This should be the LAST word on Kerry and the troops

[The Truffle]

The Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America have ranked our senators and congresscritters according to how they vote on legislation affecting American soldiers, veterans, and military families.

Kerry received a B from the IAVA, indicating a good voting records.

More here:

http://capwiz.com/iava/bio/?id=298&lvl=C&chamber=S

And here is a breakdown of how he voted:

http://capwiz.com/iava/bio/keyvotes/?id=298&lvl=C

This should be the last word on whether or not he supports the troops.

[Diane R]

1. Bravo. Recommending.

[Redstone]

2. Ah, but what the TROOPS think doesn't matter to the repubs.

They simply do not give a fuck.

But thanks for posting that anyway; it's good material to read.

Redstone

[The Truffle]

4. McCain's rating is pathetic

The war hero got a D. Pitiful.

[Brundle_Fly]

11. ALLEN GOT A D+ HAHAHA

[youthere]

3. kick

[karynnj]

5. Also note his score is artificially lower as a NV counts as

a negative, rather than something less - so all the 2004 NV votes pull down an excellent record. (Like most Presidential candidates Kerry missed votes that Daschle knew were not close.

[MGD]

6. The troops seem to be unimpressed with Kerry on all fronts regardless of his support for them.

Of course, this does appear to be a handfull of pogues speaking for a majority without an equivalent right to voice their opinions.

[rockymountaindem]

7. An earlier thread indicated that photo was photoshopped

Note the railcar in the background that says "Tex" on it. The other people were talking about pixel ratios, but I'm not that technically inclined.

[bilgewaterbill]

8. That's not a railcar in the background.

It's a container. This pic is a killer. Kerry will never be President. He F'd this up big time.

[rockymountaindem]

9. Whatever. Go look for that thread if you want

Kerry didn't mess up a thing except forgetting one word of a joke that he's told probably dozens of times throughout this long campaign. If that's a big enough slip-up, then nobody's worthy to be President.

[MGD]

12. I agree with you but I think the military will never support him despite his support for them

You would have to be dumber than a box of hammers if you believe that Kerry would purposely insult soldiers ever let alone a week before an election. Unfortunately, according to many sources, no less than 25% of Americans are, in fact, dumber than a box of hammers.

[karynnj]

18. Which Democrat would they support?

Other than Clark I think they would be pretty low on all of them. the millitary didn't like Bill and he was elected - I doubt they would like his wife. Kerry might actually do better than her with them.

[MGD]

20. There will always be some military members who will vote Democrat

but I think their numbers will always be disproportionately lower than in the general population. The officers deployed to combat zones are making mad cash so they're not overly enthused about having the money tits run dry. The memory of many prematurely ended military careers during the Clinon admin. still sours a lot of views too. The military is, by and large, a bastion of conservatism and will always be.

[bilgewaterbill]

14. Kerry apologized when he shouldn't have.

He sounded like Tony Snow. He should've stayed on the attack. It was working except for the chickenshit leadership. I'm just saying that the picture is not of a railcar. It is an ocean-going container. We use them to ship overseas in my job.

[MGD]

10. That isn't a rail car. Well...it is rail transportable; however, more accurately, it is a "CONEX"

which is the container used to transport large amounts of military equipment to far away places. Lord knows, I loaded my gear up on enough of them to know. The TEX is probably part of "Texas" and is a reference to the manufacturer of the CONEX. CONEX containers are stored in designated areas at military bases in large numbers and the one there in the picture looks perfectly appropriate to me. I don't know about pixel ratios but, if I were to bet on it, I would bet that the photo is real.

[BrotherBuzz]

15. Where do suppose the photo was taken?

[MGD]

21. Iraq. I would need to blow up the shoulder patch and/or the vehicle identification #s to be more

specific.

Edit: they are obviously a bunch of pogue REMFs (rear echelon mother-fuckers) however. Their combat pay comes with less of a risk so the war makes a little more sense to them.

[BrotherBuzz]

23. Minnesota guardsmen stationed in Talil

Without citing sources, ABC News in Washington said the photograph was taken in Talil, several hundred miles south of Baghdad, where members of the unit are located. They are member of The 1st Brigade, 34th Infantry Division.

[MGD]

24. I suspected they were probably guardsmen or reservists as the patch

wasn't imediately obvious. I'm pretty sure the Hatch act makes their behavior illegal too as they are on duty and wearing official uniforms. Someone arrest those fools. Yeah right.

http://www.osc.gov/ha_fed.htm

[rockymountaindem]

16. Ok, I guess I'm wrong about that

but the people who did a more technical analysis about pixel numbers and shading etc. had me convinced. I've been trying to find that thread for ten minutes but I can't. Anyway, I'm not of the opinion that's a real picture.

[BrotherBuzz]

17. That thread was mysteriously scrubbed...

and I have no explanation why it fell into the dark memory hole. :shrug:

[rockymountaindem]

19. Huh... really?

That's an odd one. I'm glad you saw it though

[Brundle_Fly]

13. been searching this site for 10 mins

and I cant find a dem under B and repukes have pretty much D average.

[Pool Hall Ace]

22. My Democratic congressman got an A!

My senators (Burr and Dole) got an F and D-, respectively.

But they're Republicans, so they're pro-military! :crazy: