I feel like crying: VFW endorses Duckworth's never served

[cali]

opponent. That just makes me ill for Tammy Duckworth. She loses her legs in a foreign war and those bastards endorse some guy who never even served in the military. Disgusting.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2006/11/03/politics/p123618S44.DTL

[Daphne08]

1. That is disgusting! n/t

[NJCher]

2. I wish you were kidding

But I know you're not.

What on earth could they be thinking? Maybe we should write a letter and ask for an explanation.





Cher

[blm]

12. I called and let them have it.

.

[bigtree]

18. .

:kick:

[GreenPartyVoter]

23. Good for you :^)

[tblue]

34. Good idea. We should all call or write. Here's the contact info:

http://www.vfw.org/index.cfm?fa=misc.contact&tok=1

I am not a VFW, but my Dad was. And he would be having a cow over this. This is so revolting, and I think it could be more than a little racist, too. She's an Asian American, and I guess, despite all her service and sacrifice, she just wasn't good enough, next to a good old boy. That is so effin unAmerican!

[Red Zelda]

3. There is no logic

to things like that. Like any vets who support *

[elehhhhna]

31. Big backlash brewing! Here's the money quote:

"Members of VFW posts within the district said at Duckworth's news conference that their posts were never contacted by anyone about endorsing either candidate."

AND:

The endorsement also caught Duckworth by surprise. Flanked by more than 20 veterans at a hastily called press conference, Duckworth said she was never contacted by the organization or asked to fill out a questionnaire, which typically happens when organizations decide who they want to endorse.

"I think it's unfortunate they did this," said Duckworth, a former Army Black Hawk helicopter pilot who lost both legs when her aircraft was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade.


http://www.belleville.com/mld/belleville/news/politics/15923240.htm

[burythehatchet]

38. on a slightly unrelated note

I'm totally in love with Tammy Duckworth. Is she married?

[Carla in Ca]

52. Here is a diary from DailyKos...

"The Botched Endorsement"

<http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/11/3/181535/217>

[AndyA]

4. It's a disgrace that they would do such a thing.

They should be ashamed. I've lost some respect for them. I guess they've forgotten what it's all about to serve their country. They are now doing their country a DISSERVICE by endorsing Duckworth's opponent.

[Debi]

5. How crazy is that?

So sad that the VFW will blindly follow the BFEE and ignore someone who would vote FOR them and their needs.

[Disturbed]

7. Why did they do that?

Because most of them are RWing Assholes.

[madokie]

6. If I was to join the vfw around here I would be getting in a fight ever time

I went around them. from what I've seen they are pretty much a lock step right wing group

[lpbk2713]

8. They are no longer a veteran's organization.

Obviously they are a tool of BFEE.

I never wanted anything to do with them anyway, now I know I'm justified.

USN 65 - 69.

[bmbmd]

43. Failure to admit that they are wrong.

They are wrong, have been wrong since 11/2000, especially wrong since 9/12/01-endorsing Duckworth would have been evidence that they recognized their error. They love their party more than their country, and their own puffed-up infallibility more than anything.
Shame indeed.

[Tempest]

9. The VFW didn't endorse the Repug

The political committee did.

According to reports, VFW members are royally pissed.

[cali]

14. I should have mentioned that it was the

political action committee. Nevertheless, that hardly makes it any better. That is the political arm of the VFW.

[lpbk2713]

20. Would the decision not have to be endorsed by their Executive Committee?

And does not the Executive Committee (in theory) speak for the entire organization?


I could be wrong but it seems like that would be the case.

[Tempest]

35. It doesn't say anything about the executive committee

But it appears to be just the political action committee's decision.

[LSK]

10. she was talking to some veterans group last Sunday

Dont know who thou.

[JI7]

11. this is not a surprise, the VFW and American Legion are pretty much Republican

at the very least they should not have endorsed at all. but this really shows their partisan side.

i know of many members in the VFW who complain about this.

[texasleo]

13. fuck that shit!

[sarge43]

15. Some of it is deep dish hostility toward servicewomen,

especially among the older types. As one AF woman colonel once said, "This isn't a white, male, Anglo-Saxon Air Force; it's just run that way." The same, more or less, applies to the VFW. Plus, the VFW has made its political leanings pretty clear.

[bullwinkle428]

16. The VFW just jumped the shark...

...how absolutely pathetic and inexcusable an action is this?

[bigtree]

17. goddamn amazing

and sad

[TheCowsCameHome]

19. The voters could of Illinois could take care of that stupid endorsement

And I hope they will.

[valerief]

21. Obviously the VFW is no longer controlled by real Veterans. nt

[datadiva]

22. I emailed the Washington office

and told them my father was turning over in his grave. That he would be ashamed of them.

[specimenfred1984]

24. Ever go into a VFW?

In the D.C., Maryland, VA area they are holes for alcoholics to waste their lives away in.

[Beausoir]

28. Same in MN. Bleak, dark and very sad places.

[acmejack]

30. Cheap drinks.

The only place to get a mixed drink in a lot places. In my rural area of Texas that was the case until very recently when liquor by the drink passed. It wasn't all that long ago places like that were the only place one could even get a beer. That was the deal with private clubs such as the Legion, the elks, etc.

[LonelyLRLiberal]

32. Same in Arkansas - just a private club in dry counties

very depressing to go into. Lots of drunks - and I'd bet my life 99% believe women should not be allowed in the military except as nurses or such.

[Monkeyman]

25. This Org Vice Commander works for Roskam

He is hard core Replublican. We got into to it at Navy Pier. We where there when they refused to let Tammy talk to the vets. Head up Buy Laws say they cannot be political report them

[smoogatz]

26. Newsflash:

The VFW has always been a rightwing organization. That's why my father refused to join.

[acmejack]

27. I quit all those fascist organizations a few years ago.

I had quit attending & really having anything to do with them other than maintaining membership, since they were "Veterans Organizations". When all of this pontificating about the incorrectness of criticizing the Bozo in Chief and endorsing only Republiclowns started occurring, I was through.

That's how it is now. Screw the VFW. Likewise the American Legion.

[BuyingThyme]

36. Good for you.

[elehhhhna]

29. If my Step-FIL hears this he'll flip.

Hope he doesn't.

[indepat]

33. VeffingW?

[Cass]

37. That's a disgrace. nt

[Blue_In_AK]

39. That's very sad...

We had a similar thing here, the Alaska Federation of Natives informally endorsing Don Young over Diane Benson, a Tlingit woman. Some things just don't make any sense.

[Elwood P Dowd]

40. I quite the American Legion in the 70's.

My father and uncles slowly distanced themselves from both the Legion and the VFW.

The last time I visited a VFW, it reminded me of Archie Bunker's bar - a bunch of fat old racists, none of which had an IQ over 100.

[Generic Other]

41. Anyone think there's a wee bit of racism in the their behavior?

I am an Asian American woman and I say yes.

[lpbk2713]

44. It wouldn't surprise me.

And the sexism angle would just sweeten the pot for them.

[hvn_nbr_2]

42. VFW = Veteran Foreign Warmongers

That's where old John Birchers go to shrivel up before they die. American Legion is the same.

I'm a vet and have delighted in throwing their mailings in the trash for over thirty years now. I've had at least 15 addresses since I got out and they keep tracking me down and inviting me to join.

[Mr_Spock]

45. VFW's I go to are filled with grumpy old RW bigots

I can't stand the place. I can't say they are like that everywhere, but even here in the liberal NE, it's RW central.

[blue cat]

46. I found this diary on Kos on same

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/11/3/185510/918

[rodeodance]

47. i really can not even try to figure people anymore!

[raysr]

48. Cause she's a she.

[upi402]

49. where the hell is sanity and reason

WTF happened here?

oh yeah, media propaganda turned us into good Germans.

DOH!

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

50. VFW doesn't recognize those in wars "we lost"

They've always treated the Vietnam vets like shit and looked on them with disappointment because they "lost it for America". Sadly, the troops coming back from Iraq will get the same short shrift.

[upi402]

51. Korea, Viet Nam, Afghanistan lately, Iraq obviously,

Somalia too kinda in a way;
God is on our side
:sarcasm:

[wisteria]

53. They must be paid off by the administration. n/t