Military Donations Favor Obama Over McCain
By anniepa
@anniepa (27955)
United States
August 15, 2008 5:14pm CST
I must admit this even surprised me! Not so much that more have donated to Obama over McCain but that it's by a rate of SIX to ONE!
http://caffertyfile.blogs.cnn.com/
Excerpt (from CNN's Jack Cafferty):
When it comes to the money race, it appears Barack Obama is ahead on the battlefield. Members of the military are donating more money to Obama than to the military man John McCain. A lot more money.
A nonpartisan organization called the “Center for Responsive Politics” reports U.S. troops serving abroad have given almost six times as much money to the Democrat Obama as they have to the Republican McCain.
These are pretty shocking results when you consider that historically military donations favor the Republican. Also, McCain is a decorated war hero who spent almost 5 years as a POW in Vietnam. He graduated from the U-S Naval Academy and was a naval aviator for 22 years. His military experience is a big part of his candidacy. Obama has never served a day in the military.
It might just mean that Obama’s message of being against the war in Iraq is resonating with the people who have been called on to fight it. Obama says he would pull out all combat troops from Iraq within 16 months.
McCain has been a staunch supporter of the war and insists the U.S. will only withdraw troops when the conditions on the ground are right. At one point, McCain suggested the United States could be in Iraq for 100 years.
End of excerpt.
Here you can read some comments to this blog:
http://caffertyfile.blogs.cnn.com/2008/08/15/why-do-military-donations-favor-obama-over-mccain/#comments
From reading many of these comments and hearing those that Cafferty read on-air a few moments ago, all of which were from current members of the military or veterans, it seems that many of those who are currently serving are seeing first hand what's going on and they've come to the conclusion that despite McCain's military history they would rather have a new Commander-In-Chief with no military experience over him. They and their veteran counterparts and their family have seen how much McCain has supported veterans and they don't seem to like what they've seen.
Any comments? (Hopefully respectful ones...)
Annie
4 people like this
10 responses
@ZephyrSun (7381)
• United States
16 Aug 08
I find it interesting to say the least. But, wasn't there some issues with McCain being against GI Bills and other veterans benefits? I haven't really kept up on his voting record since I am not really interested in voting for him. And it probably wasn't the best thing for him to say about being in Iraq for another 100 years, lets face it the men and women over there aren't really having a great vacation away from all of their problems, and to hear that he is ok with no end in sight it probably scared and pi$$ed them off. But hey that's just my opinion.
3 people like this
@missybal (4489)
• United States
16 Aug 08
Please don't attack me on this one but in reference to the G.I. Bill and other veteran benefits... I realize that these men and woman fight for our freedom and some have seen some really bad things and lives have been lost, but they signed up for the job. The veterans already enjoy a great deal more benefits than a lot of American's. I fully support that the G.I. Bill should not be raised. And my husband is military and going back to college for his BA in hopes of becoming an officer. The G.I. Bill already gives a lot and a lot of colleges give up to 15% discounts to Military members and their families. On top of that they may still qualify for Tuition Assistance and may try for various grants and all. My grandfather only served in the military for 3 years. He goes to a VA hospital for all his needs and has no problem with it even know he does have a wait but that's what you get for free. Veterans and their families even get discounts on auto insurance and payless shoe stores, and so much else. Where does it end? This is funding for an issolated group of people who already get an education on career skills and job security. I know my husband is getting a paycheck unlike may relatives I've seen loosing jobs.
As far as McCain and the 100 years in Iraq. He said this... "we’ve been in Japan for 60 years. We’ve been in South Korea 50 years or so. That would be fine with me. As long as Americans are not being injured or harmed or wounded or killed. That’s fine with me, I hope that would be fine with you, if we maintain a presence in a very volatile part of the world where Al Queada is training and equipping and recruiting and motivating people every single day."
I agree, the reason that things haven't gone back to the way they were before in these places is because we were there making our presence known. He is not saying it will always be war in fact Iraq gets better everyday. We have bases all over the world. My husband hopes to be going to Austrailia sometime in his military career.
3 people like this
@anniepa (27955)
• United States
16 Aug 08
McCain hasn't been at all the friend of the veteran and military men and women his camp and supporters would lead us to believe. I'm going to do some more thorough research on his record through the years and I may post a discussion on it when I'm done but I know he opposed the new G.I Bill and he'd fought against searching for POW/MIA's in Vietnam years ago. I just read today, and I intend to check it out more thoroughly, that he'd been against wounded soldiers at Walter Reed not having to pay their own phone bills. Stay tuned!
Annie
2 people like this
@ZephyrSun (7381)
• United States
16 Aug 08
I was pretty surprised to read in my paper that McCain didn't show up for the wire tapping vote but supported the bill just like Obama did. I'll be waiting for the discussion lol
3 people like this
@morethanamolehill (1586)
• United States
17 Aug 08
This rather surpises me too. But in a way it doesn't. I wouldn't assume, that this about the war so much as an Indictment of McCain. The whole "WAR HERO" image doesn't fly with many in the military. Many think he sold out his country while he was being held. And while they won't come out and call him a traitor, It's going to be difficult to vote for him. I think this is going to be an "Anybody but Obama" Election just like 04 was about "Anybody but Bush". It's rather sad really.
I'm reading a book about the life and writings of the great Will Rogers. As I read his words from the 20's and 30's, I see how little has changed since then. He talks about illegal immigration, the fact that Politicians get elected and then care more about getting re elected than running the country, Etc. Here is a quote I found that I wholeheartedly agree with.
"If we didn't have two parties, we would all settle on the best men and things would run fine. But as it is, we settle on the two worst ones and then fight over them."
He also said that, "The country runs in spite of the two parties; in fact parties are the biggest handicaps we have to contend with."
In fact this give me an Idea for a new discussion. check my page for it.
Rogers was a Democrat.
3 people like this
@anniepa (27955)
• United States
18 Aug 08
I see your response posted twice also. Hey, don't sweat the small stuff, I've had it happen to me and I see it all the time.
Thank you for a GREAT response. See, I'll bet you thought we didn't agree on anything, didn't you? Well, I don't mind for a second admitting that I agree with everything you wrote here. I think you've made an excellent point in your first comments about the troops opinions of McCain; I honestly hadn't thought about it that way but you sure might have something there.
As for Will Rogers, I couldn't agree more when you referred to him as "great". There are so many things he said years ago that are still true today, even more so. I LOVE this one - "If we didn't have two parties, we would all settle on the best men and things would run fine. But as it is, we settle on the two worst ones and then fight over them." That is the one thing I think is good about so many more young people becoming engaged in the political process this year and I hope even those who aren't too happy that many of the young ones support Obama appreciate the "big picture" here; most of the younger kids (sorry, I'm almost 56 so they're kids even if they are old enough to vote...lol) aren't that much into "party politics" so I honestly think by the time they reach my age the two major parties might not be so "major". Maybe we'll actually get what Rogers alluded to!
Annie
2 people like this
@morethanamolehill (1586)
• United States
18 Aug 08
Hokey smokes what is the world coming to! I guess all we needed was a common enemy!xD
Cheers.
3 people like this
@morethanamolehill (1586)
• United States
17 Aug 08
I don't know how that happened, I was trying to upload that picture to another discussion.
3 people like this
@Taskr36 (13963)
• United States
16 Aug 08
That's really odd. I have to wonder if there were errors in their study. Despite this, I really think McCain will win the majority of military votes. All the friends I have that are currently serving in the military are republicans. None of them favor Obama. Obviously I'm working with a small sampling of the military so that's not going to be thoroughly representative.
I just can't imagine Obama being the one to break the trend of the military voting republican. Even Bob Dole got the majority of military votes and he ran an extremely weak campaign. John Kerry wanted to end the war in Iraq AND he was a war hero yet he didn't get the majority of the military vote. I'm not sure how much the swift boat garbage had to do with that though.
3 people like this
@anniepa (27955)
• United States
16 Aug 08
As I said, of the people I know in the military (most of them relatives) none are Republicans and not one single member of our extended family has said they're going to vote for McCain. I'm pretty sure the swift boat crap had everything to do with Kerry's loss of the military vote.
Annie
2 people like this
@snowy22315 (208897)
• United States
16 Aug 08
My cousins who is a career military officer does not favor MCcain. He does not think McCain wants strong borders. He said it is necessary for the US to have strong borders. I think also the military is afraid if McCain is elected the US military policies will not change that much. I think the military has been stretched way too thin under President Bush.
3 people like this
@anniepa (27955)
• United States
16 Aug 08
Thanks so much for your response. As I said, I have three nephews in the military. The one, whose son is currently in Afghanistan, has made a career of it and only has a few years to go before he can retire and he may be sent to Iraq in a few months. Anyway, as I said all three, the father and son and my other nephew who is also in Afghanistan have all said the same thing as you said.
Annie
2 people like this
@coffeebeatnik (327)
• Philippines
16 Aug 08
It is a wonder how people think this days.Change is really the only thing permanent in this world.One can never be too sure of himself.With the full knowledge that your comrades will stick to you, you go on only to realize you are all alone.Most of the time,especially in politics because people feel their colleagues do not really represent the change they are rooting for, they go favor the opponent to the utter disbelief of their comrade.End of war is music to the ears be it only verbal yet.
