VFW has committed a major error...

[barrytonmi]

Following is an e-mail that I sent to all national, state and district VFW people. I am still upset today about this - not because she is a Democrat, but because she is a veteran:

"First, a brief background: My husband is a Vietnam veteran and has belonged to the VFW since 1972. I am an Auxiliary member and served for six years as our local Auxiliary's President. We have always believed that the VFW supported our nation's veterans in the best possible ways, so we have always done what we could to support PAC.

"The Detroit Free Press (Detroit, Michigan) carried an article in the Saturday, November 4th edition that pertained to the candidates in an election race in Illinois. The Republican candidate, Peter Roskam, has no military experience; his Democratic opponent, Tammy Duckworth, lost both of her legs while serving in Iraq as a helicopter pilot. Guess who the VFW is supporting? Tammy Duckworth, the veteran who fought for the United States and suffered severe injuries? NO! The VFW is supporting her opponent! I can only believe that it is because he is a Republican.

"Shame on the VFW for giving Duckworth such a slap in the face. In the article, Duckworth says that she was never even contacted by the VFW regarding an endorsement. Apparently, she was not even good enough to get an apology from the VFW to explain why they felt it was necessary to back her opponent. It is my belief that if the VFW cannot support a veteran who is running for public office, then the politically correct thing would be to not support either candidate.

"Posts and Auxiliaries at the local level work hard to collect money for PAC. Do you honestly believe that veterans and Auxiliary members are going to be happy that the VFW supported a person with no military experience over a "tried-and-true" veteran?

"This reminds me of the uproar over the VFW calendar severals years ago, and I am sure that many of you remember that. A wonderful veterans organization, in an effort to save money, outsourced the printing of a calendar to Taiwan instead of having a U.S. company do the work. Now this sad state of events with Ms. Duckworth makes me wonder what people in the VFW are thinking. Does the VFW truly support our veterans or is the VFW only interested in what Republicans have to say?

"I am thoroughly disgusted, shocked and ashamed of my VFW today."

That e-mail went to approximately 45+ people. I find it disheartening that the VFW wouldn't support a veteran, no matter what party she is.

[wakeme2008]

1. Hi and Welcome to DU

:hi:

[Cobalt Violet]

2. I love your email.

:kick:

[BobRossi]

3. I could never bring myself to join VFW.

As a liberal and a veteran, I always felt "my kind" were not welcome, they haven't sent me invites in a long time now. Glad I never joined.

[williesgirl]

4. This shocked me too, can't believe their members were aware. recommended

[ChairmanAgnostic]

5. I wrote them too and got this canned response:

"The (VFW) PAC chose to endorse non-veteran Peter Roskam over Tammy Duckworth because of his track record of supporting veterans and service members as an illinois state representative and then as a state senator. He alos completed a required PAC questionare that was sent to every incumbent and challengers upon request."


this is so cute. he filled out a PAC questionaire that challengers requested. Of course, they never told candidates that their PAC had a questionaire. That they had to request one. And they ignore the fact that the DuPage neonazi who is behind Roskam's campaign pulls strings in the VFW PAC and made sure she never got a questionaire, while he did.

And they are proud of their selection process. RIGHT.

The VFW really laid an egg with this one and it will hurt them in the future.

[BOSSHOG]

8. I emailed the commander

and gave him my two cents worth rather loudly and belligerently. No response yet.

[BOSSHOG]

6. Welcome to DU and thanks for your efforts for Tammy

I'm a veteran and I don't know which organization has pissed me off more, VFW or American Legion. All the rah rahing for bush and then the duckworth incident. I am a VFW and they can't get rid of me but they might as well ask my goldfish for a donation from now on.

Stick with us. We have a nice crowd of wacky liberal veterans here and we want you to join us.

[Nickster]

7. You know, it's not even backing a veteran over a non-veteran for me.

What got me pissed over the whole thing is not that Roskam isn't a veteran, it's that he has low ratings for his votes on veteran's issues. I could see voting for him because he has the incumbency and votes well for veteran's rights but you can't even say that about him. So it would seem that voting for someone who actually left a part of herself on the battlefield would be a better choice for veteran issues since she might actually feel some compassion for other soldiers in the same situation that she found herself in.. The fact that the VFW has offered no explanation for snubbing Tammy Duckworth just proves to me that the VFW has joined the American Legion in irrelevancy for veterans.

[barrytonmi]

9. Thank you for the welcome...

and at least some of you got a response lol. I think they've gone into their bunkers and are trying to figure out how to stop the backlash on this (oh that's right, they support rethugs, so I suppose they would act like them!). Thank you for the warm welcome!

[4bucksagallon]

10. What do you expect from a right leaning org. full of John Birchers.............

They and the AL are not an organization I would want to be a part of. There are other veterans groups. Say Hi to your husband from another vietnam vet.

[skipper1]

11. loss of limb quals in politics

i realy hope you not implying that a mishap in iraq qualifies a person to do anything much less be a congressional representative.

[qnr]

12. Nice work. Welcome to DU n/t

[Joey Liberal]

13. The VFW makes me sick n/t