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.
McCain can talk all he wants about how dedicated the troops are to "winning" the war in Iraq. But this information definitely demonstrates that the soldiers want to come home and they will support the candidate that will make that happen.
It's pretty easy to not represent the whole truth to a subject isn't it.
ReplyDeleteFirst off, what you have failed to mention as did the Center for Repsonsive Politics is of those donors, how many of them were civilian employees versus military employees. They are basing their information off of the FPO addresses (Fleet Post Office).
Yes, Obama did receive more money than John McCain or Ron Paul, but not both of them combined. In addition, of the 2,991 donors, 57% donated to the Republicans and 43% the Democrats.
Additionaly, 62% of the $1,368,678.00 went to the Republicans and 38% went to the Democrats.
So, if you wanted to infer something from those stats, it is that the military supports the Republican candidate. But, it would be wise to not infer anything from this report, because most of your "military" donations are made by troops who are disgruntled not with the White House, but rather with the Pentagon for their current situation.
So your contention is that the civilian staff working in Iraq by CHOICE are the ones who are sending their hard earned money to Obama and Paul? It seems to me that the civilians have the option of quitting. They are there to make a butt load of money and why would they want a President who may cut off the gravy train?
ReplyDeleteNo I think it far more reasonable to believe that the people who CANNOT get out of their obligations to Iraq are the ones who want to have a leader elected who will help them leave that country. And the military are the ones who find themselves stuck in that quagmire, not the civilians.
I think your point is just Republican wishful thinking.
Dear GD,
ReplyDeleteNice try in your effort to distract any readers from the thrust of this post. On what do you base your assertion that military personnel are simply dissatisfied with the Pentagon? How do you know that with such certainty? I would argue that you know it with no certainty whatsoever.
I am the wife of a disabled vet. The vast majority of military men and women with whom I have come into contact are politically conservative. The fact that Obama raised as much as he did, and more than the other candidates, is in my PERSONAL experience, a major coup.
Of course that is not something you will ever admit, either because you are another shoot-and-run republican troll (who will never come back for an actual debate, just post an inflammatory statement and never be heard from again)or you know you haven't got a factual leg to stand on.
It is funny how YOU make an assumption out of one side of your mouth and then rail someone else for doing the same out of the other side.
But then again you Republicans are always very good at that.
You don't have the goods, so you obfuscate.
Have you read the report from this group? Have you read the FEC filings?
ReplyDeleteI'll have you know, that I am also a disabled vet. And I understand that when some individuals get tough orders that they don't like, they occasionally lash out. Of course I have no proof that that is what is occurring, but I do ASSUME that.
As far as Gryphens claim that these people want out of the military, but are unable to because of their OBLIGATION, is a claim that I might agree to as being the personnel doing it. If you join the military, you MUST join under the assumption that you will be killed in the line of duty, regardless of what that duty is.
You're always going to have some of those people join. We had em when i was in and you will continue to have them for years to come.
If you check the bottom of the page linked above you can find this in the comments section:
ReplyDeleteAs a quick check, I looked at the FEC data on contributions from people whose address is given as FPO (Fleet Post Office). There were many civilian employees at military posts who were listed, and there were many repeat donations from some of the contributors. It was easy to determine from the data which contributors were military. In the list of contributors of people not within the United States but with FPO addresses, there were exactly four military personnel who had given to McCain's campaign and some 17 who had given to Obama's campaign.
The ratios were about the same for APO (Army Post Office) addresses overseas, also overwhelmingly for Obama. This is not a survey and is not susceptible to sampling errors, it is a census and a precise count of all contribute rs, subject only to my own counting errors. I am not sure about the minimum contribution threshold, some of the contributions were for less than $25. I don't know where the hearts and minds of America's service personnel are, but for those who are willing to put their money where their mouth is, they are definitely in Obama's camp.
Does that help to make my point clearer?