending of the war in Iraq, as well as his successful efforts to ramp up pressure on al Qaeda, which culminated with the death of Osama bin Laden.

"We know that this community gets what this president has done for them," Diamond said, adding that Obama has increased funding for veteran healthcare, successfully pushed for tax credits for businesses that hire veterans, and approved a beefed-up GI bill that allows veterans to obtain their undergraduate degrees for free.

"Veterans have seen incredible progress under this president in just three short years," he said. "That's why military families of all ages and all generations are organizing for him."

Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden, an Iraq war veteran and the son of Vice President Joe Biden, said the president has been "a strong and responsible leader in a complicated and often dangerous world."

[Check out U.S. News Weekly: an insider's guide to politics and policy,]

"He's been successful in confronting our enemies without hesitation, to strengthen our alliances while remaining true to the values that make our nation great," Biden said.

The Obama campaign also cast aspersions on how a President Romney would treat veterans.

"As governor of Massachusetts, Romney cut veterans programs by hundreds of thousands of dollars just in his very first month in office and he even tried to cut the Department of Veterans Services by more than 11 percent," Diamond said. "The congressional Republican budget which Mitt Romney endorsed and said was 'marvelous' would slash veterans' benefits by $11 billion."

Asked to respond to the charges, Romney spokeswoman Amanda Henneberg said, "Governor Romney has a demonstrated record of strongly supporting our veterans."

[See the latest political cartoons.]

"The Obama campaign's weak and misleading attacks are a desperate attempt to distract from President Obama's failure to keep faith with those who have defended our freedom," she added. "He is quadrupling healthcare premiums for military retirees, has quadrupled the number of veterans who have to wait months on end to receive their benefits, and created a jobs environment that has put a staggering 20.2 percent of our young returning veterans out of work."

The statement did not address the charges from the Obama campaign regarding Romney's history on funding for veteran programs.

Asked about the extended waits that many veterans have experienced when trying to obtain their benefits, Diamond said the Obama administration has had to cope with a backlog carried over from the George W. Bush administration and claimed at the time the VA was "woefully underfunded." Under the Obama administration, veterans have seen healthcare premium increases.

The battle for veteran votes will be most heated in swing states like Florida and New Hampshire, which boast a high percentage of veterans in the population.

Rebekah Metzler is a political writer for U.S. News & World Report. You can contact her at rmetzler@usnews.com or follow her on Twitter.

Tags:
veterans,
2012 presidential election,
Barack Obama,
Mitt Romney

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Please read this. I wrote it awhile back. Sadly, it is all true.

On August 6, 2011, a U.S. CH-47 Chinook helicopter was shot down in Afghanistan, killing everyone on board. It was the worst single-incident loss of American life since the start of the war, with 30 American service members killed, 22 of them Navy SEALs.

Three days later the bereaved families gathered at Dover Air Force Base for the solemn Dignified Transfer of remains, “to honor those who have given their lives in service of our country” upon their final return home. Regarding media coverage, the families together, as per SECDEF policy, reached a decision and notified the Pentagon they did not consent to having media present, and that no images be released or made public. The Pentagon delivered their decision to the president himself...who then disregarded it.

In fact, President Obama had photographer Peter Souza accompany him and had reelection campaign pictures taken of himself saluting caskets...that he would exclude.

As documented, President Obama used the offending image at least twice, making it a White House Photo of the Day, despite the controversy and public outcry then. And last December, he used the same “Saluting Obama” image -- taken for caskets containing the remains of those who died in Afghanistan -- and inserted into a campaign video he calls “Ending the War in Iraq: A Promise Kept”. It appears at the 2:08 mark.

When asked about public distribution of the image, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said the picture was carefully taken so that it did not show the cases containing remains. In other words, President Obama -- wanting that picture of himself for both his legacy and political campaign -- doubled down on his abject disregard for the military and wishes of the bereaved families by making the image public and using their CASKETS AS PROPS.

My opinion follows... As an American, I cannot fathom a Commander-in-Chief acting or even thinking like that. In my humble opinion, I find what President Obama did to be morally repugnant and absolutely disgraceful.

Thank you for taking the time to read this.

Sincerely,

an American citizen and U.S. Navy Veteran

JoeKidd of CA 2:22PM July 20, 2012

So let me get this straight!

This is the same Jerk that said the following;

The President admitted that he was puzzled by the magnitude of the opposition to his proposal.

"Look, it's an all volunteer force," Obama complained.

"Nobody made these guys go to war.

They had to have known and accepted the risks.

Now they whine about bearing the costs of their choice? It doesn't compute.."

"I thought these were people who were proud to sacrifice for their country, "Obama continued,

"I wasn't asking for blood, just money.

With the country facing the worst financial crisis in its history, I'd have thought that the patriotic thing to do

would be to try to help reduce the nation's deficit... I guess I underestimated the selfishness of some of my fellow Americans.

He can kiss my Red White and Blue Butt

Mr. Brian Heise MM1/SS USNR Ret of TN 1:52PM May 21, 2012

We Veterans see the complete disregard for our brothers. Don't think that we are so petty that increasing a few programs and to buy our votes will work. In fact you can stick your programs. What I care about is our fallen bother a Marine killed standing guard on our border by a gun you criminals put in the narco-terrorists hands on sovereign American soil. Yet you do nothing but cover it up. Disgraceful heads should role, yet nothing's benn done, appaulling. You can count on Veterans voting this poser out in November. Semper Fi!

Workhorse 95 of AL 1:44AM May 18, 2012

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