Veterans Speak Out Against McCain's Attack Ads

Terron Sims and Seth Lovell (left), and Nick Baucum (right), veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, are introduced today in Arlington.

In Arlington today, veterans of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom came together to call on Sen. John McCain and his campaign to cease their increasingly negative, false attacks on Barack and return to issues that matter to voters across Virginia and the country. The vets denounced McCain's most recent ad, on the air in NOVA, which makes grossly misleading claims to charge that Barack doesn't support our troops.

Nick Baucom, a U.S. Marine who served in Operation Iraqi Freedom, said he is disappointed in the McCain campaign's typical games.

I respect Sen. John McCain and his service to our country, but I no longer respect his campaign's tactics. This attack is a new low and right out of the Bush-Cheney playbook.

The men and women in our armed forces, not to mention Virginians, deserve better than that.

Seth Lovell, a Virginia National Guardsman and veteran of both Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom, backs Barack because of his strong record on veteran's issues, and was happy to see him visit the troops last week.

As a veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan, I was proud to see Senator Obama meeting with our troops last week. I'm supporting Senator Obama precisely because he supports our troops. Senator Obama has been a leader on veterans issues. He was an early vocal supporter of Sen. Jim Webb's GI Bill, and has consistently shown judgment that puts our troops and the security of our country first.

Republicans and Democrats alike are condemning this latest in a series of false attacks. Terron Sims, a U.S. Army veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom, sums up the general reaction nicely:

It is wrong for [Sen. McCain] to use our men and our women serving in that war to attack Barack Obama. These tired attacks have become part of the Washington playbook and represent exactly why we need real change in Washington.

This article can be viewed on Barack Obama's website at http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/group/VirginiaforObama