McCain Myth Buster Day 3: John McCain and Veterans' H...( WASHINGTON Feb. 15 -- After cast...),Health

WASHINGTON, Feb. 15 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- After casting himself as a "Maverick" in 2000, the new John McCain is walking in lockstep with President Bush, pandering to the right wing of the Republican Party, and embracing the ideology he once denounced. On the campaign trail McCain has callously abandoned many of his previously held positions, even contradicted himself, in a blatant attempt to remake himself into a candidate Republicans can accept in 2008. So just who is the real John McCain? The Democratic National Committee will present a daily fact aimed at exposing the man behind the myth.

Today's McCain Myth: John McCain can be trusted to stand up for veterans and military families.

Throughout this campaign, John McCain has relied on the support of fellow veterans and promised to make veterans' health care his "top domestic priority." [Associated Press, 12/12/07] In reality, John McCain has consistently put his campaign ahead of veterans and military families by pandering to the right wing of his Party on tax cuts.

Faced with a choice between joining Democrats in trying to increase funding for veterans and military families by eliminating some of President Bush's tax cuts for the wealthy, John McCain chose to cozy up to conservatives by preserving the tax cuts he once opposed. Putting his campaign ahead of our veterans, McCain voted against Democratic efforts to improve care at veterans' hospitals, provide mental health services to soldiers with post-traumatic stress disorder and substance abuse problems, and prevent veterans and military families from paying higher fees and co-payments for medical services.

With the one-year anniversary of the revelations of the shameful conditions at military hospitals like Walter Reed coming on Monday, can America's veterans and military families really afford another four years of a Republican President who puts politics and his party ahead of our nation's veterans and wounded w
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