John McCain is feeling a draft

Posted  by AzBlueMeanie:

At a town hall in Las Cruces, New Mexico on Wednesday, John McCain was asked the following question:

AUDIENCE MEMBER:  Senator McCain I truly hope you get the opportunity to chase Bin Laden right to the gates of hell and push him in as you stated on your forum. I do have a question though. Disabled veterans, especially in this state, have horrible conditions […] My son is an officer in the Air Force, and I am a vet and I was raised in a military family. I think it is a sad state of affairs when we have illegal aliens having a Medicaid card that can access specialist top physicians, the best of medical and our vets can’t even get to a doctor. These are the people that we tied yellow ribbons for and Bush patted on the back. If we don’t reenact the draft I don’t think we will have anyone to chase Bin Laden to the gates of hell.

JOHN MCCAIN: Ma’am let me say that I don’t disagree with anything you said and thank you and I am grateful for your support of all of our veterans.

Of course, today the McCain campaign issued a statement clarifying that it was "obvious" that McCain was referring to the veteran health care issues the questioner listed and he did not endorse the draft.  Really.  What part of "anything" does the McCain campaign not understand.  Don’t talk down to us.  If McCain only wanted to agree with the veterans health care issues (which he regularly fails to support) but disagree with her comment about the draft, he could have said so.  He didn’t.  He said "I don’t disagree with anything you said."

VoteVets.org issued this press release VoteVets.org | News:

Jon Soltz, Iraq War Veteran and Chairman of VoteVets.org said, “At least Senator McCain is being honest.  A vote for him is a vote for the draft.  Period.  Unless Senator McCain radically changes his worldview, there would be a draft to implement his plans.”

Soltz added, “When you take into account his indefinite military commitment to Iraq, his desire to send more troops to Afghanistan, record lows in recruiting and retention, and possibly more wars he is looking to get into, like “Bomb Bomb Bomb” Iran, his numbers don’t add up without a draft.  Whether America likes it or not isn’t relevant – a draft is the only way to do everything Senator McCain wants to do.  I give him points for being honest and upfront, though, that we’re going to need a draft if he is elected.”

This isn’t the first time that Senator McCain has hinted at a reinstitution of the draft if he is elected.  Asked on September 29, 2007 in New Hampshire about the draft, McCain said he would, “consider it.”

McCain has said he would consider a draft on other occasions. Think Progress » McCain On Reinstituting A Military Draft; McCain Would Consider a Draft. Every Parent In America Should Know This

If McCain wants to bring back the draft, then I must insist upon the following.  Every Neoconservative chickenhawk The New Hampshire Gazette Chickenhawk Database who has been hawking for perpetual war and lobbying to continue feeding the military-industrial-congressional complex for years, will be the first to be drafted.  I will volunteer to serve on the draft board and the very first draftees that I want to draft will be the pundits, commentators, columnists and radio talk show hosts in the Neoconservative propaganda media.  That means you William Kristol, Charles Krauthammer, David Brooks, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Bill O’Rielly, etc., etc., etc., and everyone at Fox News – you can have your own "Freedom Brigade."

Those who desire war should be the ones who fight it.