I fully Support John McCain and here is why!

John McCain Is A Decorated Navy Captain With A Distinguished Personal Record And Family History Of Service To Our Country. The son and grandson of two Admirals, McCain spent 5 ½ years as a POW in Vietnam. He commanded the U.S. Navy’s largest squadron. His Naval honors include the Silver Star, Bronze Star, Legion of Merit, Purple Heart, and the Distinguished Flying Cross.



John McCain Has Spent His Lifetime Answering The Call To Serve A Cause Greater Than His Own Self Interest, And Recognizes That We Must Honor The Sacrifices Of Those Who Step Up And Protect Our Freedoms. John McCain Knows That As Americans, we are blessed with nearly limitless freedoms and liberties, in large part due to the courage of our veterans, National Guard members and active duty servicemen and women.



John McCain Has Worked Tirelessly To Improve Veterans’ Healthcare. McCain has introduced several major bills to ensure veterans have equal access to quality care regardless of where they live – he believes we should give veterans the freedom to choose to carry their VA dollars, as simply as on a plastic card, to a provider that gives them the timely care at high quality and in the best location. McCain co-sponsored a bill to restore coverage to retired service members and pushed to restore health care equity for Medicare-eligible retirees. McCain sponsored a bill requiring homeless shelters that receive federal grants to identify and provide counseling to homeless veterans.



John McCain Has Been A Steadfast Advocate For Veterans With Disabilities. John McCain has lead the fight for full enactment of concurrent receipt to ensure military retirees who are receiving disability pay also receive the retirement pay they have earned. Moreover, he’s worked to increase funding for severely disabled uniformed services retirees.



John McCain Has Fought To Make the V.A. Work For Veterans. In 2001, recognizing the backlog of claims at the Department of Veterans Affairs, John McCain introduced an amendment to the VA appropriations bill to add $5 million in funding, specifically to hire 100 additional claims adjudication personnel to begin chipping away at this backlog.



John McCain Has Worked To Ease The Transition To Civilian Life. McCain believes that we must do what we can to smooth the transition for veterans from military to civilian life. He has strongly supported educational and job counseling programs to help veterans get civilian employment. He has worked to provide new educational assistance for reservists. He also fought to extend the availability of G.I. bill education benefits for Vietnam veterans, and to expand flight training benefits to more veterans.



John McCain Understands That To Truly Support Our Troops We Must Support Their Families. In 2003, McCain sponsored legislation to provide survivor benefit plan annuities for the spouses of reservists not eligible for retirement. Most recently, he sponsored a bill empowering service members to care for those they may leave behind by letting them choose who receives their death gratuity awards. And he has consistently led the fight to increase pay for our men and women in the Armed Forces and has sponsored bills to give special tax relief to deployed service members and to set up overseas savings programs.



John McCain Co-Authored The Wounded Warrior’s Act Which Provided Needed Health Care Assistance To Veterans And Addressed Many Of The Flaws Brought To Light In The Wake Of The Problems Discovered At Walter Reed. Returning home from war is difficult under any circumstances, but many veterans need extra help with their transition to civilian life. McCain has been committed to ensuring these brave men and women receive the education, training, counseling for post-traumatic stress disorder and substance abuse, and, for those who need it – a place to call home.


My Friends,
Today, I had the privilege to hear from General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker on the current state of the war in Iraq and the progress that has been made there. We owe these two patriotic Americans a debt of gratitude for their selfless service to our country.

At the beginning of last year, we were engaged in a great debate about what to do in Iraq. Four years of mismanaged war had brought us almost to the point of no return. Sectarian violence in Iraq was spiraling out of control, life had become a struggle for survival, and a full-scale civil war seemed almost unavoidable. Al Qaeda in Iraq was on the offensive and entire Iraqi provinces were under the control of extremists.

However, rather than retreat from Iraq and face the terrible consequences that would ensue, we chose to change strategies and turn things around. I was proud to be an outspoken advocate for this change in strategy and endured much criticism from members of both parties. As I've said time and time again, I'd rather lose a campaign than lose a war.

"Never despair," Winston Churchill once said. And we did not despair. We were tested, and we rose to the challenge. Some political leaders close their eyes to the progress that the surge has made possible, and want only to argue about the past.

But the question for the next president is not about the past, but about the future and how to secure it.

While the job of bringing security to Iraq is not finished - as the recent fighting in Basra and elsewhere vividly demonstrated - we are no longer staring into the abyss of defeat, and we can now look ahead to the genuine prospect of success. Success - the establishment of a peaceful, stable, prosperous, democratic state that poses no threat to its neighbors and contributes to the defeat of terrorists - this success is within reach.

Should the United States choose to withdraw from Iraq as Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama wish to do; before adequate security is established, we will exchange for this victory a defeat that is terrible and long lasting. Al Qaeda in Iraq would proclaim victory and increase its efforts to provoke sectarian tensions, pushing for a full scale civil war that could descend into genocide and destabilize the Middle East. Iraq would become a failed state that could become a haven for terrorists to train and plan their operations.

We cannot allow this to happen.

The American people deserve the truth from their leaders. Doing the right thing in the heat of a political campaign is not always the easiest thing. But when 4,000 Americans have given their lives so that America does not suffer the worst consequences of our failure in Iraq, it is a necessary thing. In such a grave matter, we must put the nation's interests before our own ambitions.

My opponents' calls for an immediate withdraw, regardless of the consequences, is a reckless and dangerous move that would threaten the long term security of our country. Leadership is not about bowing to the political pressures, it is about thinking through the consequences and having the experience and judgment to make the tough decisions.

Senators Clinton and Obama will surely echo the sentiments of their extreme liberal supporters and call for a pre-emptive withdrawal from Iraq. The American people deserve better. I encourage both candidates to move beyond empty and destructive rhetoric and elevate the debate to a level that the country deserves. There are tough decisions ahead and America deserves leaders that are up to the challenge.

As president, I will ensure that our troops come home victorious in this war that is part of the larger struggle against radical Islamic extremism and will continue to make keeping our nation secure my highest priority.

Sincerely,
John McCain

you have my vote sir! we need to rebuild and rearm our military because i believe all the down sizing has us unprepared we need big military. and all our factories back in usa. we need to be self supportive and rely on noone!!!! you change it . not no non military democrat.god bless america and you too sir.

This all sounds good but it's easier said than done. I would like to hear how he is going to make this happen instead of just hearing promises. I bigger military has always been a republican selling point. Bush promised this and hasn't delivered.