BUD DAY KNEW MCCAIN BUT THERE WAS LITTLE LOVE BETWEEN THEM
BY G. DUFF
Back in the 1990s, in what was the early days of the internet, AOL was one of the few service providers. It had a Vietnam War site I started posting on in, maybe 95. We had many readers, up to 1500 per day and about 80 regulars. The ones we loved the most, other than "ourselves," a blogger disease, were a guy called "FrozenChosen," Bud Day and our informal leader, "Hack," David Hackworth.
Hack would jump in, sometimes defending the Army brass when I would go after someone but was always supportive and always behind the real vet and real warrior. We stayed in contact until his death and I still write stay in contact with the group at www.sftt.org on a weekly basis.
The other and most amusing of the group was an Air Force retiree from the Ozarks called "Bud Day." Bud was a tough bird, very outspoken and very well liked. He had a few points he made very clearly during our correspondence. One was John McCain.
Bud thought John McCain was a "bullshitter." (continued…)
Bud also had advocated the immediate jailing and court martial of many many returned POWs and was bitter about the coverup. He never said McCain was one of these although McCain has been accused by Bush supporters of collaboration with the North Vietnamese at the "swiftboat" site, www.usvetdsp.com.
I like John McCain and some of the things he has done to try to clean up the political process. However, the real John McCain has a reputation, well deserved, for helping coverup the fact that POWs were left behind and both he and John Kerry were quick to forgive North Vietnam when it turned out there was money to be made using their slave labor for American corporations.
What McCain has never been has been a real friend and supporter of Veterans. He simply hasn’t had the attention span, personal inclination or time.
John McCain has consistently voted against Veterans every time he has had the chance… http://www.vote-smart.org/voting_category.php?can_id=S0061103.
There is only one candidate who has ever supported Veterans, understands Veterans issues and has a clear idea of what is going on. That candidate is Hillary Clinton.
Her voting record http://www.votesmart.org/voting_category.php?can_id=55463 shows support for Veterans funding unlike McCains.
I tend, at times, to lean a bit hard on the self aggrandizing. McCain learned honesty by being caught stealing. He grew up moderately wealthy and powerful. He received considerable special treatment as a POW and has been accused to overstating personal torture. North Vietnam offered to release him entirely because of his prominent father but he refused. This is to his credit, but it also clearly indicates that he was "special".
You can hear Hillary talk at length about PTSD, closed head injuries, VA funding, disability compensation problems and every other subject important to veterans. She answers every question WITH REAL KNOWLEDGE, votes for everything Veterans need and has a history OR SUPPORTING BOTH SOLDIERS AND VETERANS, SOMETHING QUITE RARE IN GOVERNMENT.
McCain has a history of voting against Veterans but supporting War. Anyone who thinks an "imaginary homeless vet" needs more billions to go to phony arms contractors for things that don’t work, arrive late or are always "missing or stolen", should support McCain.
Hell, I even like him myself. I had a crazy aunt just like him once. Any reason to support McCain is that "blowhard" Chuck Norris is against him. Tough guy Norris, when not peddling exercise equipment is now the new darling of the idiot right. What he is not is a combat veteran, by choice. Chuck spent 4 years in the Air Force, with honorable service, but spent the entire Vietnam War making money and beating the crap out of people.
When we have 60 year olds and guys with one leg fighting in Iraq (OK, I am an Iraq Dodger too), Norris could have gotten some wonderful experience in a war that lasted a decade during his youth.
Stephen Seagal, however, spent years in Laos in black arts. Arnie is, perhaps, more visible as a DD but seems to have a charm Norris lacks. Charm is everything. Finding real vets takes work and, flawed though McCain is, he is a Veteran, served in combat and deserves a hard look by all of us for that. Problem is, he comes up short. The worst part for me is that I wish it were different. I wish he weren’t such a huge liar and that Bud Day wasn’t right about him.
If you want good hospitals, guaranteed retirement medical care and, perhaps, a rifle that actually works instead of the POS M-16/M4 junk that we buy along with those useless Italian designed 9mm pistols and body armor you could poke your finger thru, you might as well get used to thinking about bringing Hillary and Bill back.
It is not that nobody else cares. It is that nobody else has even begun to think about it at all. Bill did very little harm in 8 years. Bushieboy with McCains support has murdered the Department of Veterans Affairs and destroyed our military. I just think of the thousands in "co pays" our daughter had when she got sick while her husband was serving in Iraq as a Marine. Nobody at the Corps lifted a finger. What a pack of phony assholes.
Also, our local Democratic representative may have been even less help.
Best way to figure if a candidate is a useless POS, see if the VFW or American Legion support them. I can think of no better way. Hell, even the NRA gets some things right some of the time, but usually not.
GORDON DUFF IS A MARINE COMBAT VETERAN AND REGULAR CONTRIBUTOR ON POLITICAL AND SOCIAL ISSUES
HE IS ALSO A UN DELEGATE IN AREAS RELATED TO SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC ISSUES
Gordon Duff posted articles on VT from 2008 to 2022. He is a Marine combat veteran of the Vietnam War. A disabled veteran, he worked on veterans and POW issues for decades.
Gordon is an accredited diplomat and is generally accepted as one of the top global intelligence specialists. He manages the world’s largest private intelligence organization and regularly consults with governments challenged by security issues.
Duff has traveled extensively, is published around the world, and is a regular guest on TV and radio in more than “several” countries. He is also a trained chef, wine enthusiast, avid motorcyclist, and gunsmith specializing in historical weapons and restoration. Business experience and interests are in energy and defense technology.
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