Rat jumps ship: American Legion commander blames Bush and Congress for Vet cuts

[ProSense]

American Legion Commander: ‘I Blame Bush And Congress’ For Veterans Cuts

President Bush spoke to the American Legion today, claiming that “support of our veterans has been a high priority in my administration,” and that one of his priorities is “making sure that our veterans have got good, decent, quality healthcare.”

Watch it:

President Bush should save his rhetoric. In an interview with National Public Radio, even American Legion National Commander Paul Morin, a regular political ally of the White House, pointed out that Bush has consistently skimped on veterans funding. “We are not pleased with the budget for the military and for the VA hospitals for our veterans,” Morin said. “I blame the President and Congress for insufficient funding of the VA health care system.”

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A look at the facts back up Morin’s claims about Bush’s short-changing of veterans:

more...

[Kolesar]

1. Paul Rieckoff was blaming Clinton and everybody back to Vietnam...

...last night on Joe Scarborough's show last night. Rieckoff did not say Clinton specifically. However, I don't like where language like this inevitiably goes--to the old "stabbed in the back" meme. "Could have won" were it not for Congress, et al., which is a way of blaming weak Democrats and liberals.

[MH1]

2. Paul Morin is a lying smear merchant who hyped his own resume.

Press Release: Legion wants Kerry Apology
http:/ / www. military.com/features/0,15240,118125,00.html

INDIANAPOLIS, October 31, 2006 -- The National Commander of The American Legion called on Sen. John Kerry to apologize for suggesting that American troops in Iraq are uneducated.

“As a constituent of Senator Kerry’s I am disappointed. As leader of The American Legion, I am outraged,” said National Commander Paul A. Morin. “A generation ago, Sen. Kerry slandered his comrades in Vietnam by saying < insert standard right wing lie about JK's 1971 testimony here >. It wasn’t true then and his < insert reference to current lie > isn’t true now.”

Boston Globe: Legion chief alters line on war service: 12/3/2006
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2006/12/03/legion_chief_alters_line_on_war_service

When Paul A. Morin , the national commander of the American Legion, sought election to the office in August, he described himself in the lead sentence of his campaign biography as a "Vietnam veteran of the US Army." Since he was elected Aug. 31, the Legion's website has featured the same description.

And when Morin testified before the House Veterans' Affairs Committee Sept. 20, US Representative Steve Buyer , Republican of Indiana, introduced him as an Army veteran of Vietnam. Morin registered no objection, according to the hearing transcript.

And three months ago, Morin said he hopes that servicemen returning from Iraq will be treated better than those who returned from Vietnam. "When we came home, life was a little different. We do not want to see any veteran ever returning to what we did, so we'll be there to be welcoming them home with open arms," Morin said, according to a transcript of his interview with the Pentagon Channel , the Defense Department's television network.

But the only place Morin ever returned from was Fort Dix, N.J. According to his military records, Morin spent his entire two years of Army service, from 1972 to 1974, at that Army training base . In fact, before he sought the coveted one-year term as national president of the country's largest veterans' organization, Morin was content to be known as a "Vietnam-era" veteran -- a signal to other veterans that he did not serve in Vietnam.

(more at the link. worth a read to understand this guy's lack of respect for facts.)

So, while he was smearing a bona-fide Vietnam veteran who had earned combat medals - and who came back and spoke out against that same terrible post-war treatment of veterans that Morin decries as if he experienced it himself - this guy was fluffing his own record to make himself look like someone he is not.

Scumbag.

The members of the American Legion should fire this guy. But then, the American Legion has always seemed to me to be more worried about whether "under God" was in the pledge of allegiance, than actually doing anything for veterans. And when it's expedient to them, they will happily join in smearing one who has worked hard for them, to serve that right wing ideological purpose.

Crocodile tears, Morin. I'll believe you might care about veterans when you stop lying and smearing veterans like John Kerry.