Arizona Senator John McCain visited a Hudson VFW hall today to urge veterans to support the reelection of George W. Bush.
Four years after trouncing George W. Bush in the 2000 New Hampshire primary…….John McCain says Bush has earned the right to another term. McCain told veterans that the president has proven his resolve to win the war on terror -- which he termed a death struggle -- wherever it may lead.
" We will bring democracy and freedom to the people of Iraq…..and when we do a message will go out across the middle east….to the Saudis to Basheer-Al-Sahd in Syria to the religious extremists in Iran, to all the other two- bit dictators in the region that freedom and democracy is coming to a neighborhood near you..... and be ready for it."
McCain also said America must be vigilant -- and the Arizona Senator even went so far as to raise the spectre of a pre-election terror attack as reason to support the Bush presidency.
"I'm telling you my fellow veterans that this is going to be tough….because you might remember that terrorists were able to change a government in Spain by bombing a train station in Madrid…..there are not stupid and I'm not saying that these terrorists are for either George Bush or John Kerry or anybody else but these terrorists would love to say that their actions forced a change in the government."
Prior to throwing his support to the President earlier this year, McCain had been courted by the Kerry campaign……McCain called the Massachusetts Senator a friend……and urged Veterans to put aside arguments over the military careers of the two nominees.
"I want us to acknowledge as the President has that John Kerry's service is honorable……George Bush's service is honorable…….And now let's see how we can win the war they we are fighting now not go back and fight the one that was over thirty years ago."
Partisans of both candidates tended to agree with that logic -- but many found it hard to live by. Naval Reserve commander David Kenney of Fitzwilliam is a Bush supporter. He bristled at Kerry's recent call for voters to compare his record during Vietnam to those of Vice president Cheney and President Bush.
"He claims two tours and would stack it up against 5 deferments and then specifically mentions service in the national guard as avoiding service in Vietnam……Every time he mentions that stuff about national guard and avoiding service it drives me absolutely crazy….Cause my reserve compadres don't like it. They listen to this rhetoric and everything else, and the next day they are getting order to go over to Iraq…..It's no different."
Veteran's who support Kerry confessed similar frustration -- but over how Bush supporters have sought to exploit the Vietnam conflict for their own benefit.
"On one hand they how brave and courageous we are and then on the other hand they're putting us down -- every veteran than did something."
Barrington resident George Fleming served in Vietnam.
"I stand with veteran's here today who found their unit….they didn't miss it like president bush. He couldn't find his, we all found ours."
Fleming backed John McCain during the 2000 primary……But says McCain's endorsement of Bush -- who he says has underfunded the federal veterans' administration -- has prompted a reassessment.
"I see him in a different --you know I see him as a veteran, but I don't see him as I did in 2000."
The campaigns of both George W. Bush and John Kerry see the veterans vote as crucial -- particularly in NH, which has an unusually high percentage of residents who've served in the military.
