[Vision2020] Democrats Form Veterans' Council

[Tom Hansen]

>From today's (April 5, 2006) roundup edition of the Army Times -

All I can say is . . .

FINALLY

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Democrats Form Veterans' Council
By Rick Mize (Army Times Staff Writer)

In a war over votes in the November elections, Democrats launched an assault
Wednesday with the announcement of a veterans' advisory council and a new
Web site to show support for veterans and military families.

The Democratic National Committee also announced a new Fighting Democrats
Web site:

Fighting Dems (Back from the Front Lines, Headed to Congress)
http://www.democrats.org/page/content/fightingdems/index/

which will provide links to Democrats who are military veterans and running
for Congress.

"America's veterans and military families share many of the core values of
the Democratic Party, including a commitment to service and a profound
belief that every American who works hard should have the opportunity to
succeed," said Howard Dean, the DNC chairman.

Retired Army Lt. Gen. Claudia Kennedy and retired Army Reserve Col. Don
Fowler are co-chairmen of the new Democratic National Veterans and Military
Families Council, which will have 28 other members who are veterans or
military spouses.

Kennedy, who retired in 2000 after 31 years of service, was the first Army
woman to reach the three-star rank but she became well-known in 1999 for
another reason: making a sexual harassment complaint against another general
officer for an incident three years earlier. Since her retirement, Kennedy
has worked on the fringes of the Democratic Party, supporting many
candidates and causes while declining to run for office herself.

Fowler, a former head of the DNC, spent 31 years in the military, mostly in
the reserves, before his retirement in 1987.

Other council members include retired Marine Gen. Joseph P. Hoar, the former
head of U.S. Central Command; retired Air Force Brig. Gen. Preston Taylor,
who was an assistant secretary for veterans' affairs during the Clinton
administration; and several veterans who were involved in the presidential
campaign of Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass.

Democrats, sensing the Republican Party has been weakened on national
security issues by the growing unpopularity of the Iraq war, have launched
several efforts to get more attention for their ideas about military and
veterans programs. But it has not been easy.

On March 29, Democrat leaders in Congress staged an event to show how they
were fighting on behalf of troops and veterans, while the Bush
administration was not. The White House rearranged a major speech on Iraq by
President Bush to be held at the same time a few blocks away, and
Republicans in Congress launched a counterattack on Democrats.

"Being tough on national security requires a lot more than election-year
political posturing," said Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., who won his seat by
defeating disabled Vietnam War veteran and former VA chief Sen. Max Cleland
in a campaign where Chambliss painted Cleland as being weak on national
security. 

"President Bush and the Republican majority in Congress have been
aggressively working to provide our law enforcement, military and
intelligence communities the necessary tools to prevent and disrupt future
terrorist attacks, and America is safer today because of these efforts."

Dean said Democrats have a better plan, if they can just get the word out to
voters. "We want to send a clear message to our troops, we stand with you
while you are serving and we'll stand with you when your service is done,"
he said.

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Seeya round town, Moscow.

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho

"If I wanted to overhear every tedious scrap of brain static rattling around
in your head, I'd read your blog."

- Bill Maher