McCain also voted in favor of torture, thereby increasing the chance that our own troops will be tortured.

McCain voted against the intelligence bill because it goes too far in applying military standards to intelligence agencies.

What I won’t do here, CF, is have a discussion with you one what we can and cannot, do and do not do, with respect to interrogation. I won’t give the enemy that benefit. Let’s just leave it at I don’t believe in torture in Al Qaeda’s sense – which is to behead, chop off fingers, and cause other bodily harm and injury. I don’t think we ever have nor ever will “lower our standards to those employed by Al Qaeda” and for to say that displays a huge amount of ignorance on your part as what exactly we do with our POWs.

I know another guy who served his 15 months over there and came home for two weeks and is back for another 15 months. They serve because the job isn’t finished. They started something and want to finish it. Thats what I hear from all my guys. If it was a lost cause or hopeless and not worth it, these men, these HONORABLE men, would not be there apart from their families doing the job that they love. I can only guess with your bitterness that you exude, you regret your career choice. But the operative word here is CHOICE. So tell me, if you’re unhappy with the choice YOU made, why are you blaming every one else for your lot in life? Why are you angry that you are being asked to fulfill the commitment you made when you made the CHOICE you did?? Why are you trying to tear down and belittle those who are doing what they love and believe in? Again, you sound like a petty bitter little boy who isn’t getting to do things HIS way.

You guys are such a bunch of hacks (no pun on your name intended). You claim to “Elect Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans to public office – regardless of party” and continue, email after email, endorsing Democrats. Why are you lying to the American public about your true goals. Just come out and say that you’re a Democratic front group. I don’t have any problems with my fellow brothers and sisters in arms running for office as Dumbocrats or Repugnicans. What I have problems with are organizations purporting to elect troops to public office “regardless of party” publicly and then push a strictly Democratic agenda and the candidates attached to it.

How in the world do you expect us vets to take you seriously as a PAC or even a nonprofit organization with you have no integrity? There are people out there who are dumb enough to look at your organization and say themselves, “I know nothing about that candidate, but if VoteVets, a non-partisan organization endorses them, I’ll vote for them.” Maybe that’s what you’re counting on, but I won’t let it happen. I will use my influence as an active duty Soldier, an Iraq veteran, and a military blogger to ensure that the public continues to understand your true partisan agenda.

Every single one of these veterans below is a Democratic candidate. And you want to give them $5000!! Why aren’t you supporting Kieran Lalor, Allen West, Will Breazeale, Lee Zeldin or Eric Egland. Hell, even Duncan Hunter, a current Congressman, served in Iraq and is a candidate this year!!

How about using some good old fashioned integrity and promoting ALL Iraq vets for Congress or plainly inform your recipients that you are a partisan PAC?

I sent this one in response to an email from your “organization” titled “Stamp Out Secret Bush Fundraisers” sent by Jon Soltz (another hack):

Let’s be real Jon. I joined VoteVets under the false assumption that the site promotes ALL veterans for placement in elected office. I’m quickly realizing you’re just a Democratic hack group under the guise of a veterans organization. Maybe I should be taken off your list. Care to respond?

How many anti-Clinton ads do you have? Anti-Obama? Can’t find any. I did watch your anti-McCain ad which I find fascinating since he’s the ONLY candidate in the presidential race with any military experience. Again, VoteVets purports to “Oppose public officials who have failed our troops, Veterans, and nation on matters regarding the war and Veterans’ issues.” McCain has done more for troops in Congress as a Senator than Obama and Clinton COMBINED!! He voted for troop funds when the other two Senators voted against it AND YOU TRASH HIM!! Come on! Man up, bro!

Maybe if the hate mongers would quit trying to demonize the military and stop attacking our recruiting stations, we might indeed recruit more people. Clearly MOST of the Veterans on this site along with MOST of the Veterans family members are actually proud of the service and proud of the way our service members perform both at home and abroad. Why do you think it is necessary to belittle that? Do you actually want us to disband our military all together?

Sorry to be so ‘ugly’ but I get so fed up with crap. Facts are facts, distortions are distortions. Misleading people for the sack of political power is criminal whether it is George Bush or Hillary Clinton.

You infer that you had an 8 year requirement before you can ‘resign your commission’. You haven’t worn the uniform in 4 years. Apparently you have less than 4 years active duty to your name.

All I can find about you is your postings for the democratic party in their weekly radio address, your postings on the hate site ‘the dailyKos’, your anti-bush votevets hate site and your attempts to sell your book. You post crap that misrepresents what Rush Limbaugh said. You post stuff here that misrepresents what our own military is doing.

You claim to be a big war hero, with silver stars and everything and all you seem to stand for is partisan political lies and distortions.

Did they tell you that Rumsfield has resigned? Maybe you haven’t heard about the success of the surge and the successes in Al Anbar Province. Have you heard of ANY progress in Iraq? How many of the 18 Provinces do the Iraqie’s now control? How many months do active duty Marines at the BN level serve in Iraq? How many months do Marine Reserve Units serve in Iraq at the BN level? How many tours has my Marine son been ‘required’ to take? What do you think 1-2-3-4-5-more … ? How many tours has my Marine nephew been ‘required’ to take? How about my nephew in the 4th ID? How many current active duty Marines have never put their boots down in Iraq or Afganistan, yet?

Mismanagement of the war at the highest level … so for that sin, we must pull all the troops out and let al-sadr and Iran take over …

But now I’m not clear about your point: You say that there’s no trouble in filling slots for Iraq, yet you say your own unit is at 60%. That’s a shortage, right? I certainly don’t want non-infantry types filling infantry roles (as the Air Force and Navy have done in theater), but this goes back to the idea that there aren’t enough troops to go around in bringing units to 100%. If retention, recruitment, and morale were where they needed to be, we wouldn’t need IRR mobilizations, we wouldn’t need to cross-level troops from low-priority units to high-priority units, and the Army wouldn’t need to offer captains $35,000 cash bonuses. These signs are all indicative of a military that has been stretched too far, with too little, for too long.

And I’m not sure how you can say morale is high when soldiers are required to perform 15-month long tours. That is not only excessive, but it denotes mismanagement of the war at the highest levels of the government. We need to prioritize and, in my opinion, from a military standpoint, that means focusing on the fight against al Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

As for your “very pointed emails in private,” I haven’t received any from you. I’d be happy to answer any of your questions in private, either by email or by phone. Let me know if you need any contact info. We should talk anyway. . .I’m curious to know what really happened to your 3-7 Scouts during the invasion on 21-22 March 2003. Did you know SSG Mahan?