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Republicans Losing the GI Vote?

Joe Conason at Salon.com thinks the Republicans have taken the military vote for granted, and are now alienating veterans.  If the Democrats are smart, they have a chance to take this demographic away from their rivals.  Too bad they aren't very bright.

The narrative Conason develops begins with the release of this video:

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This is a later version, of course.  The original was modified in response to criticism so that it's more accurate.  When the small ad ran in Arizona, home of incumbent senator John Kyl, he reacted loudly to it, and in response so did the local press, bringing more attention to it than the producers, the political action comittee VoteVets.org, expected.  Now it seems that VoteVets is emboldened to spend more money spreading the ad around. 

Why give your enemy new weapons?  Conason suggests that it's a symptom of a growing Republican anxienty about having lost the military vote.  A generation ago, the Democrats lost the military because of all the hippies spitting on soldiers coming home from Vietnam.  In ways less cinematic, the U.S. is currently treating soldiers like crap even as the hippies won't shut up about how they support our troops.  Benefits are being cut, the looming veteran mental health crisis looks doomed to be undealt with, retired military are being dragged back in service in the 'backdoor draft' and all in a war that it becomes increasingly evident we were lied into.  Both Democrats and Republicans are bandying about the blame on the body armor issue, but if the Republicans are proving touchy on the subject, maybe they feel vulnerable. 

posted by: JohnnyAngel at 09/29/06 05:36 | link | comments (1) |

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