Thursday, August 14, 2008

Military Shows Their Support For Obama Over McCain With $$

Money talks and bullshit walks, isn't that how the saying goes? Well if that is true, it is McCain spewing all the bullshit and the military is taking notice. McCain is full of it when it comes to our nation's veterans, paying them lip service without voting for the programs they truly need and deserve. Barack Obama is ready to deliver for our nation's troops and veterans and the military is putting their faith in him and in the only way that can be truly shown before casting their ballots.

From OpenSecrets:

According to an analysis of campaign contributions by the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics, Democrat Barack Obama has received nearly six times as much money from troops deployed overseas at the time of their contributions than has Republican John McCain, and the fiercely anti-war Ron Paul, though he suspended his campaign for the Republican nomination months ago, has received more than four times McCain's haul.

Despite McCain's status as a decorated veteran and a historically Republican bent among the military, members of the armed services overall -- whether stationed overseas or at home -- are also favoring Obama with their campaign contributions in 2008, by a $55,000 margin. Although 59 percent of federal contributions by military personnel has gone to Republicans this cycle, of money from the military to the presumed presidential nominees, 57 percent has gone to Obama.

Are you shocked to see this, well, some of the experts are:

"That's shocking. The academic debate is between some who say that junior enlisted ranks lean slightly Republican and some who say it's about equal, but no one would point to six-to-one" in Democrats' favor, said Aaron Belkin, a professor of political science at the University of California who studies the military. "That represents a tremendous shift from 2000, when the military vote almost certainly was decisive in Florida and elsewhere, and leaned heavily towards the Republicans."

The shift may be dramatic from past elections, but injecting a little commons sense into the discussion solves this. The troops are, by and large sick of being in Iraq where they do their very best yet it isn't enough because they shouldn't be there in the first place. Our soldiers want out and they see which nominee wants them to stay for a hundred years and which wants them home in sixteen months.