Bush lauded by Medal of Honor winners

[hightime]

WASHINGTON, July 17 (UPI) -- The Bush campaign released an open letter to veterans Saturday signed by 21 Congressional Medal of Honor winners endorsing Bush's re-election.

"We are disturbed," they said, "that John Kerry would try to scare veterans with his false accusations, and we are disappointed in his lack of support for today's troops."

Kerry, they said, has "falsely" attacked the president on the issue of veterans' benefits. "The truth is President Bush has led the way on improving veterans' benefits, supporting our troops and restoring honor and dignity to the White House."

The winners of the nation's highest award for valor also hit hard at Kerry's record, citing the Massachusetts Democrat's as having voted, "against a $1.3 billion increase in veterans health care, skipped votes on concurrent receipt and voted against funding for our troops in Afghanistan and Iraq."

http://interestalert.com/brand/siteia.shtml?Story=st/sn/07170000aaa019ce.upi&Sys=rmmiller&Fid=NATIONAL&Type=News&Filter=National%20News



Thanks to volcanojen

[NC_Nurse]

1. How many Medal of Honor winners are there?

Seems like there's got to be a whole lot more than 21! I bet that's a miniscule percentage of them.

[hightime]

3. 137 surviving recipients of the Congressional Medal of Honor

As far as I can tell

http://www.medalofhonor.com/recipients/index.htm

[Cha]

2. These "medal of honor winners" don't know

shit. My guess is they are major greedy assholes. Could be wrong but I'd be surprised.

[tabasco]

4. Some MOH winners, not all.

Too bad AWOL doesn't have his own glorious military records for the public. He has to rely on some hardcore repub war heroes to prop him up. This isn't all the MOH winners, just the brainwashed ones. I resepect their accomplishments, but these guys need to get a clue, like the rest of the rank & file repubs.

[grytpype]

6. OK, now let's hear from the MOH winners for Kerry!

[NC_Nurse]

5. 21 out of 137 is

about 15%, right? Whoopee!

:eyes:

[The_Casual_Observer]

7. This is pretty low down

It would be one thing to praise chimp, they are more than welcome to do that, as far as they are concerned he is the "president". But it is fairly undignified to sign on to some kind of political smear letter. They can do it if they want, but in my book it looks like they are being taken advantage of, or at least taking advantage of their "Medal of Honor" status.

[hightime]

9. Considering what it takes to earn the MOH, I give them a bye.

I think they have every right to back whatever horse they want in this and any race. I also, however, think it carries as much water as any celebrity. The only difference is I do respect these folks for the personal courage that they have displayed at one time in their lives.

[mbperrin]

8. Why no names?

Not even one name in the article. Seems odd.

[Cocoa]

12. anonymous endorsements

I've always found endorsements by mystery people to be quite useless. But that's just me.

[shockingelk]

10. Text of email

SUBJECT: Medal of Honor Recipients Support President Bush



Dear fellow veterans:

We have listened to Senator Kerry falsely attack President Bush for months over funding for veterans, and it's time to set the record straight.  The truth is President Bush has led the way on improving veterans' benefits, supporting our troops and restoring honor and dignity to the White House.

Since 2001, President Bush has increased veterans funding by over $20 billion, and funding for veterans' health care has increased by 40 percent since he took office.  Funding for veterans has gone up twice as fast under President Bush as it did under President Clinton, and those who accuse the President of cutting funding are simply not being honest with veterans.

Meanwhile, John Kerry voted against a $1.3 billion increase in veterans health care, skipped votes on concurrent receipt and voted against funding for our troops in Afghanistan and Iraq.  And while he talks a good game, Kerry's record shows he is out of the mainstream.  The American Flag symbolizes our ideals, our history and our values.  President Bush shares this belief and supports a Constitutional Amendment banning desecration of the Flag.  John Kerry believes this is "an attack on free speech."

We are disturbed that John Kerry would try to scare veterans with his false accusations, and we are disappointed in his lack of support for today's troops.  Please join us in setting the record straight and showing your support for President Bush -- a leader who has proven his support for those who have served, backs our troops defending our nation and shares our values.

Sincerely,


*The signatures on this letter of Medal of Honor recipients does not denote the support or endorsement of the Congressional Medal of Honor Society

[Fridays Child]

15. Where are their names?

[shockingelk]

18. In original post n/t

[hightime]

22. In the posters defense, I added the names afterwards.

Thanks to superior research by VolcanoJen

[Ducks In A Row]

11. Maybe Bush promised them the benefits he's cutting for the rest

[VolcanoJen]

13. Good info and research in this GD thread, too...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x2012581

:hi:

[CatWoman]

32. Jen

you nailed it!!!

saw your GD post.

you go, girl!!!

[Zorra]

14. There were no Medal of Honor winners named in that article.

Interesting.

Newsflash: AP seeks order to release Bush's military record
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2004/07/17/ap_seeks_order_to_release_bushs_military_record/

Maybe these vets should be concerned about having a chickenhawk pResident, who went AWOL and is not even man enough to let the public see his military records.

Just why is Bu$h hiding those silly old records, anyway? It's not like it's a matter of national security or something.

Do you think there might be something in those records that Bu$h does not want us to know?

Just asking.

[VolcanoJen]

16. Not named in the article, but the list appears on the Bush-Cheney website.

http://www.georgebush.com/News/Read.aspx?ID=2971

[Ready4Change]

17. How many of them served with Bush in combat?

All possible respect to MOH winners, but they can be just as misinformed as anyone else.

[VolcanoJen]

19. Medal of Honor recipients have no business being partisan.

Political parties also have no business recruiting certain Medal of Honor winners for partisan usage and gain. I'm not at all eager to see Kerry engage himself in a pissing contest for Medal of Honor winners... it degrades the Medal, but the Republicans are the ones who are going to float this as a major talking point next week.

I find this entire episode disgusting, and upsetting to veterans everywhere.

[TahitiNut]

31. This behavior cheapens and dishonors the Medal of Honor ..

... which has always been misnamed. It should be called the "Medal of Valor." The heroism demonstrated isn't "honor" it's valor.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

20. I think the Kerry campaign should get in touch with these folks....

...ask them what they know about the benefits in question. And then they need to be told exactly what veteran benefits have been cut, how much they've been cut, and exactly who sponsored the cuts. I doubt seriously if any of these people would have signed this document had they known the actual truth.

Additionally, I think each of these people need to be aware of the exact reasons why Kerry voted against the legislation in question.

These people have been conned...and they will NOT be happy when they find out the truth.

[teryang]

21. Hey, "mission accomplished" "flyboy"

Is yours really bigger than his? Maybe some of theirs will rub off on you.

[Rebellious Republican]

23. I hope Kerry gets in touch with the other 116, to at the very least

condem the other 21 for playing partisan politics. Or even better, get a letter of support.

[Fridays Child]

24. Gary Wetzel: GM at a big real estate co. which has given the repukes...

...tons of dough. Wetzel, alone, has donated $2,000 to Bush, including $1,000 this year.

Same Gary Wetzel or just a coincidence? Hmm.

http://www.opensecrets.org/pubs/btl/rep.html

http://www.opensecrets.org/indivs/search.asp?NumOfThou=0&txtName=wetzel%2C+gary&txtState=%28all+states%29&txtZip=&txtEmploy=&txtCand=&txt2004=Y&txt2002=Y&txt2000=Y&Order=N

[Fridays Child]

25. General Pat Brady got 49 MOH recipients to join his MOH recipients...

...for Bush club, formed back in May. Why did only 21 sign on to this letter? Could it be that more than half of them had a conscience?

http://www.georgewbush.com/News/Read.aspx?ID=2601

[VolcanoJen]

26. EXCELLENT memory and find, Mary Pat!

From May 11, 2004... where are the rest of the 49?

[thecrow]

27. Please note the end of the email letter:

*The signatures on this letter of Medal of Honor recipients does not denote the support or endorsement of the Congressional Medal of Honor Society

[leesa]

28. Well, they've lost their honor now. If they continue to support the

traitor in chief, then they are betraying their country.

[ItsThePeopleStupid]

29. I read he tried to cuts veterans' benefits

I don't think he was successful. * also decided to get rid of a program to tell vets about their benefits, here (read #2):

[Toucano]

30. They're honored for their courage, aren't they?

Not their wisdom.

[Career Prole]

33. According to the most recently updated list of living MOH recipients

at http://www.homeofheroes.com/verify/moh_living_detail.htm
there are 130 recipients still living.
A piddling 16% were willing to sign that letter. If we can assume that they were all asked to sign (would Rove leave that stone unturned?) then we can make yet one more assumption rather confidently, and that is that a whopping 84% of our surviving greatest heroes do not endorse the chickenhawk in the White House.

[The Animator]

34. That's Okay, I've just been informed that Kerry has some new help.

It apears that George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, John Handcock, Abraham Linclon, Franklin Delanor Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy and of all people Ronald Regan, have just risen from their graves to aide John Kerry in the fight to return the people's house back to the people.

In a statement given at Midnight Eastern Standard time, George Washington lampooned the current administration, called into question President Bush's motives for going to Iraq, and demanded that the Patriot Act be repealed. He went on to say that at no time has the current administration ever done anything remotely in line with what the founding fathers wanted for our country.

President Bush was quick to respond with an adress from the oval office...

"My fellow Americans, tonight we have heard many negative things about my administration. I can assure you that none of it is true. George Washington obviously has no idea what the founding fathers of this country wanted when they wrote the... yeah know the, thing.. on the yellow crinkly paper. Well anyway that was like over a hundred years ago.

As for the others, all I can say is that Abraham Lincoln is a freedom hating eleetist democrat, and he's against poor farmers.

Franklin Roosevelt, obviously, never had to deal with an economic downturn like the one we face now, and never experienced a terrible sneak attack like what happened to us on September 11. Plus he can't even walk!

These guys think they can do a better job than me..." Said President Bush with a self assured half-smile. "They are sadly mistaken, not one of them has been to Yale, not one of them could fly a jet, and not one of them had the courage to strike first against a country that was in the process of developing excersise program related activity centers of mass destruction!

Ben Frankiln has never given any thought to public safety, if he had, then he would know that these terrorists hate us for our freedoms. And in order for us to protect ourselves from these threats, we have to make sacrifices. We have to give up a little personal liberty in order to secure us some safety.

They don't know the history of Sadam Hussien's rain of terror, these guys have never had to face an enemies that evil, like Hitler. Well, I have an old saying in Texas, "If you don't study your history... your... yeah see we don't wanna make the mistakes these guys did."


Ben Franklin offered a quick retort following President Bush's remarks. "You're right George, your not making the same mistakes, your making brand new ones."

[farmboxer]

35. Bob Kerry Won The Congressional Medal Of Honor

US Navy Seals, yet Bush and his pals cut him down and called him a coward, unpatriotic, etc.

[0007]

36. Where were these names gleaned from?

They sure didn't appear in the article.

[pfitz59]

37. Endorsing a spineless draft dodger....

Bush* is a COWARD! How can these folks endorse frat boy?

[Endangered Specie]

38. I suspect, that 1000's of people deserve the MOH...

the only problem is, 2 people have to witness this act of outstanding bravery. In the fog of war, Id bet thousands commited acts of incredible bravery and sacrifice, too bad for them, no one was looking.

That being said 21 out of 1000's is even less a percantage.