One Of Our Own Is Going to Take Down McConnell
As an Iraq war veteran, today is pretty exciting for me and all the other vets I talk with. Today, one of our own took the first step towards knocking off Senator Mitch McConnell in 2008. Iraq War Veteran Andrew Horne jumped into the race.
Andrew Horne, who had to step down as a Senior Advisor to VoteVets.org to run this race, not only has a good shot to beat McConnell, he has a tremendous shot. That's got us Iraq veterans pumped because not only will we have a voice in the Senate that comes from our own ranks, but we're also going to take down the guy who is the single most responsible person in Congress for the war in Iraq, as well as the defeat of pro-troop, pro-veteran legislation.
Let's take just a small walk through the record of Mitch McConnell (Warning: Hold your nose):
• He led the filibuster of the Webb-Hagel "Dwell Time" amendment that would have given our exhausted troops as much time at home as in the field.
• He led the all-night filibuster of legislation that would have set us on a real change of course in Iraq, that would have allowed us to give Iraqis more responsibility, while freeing U.S. forces to take on the real threat to America -- al Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
• He consistently worked his side of the aisle against the same veterans he's been fighting tooth and nail to keep in Iraq, beating back amendments to ensure a funding stream for veterans' health care, increase Veterans' medical services by closing corporate tax loopholes, and guarantee full-funding for the Department of Veterans Affairs.
• And, most recently, he callously quipped that we ought not feel too bad about those who died in Iraq, because, afterall, "remember, these are not draftees, these are full-time professional soldiers."
Andrew Horne is going to serve Kentucky well. I've known Andrew for a couple of years now, and he's one of the brightest, toughest guys I've ever encountered. But, more importantly, he's fiercely loyal. At any point over the last couple of years, he could have broken away from the veterans movement and tried to make a name for himself. But, he didn't. He felt a profound sense of responsibility to those he was fighting alongside, something that we all feel in the military. Kentucky can trust that he's never going to abandon them and "go Washington" like Mitch McConnell.
But, more importantly for the readers on here, Andrew's candidacy represents the best shot beat the largest obstruction to veterans care and responsible use of the military that Congress has ever seen.
For all McConnell has done to hurt troops and veterans, how sweetly ironic it is that it's going to be an Iraq War Marine that sends him packing.
That's why, today, I'm truly, truly excited.
Read more about Andrew and consider making at donation at www.AndrewHorne.org
Follow Jon Soltz on Twitter: www.twitter.com/jonsoltz
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I just love posting this!!
Neocon war records
G.W. Bush - decided that a six-year National Guard commitment really means four years. Still says that he's "been to war." Huh? http://www
VP Cheney Five(5) deferments, the last by marriage (in his own words, "had other priorities than military service"). http://www
Majority Whip Tom Delay - avoided the draft, did not serve. "So many minority youths had volunteered ... that there was literally no room for patriotic folks” like himself. Do you smell something?
Rush Limbaugh, did not serve. Was 4-F due to an anal cyst. Must have hurt. http://www
Representative Saxby Chambliss, Georgia - did not serve, had a "bad knee" (yet somehow feels he has a right to attack Max Cleland's patriotism. Max doesn't have any knees.)
Attorney Gen. John Ashcroft - sought deferment to teach business ed at SW Missouri State.
Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert - avoided the draft, did not serve.
Majority Leader Dick Armey- avoided the draft, did not serve.
Trent Lott - avoided the draft, did not serve.
Karl Rove - avoided the draft, did not serve, too busy being a Republican.
Former Speaker Newt Gingrich - avoided the draft, did not serve
Former President Ronald Reagan - served in a non combat role. He later seems to have confused his role as an actor playing a tail gunner with the real thing.
Bob “B-1 Bob” Dornan - avoided Korean War combat duty by enrolling in college acting classes (Orange County Register article)
Jesse Ventura What? He was a SEAL in Vietnam fer' Christ's sake. Well, maybe not: http://www
Phil Gramm - avoided the draft, did not serve, four (?) student deferments
Don Nickles, Senate Minority Whip - Did not serve
Mitch McConnell, a cartoon of a human being, along with John "CryBaby" Boehner weep crocodile tears as they rake in the cash from the no-bid contractor constituents. Let's cut the gravy train off and put people in who really give a damn! Go Jonny go! Time to "Horne in" on the dead weight!
I guess sometimes its hard to know your enemy, when they cause as much trouble at home as in the war zone,Sounds like treason charges should be brought up. not just thrown out of office, And, i imagine hes not alone in this Anti Veterans activities mess, but, then he was saving money by refusing benefits, so nothing will happen.
McCONnell has consistently voted with Bush admin policies. His voting record alone should remove him from office. "The King of Pork" only supports his big $$$$$ campaign contributors. He & the "Prince of Pork" Hal Rogers need to be booted out! With the removal of Fletcher maybe a new day is dawning in KY. Mr. Horne has my vote & support.
If Horne wants to beat McConnell, then he'd better start running ads NOW. Mitch has been running ads (telling us what a boss job he's done) on our local stations (central KY) for weeks. I don't know if he started running those ads because he knows he's in trouble or because he has such a huge "war chest" that he couldn't possibly spend it all if he didn't start early. Either way, the propagandizing of Kentucky has already begun.