@evanslf (484)
•
15 Aug 08
Very interesting certainly. It seems a bit difficult to believe, how independent is this Center for Responsive Politics? If it is truly independent and its figures are correct, then it is shocking news for McCain, certainly. Maybe US soldiers, who are experiencing war at the sharp end, have rather different views than one would expect.
@anniepa (27955)
• United States
15 Aug 08
From what I've heard of them they are truly independent, although we'll probably hear from some who will dispute this claim...lol. I haven't had time to read through every one of the comments to Cafferty's remarks but those I did read seem to support this study unless it's just that all the "real" military people watch Fox instead of CNN. I'd also seen the Iraq veteran who is active in, and may even be the founder of VoteVets.org on Bill Maher's show several months ago and he said pretty much the same thing, that most of the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan support Obama and this was before the nominations were decided. I know my nephews, two of whom are currently in Afghanistan, are for Obama and they've said most of their buddies are but I know that's only "my word" and many here would no doubt dispute that as well.
Annie
3 people like this
@missybal (4489)
• United States
16 Aug 08
Yes it's true that Obama stating he's going to end the war in Iraq has reached the military members. Unfortunately military members overseas have less access to information on the Candidates for president and the only thing that really reaches them are bullet statements and Obama is very good at bullet statements. The fact of the matter is that Iraq's future and our envolvement in it is already being decided and will be settled before the next president is in office. I've heard many members of the military state they were going to vote for Obama because they thought that he would pull the men out of Afganistan now. The fact is that Obama is in favor of a surge in Afganistan. I have spoken with members of the military who have admitted they know very little about the political candidates but because Obama had used that statement repeatedly I will End the war in Iraq it's what stuck in their minds. Of course it doesn't help that the Republican party took us there in the first place so any Republican candidate is going to be associated with more war.
3 people like this
@elmiko (6630)
• United States
25 Aug 08
Thats very supriseing indeed. That tells you right there that the majority of troops and family of the troops think diffrently about the 2 wars compared to the republican party. They definitly know more personally of whats going out in the battlefield than the politicians no matter where they stand.
1 person likes this
@morethanamolehill (1586)
• United States
17 Aug 08
This rather surpises me too. But in a way it doesn't. I wouldn't assume, that this about the war so much as an Indictment of McCain. The whole "WAR HERO" image doesn't fly with many in the military. Many think he sold out his country while he was being held. And while they won't come out and call him a traitor, It's going to be difficult to vote for him. I think this is going to be an "Anybody but Obama" Election just like 04 was about "Anybody but Bush". It's rather sad really.
I'm reading a book about the life and writings of the great Will Rogers. As I read his words from the 20's and 30's, I see how little has changed since then. He talks about illegal immigration, the fact that Politicians get elected and then care more about getting re elected than running the country, Etc. Here is a quote I found that I wholeheartedly agree with.
"If we didn't have two parties, we would all settle on the best men and things would run fine. But as it is, we settle on the two worst ones and then fight over them."
He also said that, "The country runs in spite of the two parties; in fact parties are the biggest handicaps we have to contend with."
In fact this give me an Idea for a new discussion. check my page for it.
Rogers was a Democrat.
2 people like this
@missybal (4489)
• United States
19 Aug 08
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFbfAqJ4hRM&feature=related
Here is McCain visiting the place that he was tortured in 1985 and talking about what it was like there. Why would he choose not to be released early if he was such a traitor to the U.S.? Even if I was not tortured I'd wouldn't want to stay there under those condition.
3 people like this
@morethanamolehill (1586)
• United States
19 Aug 08
Yeah, that's what I figured. But a lot of people would see them and say they contradict. People who don't understand simple logic.
2 people like this
@calcynic (433)
• United States
19 Aug 08
This whole thing just shoots right over my head. In all my military service, I never met another GI who donated dime one to a political campaign. I never made over $300.00 a month ('69 to '71), and that's counting combat pay. I couldn't see us giving any money to any politician...the only good thing about them showing up on base was the great food we'd get served while they were there. We had to fall in for inspections and stand at attention while some goof without a clue would walk along staring us up and down with no idea what he was looking for or at. We used to save up our farts for when he would get behind us. Honest to God. One strange day we were "surprised" by a visit from President Nixon and his daughter, Tricia. We got into dress uniforms and fell in for inspection. We figured that, him being a Navy combat veteran, he would do a pretty decent review. Nope...it just got creepy weird. Nixon walked slowly and unsteadily and smelled like whiskey and Aqua Velva. He looked mostly at the ground ahead of him, and when he looked at the ranks, it was like he was staring through us. Tricia was the whitest woman, that day, that I had ever seen. She was pale, like she was sick or was kept in the attic, and her eyes were vacuous like she was on Quaaludes or something. Our whole company was creeped out. Who would want to pay these goofs to be our bosses?
2 people like this
