Dole, other veterans launch campaign to re-elect Bush

[ima_sinnic]

Posted on Wed, May. 12, 2004

By Vickie Chachere
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

TAMPA - A cadre of war heroes and military veterans launched a nationwide effort to mobilize votes for President George W. Bush's re-election Tuesday, urging other veterans to respond to John Kerry's effort to win over those who have served.

Led by former U.S. senator and presidential candidate Bob Dole, Veterans Affairs Secretary Anthony Principi and a group of highly decorated former prisoners of war, the effort was launched in a city that not only has a high concentration of veterans but also will be a crucial battleground in the fall election.

"George Bush is a war president, not because he chose to be but because it was thrust upon him, and he is succeeding if we just get off his back and let him go," Dole told about 100 people at the event.

Dole, a World War II veteran, and the others said their reasons for backing Bush range from his leadership in the war on terrorism to the increased federal spending on health-care benefits for veterans under the Bush administration. . . .

http://www.tallahassee.com/mld/democrat/news/local/8644303.htm

[w13rd0]

1. Get off his back?

Is this a common theme? "The buck stops here" has been replaced with "get off my back". I'm sure the executives of Enron also wanted everyone to just "get off their backs", and the MIs that were encouraging soldiers to torture...they want us to "get off their backs"...Halliburton wants us to "get off their back"...

Hey Bob Dole, hard to "get off your back" when you're pumped so full of Viagra that all the blood ISN'T going to your brain.

[Sandpiper]

5. That's the same thing Bob was saying about Nixon

Back during Watergate. His partisanship outweighs any sense of ethics he might have.

[kysrsoze]

14. Yeah, fuck Bob Dole. He tries to come off as some hip guy who uses Viagra

but he's just an old man who sucks up to party leadership.

[sniffa]

8. get off my back

i'm sensing a theme here.

cheney: get off 'bumbLes' back.

doLe: get off 'smirk's' back

[saigon68]

2. Sam Johnson and Jeremiah Denton

2 heros who are really out of touch with the future--although i feel bad for what happened to them--- their vision for the future is just plain scary

If they had their way we'd still be fighting in Viet-Nam Johnson blames anyone who doesn't think like him as a communist and unamerican.

U.S. Rep. Sam Johnson, a retired Air Force pilot who was taken captive during the Vietnam War for nearly seven years; and retired Navy admiral and former U.S. Sen. Jeremiah Denton, who also was captured and held by the North Vietnamese for nearly eight years

[Whoa_Nelly]

3. It was thrust upon him?

OK..so who really did make the decision to invade Iraq? Rove?, Cheney? Gosh...it wasn't Bush??? </sarcasm>

[Democat]

4. Right wing propaganda bullshit - these assholes bashed Clinton

Bush dodged Vietnam. It's a shame to see these same assholes who smeared Clinton suddenly supporting a draft avoiding coward.

[MarianJack]

6. Dole, As Always...

...considers noting but the "D" or "r" after someone's name as a yardstick for heroism.

This is the man who bashed Clinton for not serving but also put dan quayle's name in nomination (though at least quayle showed up for more than a teeth cleaning).

[Rebellious Republican]

7. "increased federal spending on health-care........

benefits for veterans under the Bush administration". I can honestly say that shrub has done that.

A top Veterans Affairs administrator who oversaw the agency's sprawling health care system resigned Monday after accepting responsibility for testing a troubled computer system at Bay Pines VA Medical Center.
Dr. Robert Roswell, the VA's undersecretary for health, said he was leaving his $221,600-a-year post to make way for "a new perspective in leadership," the VA said in a statement.


The computer system, which was deployed at Bay Pines last October, was developed to track and control finances, vendor payouts and supply inventories.
Hospital officials, backed by a preliminary report by the VA inspector general, say the system is flawed. The VA has spent $249- million of the $472-million earmarked for CoreFLS.


Dean Billik, the former director of the VA in Charleston, S.C., is brought up as an example.
In 1996, he was denounced for allegedly spending about $200,000 in taxpayer money to redecorate his office; $1.5 million to renovate a nursing home unit that stayed empty for two years; and tens of thousands of dollars for a fish tank in the lobby — while there were budget shortfalls and staff cutbacks were contemplated.

But after everything was brought to light, Billik still got a bigger job: He was put in charge of the third-largest hospital system in the VA, encompassing eight cities, 295 acres of land and 83 buildings. And his salary immediately jumped about $15,000.

One source says Billik spent $1.8 million renovating a building at Temple for his own offices — after it had been renovated for patient care
http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/newsArticle.asp?id=1678

[comsymp]

10. Thanks for that info, RR

That claim jumped out at me in the original story and I was prepared to be... uh, skeptical. Your post really helped clear things up.

[The Backlash Cometh]

9. George Bush thrust this war upon himself. He could have stopped 9/11

and when that failed, he could have concentrated on bin Laden instead of Sadaam. He created this mess and now we have to vote him out in order to stop it.

[maddezmom]

11. get the monkey off my back

bush is a war president because he wanted to be one, and was planning on it the moment he took office.

[0007]

12. Bob Dole is out to lunch and his ''Tammy Faye Baker'' looking wife struts

around the senate like Cleopatra.

Who can give any attention to this pair of sex symbols?

[Tellurian]

13. I doubt very much Dole's launching a campaign for Bush,

supported by veterans will even get off the ground.

I suspect Dole is also oblivious to the rage out there directed at Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld. I guess someone will have to tell him point blank, don't waste your time, or maybe he'll figure it out when people show up at the rallys protesting.

[PhuLoi]

15. With a few misguided exceptions I'll wager most of the

'Veterans' were REMFs.

[Moondog]

16. According to my local paper

there was a grand total of 150 folks in attendance. Given the absolutely huge population of retired vets in the Tampa Bay area, that speaks volumes.

[Rebellious Republican]

20. Absolutely Moondog, lots of retired and ex military around here!

I should know I ARE one!

[jburton]

17. Dole endorsement = kiss of death

This "organization" is going nowhere!

[JayS]

18. We were discussing Vets and Kerry in this thread last night.

I Saw A Vets Against Kerry Bumpersticker Monday.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=105&topic_id=1120078&mesg_id=1120078

[Lou_C]

19. Re-elect?

That's a stretch isn't it....re-elect...Mr. Dole since when was * elected in the first place???