Veterans Get Political

Memorial Day might be over—but as the debate over the new G.I. Bill heats up on Capitol Hill, we've noticed a surge of videos featuring U.S. veterans weighing in about the two presumptive presidential front-runners, Senators John McCain and Barack Obama. Each has received endorsements from veterans' groups across the country, but each has also been the target of attack ads from others, like the video we saw last week on Senator McCain from VoteVets.org, or this one on Senator Obama:



This latest attack ad is from VetsForFreedom, which accuses Senator Obama of refusing to meet with Iraq War veterans during a recent visit they made to Washington. Meanwhile, other veterans are continuing to speak out against Senator McCain and his opposition to the new G.I. Bill, which would cost nearly 2 billion dollars a year to fund--or, according to most estimates, approximately what the United States spends in Iraq in a week.



Judging from these videos, and in light of the perceived effectiveness of the 2004 Swift Boat ads, it appears U.S. veterans from both parties are going to play a pivotal role in this year's election.