The Media-Created Myth That Veterans Love McCain
Of all the over-blown media-created narratives in this presidential race, one of the most easily debunked is the notion that John McCain (R) is very popular among veterans, just as Barack Obama (D) is especially popular with young voters, or that Hillary Clinton (D) was with older female voters, or as Mike Huckabee (R) was with Evangelical voters.
First, anecdotally, check out yesterday's story in the Las Vegas Sun following McCain's event with disabled veterans in Las Vegas on Saturday. The title of the story is McCain’s Attacks On Rival Fall Flat With Vets Group.
Here's an excerpt:
Sen. John McCain, speaking to disabled veterans Saturday in Las Vegas, attacked his Democratic opponent, Sen. Barack Obama, for his foreign policy record, while also proposing a program that would allow veterans to acquire health care at private hospitals and not just through the Veterans Affairs Department.
The veterans, at Bally’s for their national convention, gave him a tepid reception, especially considering McCain’s life story. The Arizona senator was a Navy pilot shot down over Vietnam, tortured and held as a prisoner of war for 5 1/2 years.
Just one of 14 veterans interviewed by the Sun after his speech said he is a certain McCain voter, and the nonpartisan group’s legislative director expressed concerns about McCain’s proposed “Veterans’ Care Access Card.”
And what did the actual veterans have to say about Maverick?
Other veterans, such as James Jewett and Jay Johnson of Texas, expressed misgivings about McCain using the occasion to attack his opponent so fiercely.
Duke Hendershot, a double amputee retired Marine who served in Vietnam, supported McCain’s run for president in 2000 but is undecided this year.
“John just isn’t the same as he used to be. He’s not his own man,” said Hendershot, who lives in San Antonio, Texas. “A lot of that has to do with how he’s wanted this job so bad for so long that he’s tied himself to President Bush.”
He said McCain’s embrace of Bush, whom Hendershot called a “draft-dodging coward,” is even more perplexing because of the rivalry between the two candidates during the 2000 campaign.
Hendershot also criticized McCain for taking swipes at Obama in his speech. “He should have been talking about veterans issues, not his opponent,” he said.
By contrast, he praised Obama for keeping his remarks tightly focused on veterans. The Democrat gave taped remarks via video.
But there's actually nothing new about this, as a number of veterans groups have been very critical of McCain's record and have awarded him much lower scores than Barack Obama (D) on the issues most important to them. Vet Voice has been reporting about this growing chasm for a long time.
Last month, FactCheck.org took McCain to task for his recent assertion, "I have a perfect voting record from organizations like the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the American Legion and all the other veterans' service organizations," as being simply untrue:
He said that he had "a perfect voting record from organizations like the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the American Legion." But we called both of those groups, and they told us they don't even release congressional scorecards. In fact, the American Legion's constitution prohibits it.
...McCain doesn’t have a perfect score with DAV (Disabled American Veterans), a group of 1.3 million disabled veterans that supports more funding for veterans health care. McCain has a 20 percent record of voting the way DAV would like him to in 2006.
Apparently, these things haven't stopped the media from pushing the narrative that veterans are with McCain.
But much more egregious is that the media hasn't bothered assessing the exit polling from the primaries that they paid for to determine whether McCain was actually excelling with this group, just as Obama, Clinton and Huckabee had greatly over-performed with their groups.
Turns out that McCain was barely overperforming with veterans in the contested Republican primaries (before Romney and Huckabee dropped-out), and often failed to crack 40 percent of their support. Here's what the exit polling told us:
| State | McCain % Total Vote |
McCain % Among Vets |
Overperform/ Underperform |
| AZ | 47% | 50% | +3% |
| CA | 42% | 46% | +4% |
| CT | 52% | 53% | +1% |
| FL | 36% | 42% | +6% |
| GA | 32% | 37% | +5% |
| LA | 42% | 47% | +5% |
| MI | 30% | 41% | +11% |
| MO | 33% | 39% | +6% |
| TN | 32% | 36% | +4% |
| SC | 33% | 36% | +3% |
| VA | 50% | 51% | +1% |
So, only in Michigan did McCain overperform with veterans by more than six points, and be mindful that there wasn't another prominent Republican veteran in the race that would have pulled support away from McCain because of their own service.
Now compare how Mike Huckabee (R) overperformed with Evangelicals in those same primary states versus McCain's margins with veterans:
| State | McCain Overperformance (Veterans) |
Huckabee Overperformance (Evangelicals) |
| AZ | 3% | 6% |
| CA | 4% | 12% |
| CT | 1% | 19% |
| FL | 6% | 17% |
| GA | 5% | 9% |
| LA | 5% | 15% |
| MI | 11% | 13% |
| MO | 6% | 10% |
| TN | 4% | 8% |
| SC | 3% | 13% |
| VA | 1% | 21% |
Maybe most noteworthy is how only 50% of all Republican veterans in Arizona backed McCain in the presidential primary held in his own state.
But as you can, Huckabee clearly outperformed with Evangelicals, and is rightly regarded as being a favorite of that group. In contrast, veterans backed McCain by significantly smaller margins, despite the media narrative that this was his group.
