Was it pay back?

[ProSense]

August 31, 2006
Kerry on Bush at American Legion: America Less Safe, More Divided Because of Failed Policies

For Immediate Release

"America's veterans and American troops don't need misleading speeches, they need the President to finally tell it straight and finally change course in the civil war in Iraq. By any measure, five years after 9/11, America is less safe and more divided because of President Bush and Secretary Rumsfeld. Enough with slogans and staged speeches calculated to divide here at home while things get worse in Iraq, Afghanistan, and across the Middle East. No more rhetoric while Osama bin Laden is on the loose, homeland security is under funded and our borders are porous. No more speeches from an administration that has shortchanged our soldiers and allowed a $1 billion shortfall in our veterans' health care budget. We need leadership that is better at destroying terrorists than it is at talking about terror for political gain."

http://www.johnkerry.com/news/releases/release.html?id=5

[ProSense]

1. First the

American Legion and now the VFW (endorsed Duckworth's opponent; posted in GD-P)! I believe the RW in now influencing these organizations.

[ProSense]

2. Come on!

Whoever is running this is a RW hack, and it didn't start with Kerry:

Tickets for the airport arrival were distributed by the governor's office and members of Utah's congressional delegation to counter anti-war demonstrations attracting attention elsewhere in the city. The airport crowd was lit with flood lights and given signs that said "Utah Loves President Bush," generating a campaign rally atmosphere.

But not everyone in this conservative state supports the president. Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson, a Democrat, led thousands of anti-Bush demonstrators on a march through the city Wednesday. He called Bush a "dishonest, warmongering, human-rights-violating president."

Anderson's protest created waves at the pro-Bush American Legion, which refused to extend the customary invitation to the host city's mayor to deliver the welcoming address. No anti-war speakers or nationally prominent Democrats were scheduled to speak at the Legion's convention, which attracted at least 12,000 veterans. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld addressed the group earlier this week.

Bush also planned to talk about Iran, which faces a Thursday deadline to freeze uranium enrichment or face sanctions by the U.N. Security Council.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-08-30-bush-war_x.htm?csp=34

American Legion to Sen. Kerry: Apologize Now

INDIANAPOLIS, October 31, 2006 - The National Commander of The American Legion called on Sen. John Kerry to apologize for suggesting that American troops in Iraq are uneducated.

“As a constituent of Senator Kerry’s I am disappointed. As leader of The American Legion, I am outraged,” said National Commander Paul A. Morin. “A generation ago, Sen. Kerry slandered his comrades in Vietnam by saying that they were rapists and murderers. It wasn’t true then and his warped view of today’s heroes isn’t true now.”

While addressing a group of college students at a campaign rally in Pasadena, CA., Monday, Kerry suggested that they receive an education or “if you don’t, you’ll get stuck in Iraq.”

“While The American Legion shares the senator’s appreciation for education, the troops in Iraq represent the most sophisticated, technologically superior military that the world has ever seen,” Morin said. “I think there is a thing or two that they could teach most college professors and campus elitists about the way the world works.

“And while we are on the topic of education, why doesn’t the senator and his comrades in Congress improve the GI Bill so all of today’s military members – reserves and guard included – can achieve the educational aspirations that the senator so highly values?” Morin said. “The senator’s false and outrageous attack was over-the-top and he should apologize now.”

The 2.7-million member American Legion, www.legion.org, is the nation’s largest veterans organization.

[karynnj]

3. This one sentence says it all

"A generation ago, Sen. Kerry slandered his comrades in Vietnam by saying that they were rapists and murderers." WThis guy is unwilling to accept the truth - it happened.


"And while we are on the topic of education, why doesn’t the senator and his comrades in Congress improve the GI Bill so all of today’s military members – reserves and guard included – can achieve the educational aspirations that the senator so highly values?”

Wasn't this in Kerry's 04 Veteran's rights - It is NOT Kerry and the Democrats who cut the VA budget and benefits. Kerry can't control the Republicans that vote this down.