As for the comments about Kentuckians - we are indeed, overall, an ignorant lot. We rank quite low in the number of high school and college graduates. Our plethora of churches includes several that practice snake-handling. We fell for Mitch's anti-Huddleston ads many years ago, and we'll fall for his "What a great salvation and Big Leader I am" ads now, unless someone can come up with an equal and opposite number of great anti-McConnell ads.
Just telling the facts will do no good; there are way too many people in KY who don't know or care about facts. If we want to ditch Mitch, we'll have to do a good, sound, sensationalist campaign to go along with the facts. Such is life.
I was watching something on CSpan awhile ago, BookTV tour in Miami. There was a gentleman on there that made a comment to Code Pink, with all do respect to Code Pink. There efforts to Protest the War is great, but the best way to get to a Politician, is to threaten his return to office.
Take away is political seat, his salary & benifits, and you will surely get his attention. Take McConnell out and all others that support the War in the next election, and we can show them the American People aren't stupid and we are paying attention.
If there is one thing we can give Bush credit for is this, WAKING UP THE AMERICAN PEOPLE, so we never get another one like him again.
Good luck to you and VoteVets in taking on Repub (minority) leader Mitch McConnell, Jon. I for one am tired of both Republicans AND Democrats selling combat veterans down the river. Back when the Dems were in the minority in the Senate (just before election 2006), Washington Dem. Senator Patty Murray sponsored the Murray amendment to fund $2.85 billion for Veteran's healthcare, rehab, and PTSD counselling for those not physically injured. The COWERING Senate Dems REFUSED to make it a major issue, they REFUSED to FILIBUSTER when Republicans voted to kill the bill; and thus the Democrats HANDED the "WE SUPPORT THE TROOPS" issue TO THE REPUBLICANS on a Silver Platter.
Never in my life have I seen so much political incompetence on the part of any party; but in this case, the Democrats GAVE the Republicans the very issue ("we support the troops") that they would use to bash Democrats over the head with, even though they did NOT support the troops. (This Repub use of "we support the troops" as a bludgeon issue was most clearly seen when General Patraeus gave his Karl Rove written Iraq war assesment to Congress on 9-11-2007, and MoveOn and Democratic critics were assailed by the GOP and their hand-maidens in the media as "not supporting the troops.")
Even Senator Jim Webb, who ran as a veteran against the Bush-Rove war machine, succumbed to inside-beltway DC pressures, signing on to the "Torture bill" and a couple of other bush atrocities.
So, Mr. Soltz, you and VoteVets have your work cut out for you. Just remember, even with Dems like Patty Murray TRYING to support the troops, you will face alot of Institutional Democrat backstabbing if your candidate against McConnell poses a real threat to the War Lobby.
To use one of Bush's favorite phrases . . . in other words, McConnell's a giant asshole.
Good luck Andrew, whatever happens. Just don't be a bastard like McConnell.
BEAT that miserable old closet case Mitch McDonell..
There are people seeking Mitch's discharge papers (under the fredom of information act) which he's kept sealed fo decades. He was drummed out of Boot Camp after just 10 days.
LGBT blogs have outed him, and rumor it was gay conduct which got him tossed from the military.
My support to your candidate I sincerely hope he will succeed.
I know you all think you may have a bonafide military leftist here that you can claim exonerates your assertions that you support the military, despite all evidence to the contrary. However, be careful what you wish for. You may get someone who opposes this war, or the way in which it has been managed. But, you may also get someone who is fiscally and socially conservative, otherwise. Since the majority of the posts I read seem to be from people who happily drink the Left's koolaid, I don't think most of you will be happy with a military officer in such a position, particularly in light of the fact that, once elected, it is extremely difficult to get rid of them.
Semper fi
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Perspective from a 27-year old with 10 brothers, 33 nephews and 3 nieces.
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3 of my brothers have served in the past wars, 2 of which are serving now, and in all probability in the future my nephews and nieces, they may be called to served.
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Mom's heart is too weak, gets too nervous and worried every time there is bad news in Iraq and Afghanistan. Dad sits in silence. Both prays for their safety. The rest of my siblings are scattered all over the country.
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I call Mom and Dad just to hear their voices, and the rest of my other brothers just to make sure they're ok. I can hear in their voices the same emotions.
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From me, their only sister, I want to tell them that I don't need them to be heroes, just that they are safe.
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God please end this war.
Destroying our troops' ability to fight and, more importantly, to keep themselves alive with maximum ability IS giving aid to the enemy. Creating conditions which allowse more troops to be killed is the same as killing them personally. In addition to handicapping the troops' ability to perform optimally, denying adequate supplies such as body and vehicle armor gives direct aid to the enemy. Hell, when W went to Iraq, he wore enough body armor to outfit an entire platoon. These people are bloody handed traitors and murderers, plain and simple.
Hopefully the Rovians will be stupid enough to try to tar him as an anti-American traitor. That would do wonders for dragging popular opinion of those scumbags into the sewers.
Every one of my charity dollars this year has been going to veteran groups. But now some will go to Andrew. Getting him elected will be the same as donating millions to veterans' groups (which is just a tad out of my range.)
My only question is, should I take the coffee mug or the tote bag? ;->
GODISNOWHERE
Blessed are the cheese makers.
If family planning causes promiscuity, then confession causes sin.
It's Bush's war. It's Bush's war. It's Bush's war. It's Bush's war.
Where can I send money to help defeat Chicken McChinless?
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