So, given that McCain has not done well among veterans' groups that put out scores, that veterans at his own events have been publicly critical of him and his campaign, and the fact that McCain really didn't perform much better among veterans than with primary voters as a whole, why does the media continue to paint McCain as some beloved figure among veterans?
Mark Nickolas is the Managing Editor of Political Base, and this story was from his original post, "The Media-Created Myth That Veterans Love McCain"
Follow Mark Nickolas on Twitter: www.twitter.com/mnickolas
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Hasn't anyone ever noticed that when they show McCain speaking to Veterans, there is no crowd enthusiasm, in fact he would make comments expecting applause and you could hear crickets in the background over the silence. Here in Indiana some pro-McCain veteran group tried to have a rally of veterans on the Circle mall and about 15 people showed up. That was embarassing for McCain because it was televised, and the picture said it all.
it's his base in action once again. The MSM is so infatuated with the myth of the maverick that they'll say anything to further their narrative. Facts have nothing to do with it- they obviously couldn't care less about the facts...
We should reserve judgment of McCain until he consents to the release and examination of the entirety of his unredacted service record and his pilot flight log. Much of military service is the silent endurance of each day's inexplicabe misery, never knowing the larger context and always doubtful of the value of your personal contribution. I'm unable and unwilling to conclude that McCain is a hero or even a warrior until his selective reticence about the details of his military service is overcome.
You mean like bush's....
I cannot speak for any veteran but myself. Some veterans confuse blind loyalty with patriotism. Some confuse support for the troops with being pro war. I could not possibly disagree more. Sen. McC is the personification of both of these misconceptions. He has been flippant about bombing Iran, which would result in yet another ruinous war dragging us down even further. War is simply not the answer. How much will the Iraq oil grab war ultimately cost?
His record of voting against veteran’s issues and benefits is dismal. His determination to continue the disastrous policies of the current administration are destructive to the military and to veterans.
Factor in his complete failure to grasp the critical issues that this nations faces today, add his close association with Phil Gramm, his entourage of lobbyists, and there is no rational basis to support him. Those veterans who support him apparently are not well informed.
Thanks. You musta read my mind...
NO rational basis for supporting him.
John McCain's refusal to support the GI Bill will hurt him greatly with veterans. That, in addition to his continuing slide in the the embrace of George Bush. On the surface, veterans should have been a natural constituency for John McCain. Veterans have been consistent in their support of the troops, to the point of maybe being too silent in their expressing their initial concerns over the fiasco in Iraq. However, as things have progressed and the administration has completely destroyed America's military readiness, veterans have begun to speak out. John McCain has betrayed his base of veteran support and it is my hope that the word spreads rapidly.
The DAV is turning into a entery level job for Republicans who are looking for government jobs in Tennessee. Seldom in their office helping veterans. Out on the golf courses in Nashville NETWORKING for that lifetime State Job.
That's why I'm not a member of the DAV. The VFW, on the other hand...... Course, that's just for the cheap beer and friendship
No hero to Veterans
http://www
I agree that the MSM is perpetuating the myth that veterans love John McCain. Maybe some of the older ones still really support him but anyone that can read or has access to a computer knows where McCain really stands. Any past veteran of the military that has been tortured himself, but now endorses it is pathetic. When he didn't even support the new GI Bill you would think that the MSM would have been running that in a loop as they did Rev Wright. But NO they played it down, because they are joined at the hip to the "double talk " express. Most of his gaffes go unreported or some lame excuse is made. He is another puppet of the GOP, a kind of Manchurian Candidate who is easily manipulated by the NeoCons.
If McCain was so well-loved by vets, why is the Bush Administration banning voter registration drives at VA hospitals: http://www
Good point!
What do you expect from a chicken hawk administration?
This is sad. The one group of people who should have his back do not, but I have known about this for a couple of months now. This man must sleep, breathe, and think Obama 24-7. There he is addressing a vets group and Obama enters the picture. I think the ads are hurting McCain. He went negative too soon. What is he going to do in Oct and Nov?
Speaking as a Veteran, I can name the point at which I decided that I would NEVER vote for him: when he decided to support torture by Americans. I will never understand how a man who spent 5 years BEING tortured could EVER agree that his country should torture others!
ok seriously wat the hell is wit mccain and the paris ad does he relly need attention tat bad tat he would actually resort to measures like tat sometimes i tink he makes up crap to get attention like wat a 1st grader does
Just another media created Myth they think that they can create them and voters will just follow it. McCain appeals to low information voters. Veterans are NOT low information voters becuase they are interested in the issues and onceyou know where McCain stands on the issues and how he has voted you will see that he is NOT Pro Veteran as the MSM would have us believe.
Carol
The problem is the media is so scared of the republicans they are so good at attacking the democrats i dont who it is Obama,Hillary ,Kerry, Edwards they are really letting Mccain get away with a lot of things, now that obama is on vacation the cable networks are so queit waiting to attack Obama when he comes back, wait and see, MSM, and CNN are so after the dem they are so scared of the rep
ur right i have noticed it myself when i watch the news
Or is it that the MSM are all big corporations who benefit largely from Repug administrations so are now nothing but propaganda machines for their own interest.
The corporate media will not be discouraged from this minipulation. They are owned pure and simple and exist only because of the advertiser
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