"Support the troops!" "Care for the VETS!" and yet, here we are. The Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America is a reasonably non-partisan group and has published a legislative score care of its legislative lobbying and then looked who voted for what. Crusader AXE was not surprised at the lousy scores posted by lots of Republicans, but was kind of amazed at the extent of the correlation. In Arizona, for example, both Senators scored D. Really, John McCain. Linsdsey Graham scored a C and his buddy, Mr. Teaparty DeMint scored a solid F. Mitch McConnell and Jim Bunning both scored Ds. Only 3 of the 57 Democrats posted a score below a C in the Senate was Russ Feingold (who manages to piss everybody off), Carl Levin, and Arlen Specter who was a Democrat for about 60% of this congress.
It would be interesting to compare the ratings of the Senators in the IAVA poll against a more right wing organization. It's hard to be an upstart organization for Vets and be totally nonpartisan but IAVA tries. But, take the Club for Growth -- they rank people by their adherance to their ideology. Since Vets Download Comparison of Senators , CFG -IAVA does it on a more specific set of issues, we might see more mix than perhaps between other rankings. Well, we don't...Of the people with the top scores from the Club for Growth, all were Republicans, 1-15. Of the bottom scores, 86-100, all were Democrat, except Arlen Spector who was a Republican since Nixon. Four of the Club for Growth's folks top folks were Vets; four of the Club for Growth's bottom folks were Vets. One of the bottom 15 for the Club was rated by the IAVA as INC; however, Senator Al Franken of Minnesota is trending toward a B, and has voted with the Vets on 6 of 9 issues.
The lowest score of the Club for Growth's Top Performers was 70.16; the highest score for the bottom 15 was 3.01. Conversely, the highest score from IAVA for a Club for Growth Top Performer was C; two of the bottom 15 were rated C by the IAVA, two were rated A and the remainder were rated B. A couple of other interesting trends: one Democrat in a tough race went from an A+ rating to an A (Barbara Boxer) while another went from an A to an A+ (Blanche Lincoln).
Another interesting trend is the VOTE FOR/VOTE AGAINST TOTALS from the IAVA. In the House, I looked for names I'd recognize on the lists. Since Nancy Pelosi doesn't vote as Speaker of the House unless there is a tie, I really don't know a lot of the Democratic House Members. So, this is totally subjective and perhaps odd, but I would guess that the vast majority of the Democratic Members were listed as C or higher. In the House, since they babble more than Democrats in the Senate, I was kind of stunned at the Republicans on the list that IAVA explains as "These legislators must improve their voting records if they are to legitimately claim that they support Iraq and Afghanistan veterans." Such great patriots as Michelle Bachmann, John Boehner, Eric Cantor, Joe Barton, Roy Blunt, Dan Burton, Darrell Issa, Ron Paul Jean Schmidt and Louis Gomhert all claim to totally for Veterans and the Troops, but scored an F. Not a D, but an F. Now, a few Dems are probably sprinkled in here, I suspect but the only one I recognized was John Conyers of Michigan, who is a somewhat unrepentant leftist. Still...aren't these the people talking about impeaching the Senate and supporting oddball candidates who wander around in Nazi uniforms, worrying about GAYS, GODS, GUNS and "unAmerican congressional members," and so on? Oh, and apologizing to BP? Really -- the district that Joe Barton represents in Texas bleeds RED, WHITE and BLUE as well as Gray and AGGIE Maroon. Joe Barton hates the troops...And, Ron Paul? Seriously...Ron Paul? At least he's consistent. Not unlike Conyers and Feingold, he's not going to pander to a voting group but a D? On Vets issues?
Similar and starker in the Senate. There are nine members of the IAVA's A Team, defined by IAVA as "These legislators showed a consistent commitment to support our troops. On behalf of all veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, we say thank you." All 9 are Democrats, and several -- Boxer, Lincoln and Wyden are in tough to relatively tough races. Some of these folks have nothing to gain electorally by pushing a pro-Veterans agenda. Christin Gillabrand and Chuck Schumer are from New York; the big concentration of veterans in New York are upstate and as a dumbass Irish guy from Syracuse, I know the liklihood of people in upstate going overwhelmingly for the Democrats. Gillabrand is not having a hard time against her opponent, but this is not what's going to put her over the top.
Now, the Senate's D team is really interesting: Thirty-three members, and 32 of them are Republicans. Russ Feingold is a contrarian asshole, and if he loses, he loses. The Democrats need more party unity, and voting against the Reform Bill because it wouldn't require the appointment of Elliot Spitzer as Witchhunter Profundis with an auxillary of Brandeis Law Students as his sans coulettes for Wall Street showed that he's too pure for the world. And, it's consistent -- he's opposed to all entitlements, even those earned by blood. Fuck him. On the other hand, the Republicans... All those great patriots like Saxby Chambliss who won his seat from a Max Cleland by lying, innuendo and basically pissing on those of us who wore the uniform of this country; Lamar Alexander who took Al Gore's old seat in 2000 and used to look like a moderate Republican. Now, of course, that's a very endangered species. The two Senators from Arizona and the two from Texas are waltzing across the bridge of sighs; Kyl is just a rightwing jerk but McCain, Cornyn and Hutchinson claim strong patriotic, pro-troop, pro-veteran credentials. Well, you can claim whatever you want to; it's up to voters to pay attention. They probably won't but...maybe they will. I can understand Jeff Sessions place here, since a lot of Veterans are people of color, and he's pretty consistently shown he's not in love with people of color, except Clarence Thomas. He's also joined by his leader, Mitch McConnell and Sessions' (the temptation to type Secessions was extreme, but I managed to avoid the pun!) partner from ALADAMNBAMA, Richard Shelby. Of course, that favorite son of the south, John Thune of South Dakota is there...I know that the plains states have a relatively high proportion of veterans so this makes little sense, except he's counting on those farm boys as either being unable to read and count -- fingers and toes having been lost at Inchon or shot off in other conflicts over the years -- or he just plans to lie. Of course, the saints -- Coburn and Imhofe of Oklahoma (which also has a lot of Vets, what the hell is wrong with us? and our organizations? Are we stupid? One must wonder...)are joined by the sinners Ensign and Vitter.
I can dislike Feingold's position and still say that if he's defeated it will on balance be a bad thing; I can admire Ron Paul's attitude toward the Federal Government even though I don't agree with it and respect his consistancy. But, the overwhelming majority of these assholes are the guys who were upset when President Obama didn't wear a Flag lapel pin, and love nothing more than going to a Tea Party Rally and being cheered by folks who think that these guys are for them. They're not. They never have been. They never will be. And, it's up to us to help our deranged brothers and sisters to see the light.
Hey, if you think it makes sense to cut consumer protections and aid to Veterans, the aged and children, more power to you. Goddamn it, campaign on that. However, saying you're for liberty while wanting to cut Social Security benefits or VA medical care is simply impossible. Like an atheist going to Mass, Temple and the Mosque you're nothing more than a goddamned hypocrite. And, maybe someday we'll wake up...
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