Imagine this.

Someone makes a statement that is primarily about health care for veterans, and at the end throws in an aside about reinstituting the draft.

The candidate responds "I don't disagree" -- and launches into a long answer about veterans benefits, especially as regards medical care.

Is he
A) Agreeing with the need to improve health care for veterans;
or
B) Agreeing with the need for a new draft.

Well, if you have an IQ above room temperature, context should make it clear that what the candidate agreed with was the part about health care for veterans, NOT the part about the draft, which he did not address at all.

But if you are a partisan liberal, you attempt to spread the notion that the candidate supports the draft (which is actually the position of a number of members of your own party -- including your own candidate, who supports "mandatory voluntary national service"). You post this snippet on your website to support your case.

QUESTIONER: If we donÂ’t reenact the draft, I donÂ’t think weÂ’ll have anyone to chase Bin Laden to the gates of hell.

[Appaluse]

MCCAIN: MaÂ’am, let me say that I donÂ’t disagree with anything you said.

What you don't do is post the full answer which goes on to say this.

McCain: I'm grateful for all of our veterans. I carry with me quite often a quote from General George Washington in 1789. He said, "The willingness with which young Americans will serve their country in future wars is directly related to the treatment of those who have previously served and sacrificed in conflict." He was right in 1789 and he's right today.

All too often our veterans do not receive the care that they have earned, and the scandal of Walter Reed is a blot on the honor of the United States of America and we can never let it happen again.

Now here's what.. I'll make this as short as possible, our veterans have earned our highest priority. And yet we know that there is also routine health care needs that veterans have that in my view, they should not have to go to the VA to receive. OK?

We have tragically and unfortunately in this war a dramatic...well, we're going to have a lot of PTSD. We also have severe combat injuries. Because thank God, we're able to get the wounded from the battle field to medical treatment more quickly than any time in history. That puts an increased burden on our medical, military medical care, as well as our VA.

So, you mentioned Albuquerque VA I believe. I could take you to Albuquerque VA or the Phoenix VA quite often and the waiting room is crowded, the veterans are standing in line to stand in line to get an appointment to get an appointment. That's not the fault of the people that work there. The people that work there are some of the finest in the World. It's just that they're overloaded.

So we have to focus our attention, expand our capability to treat PTSD, combat related injuries, brain injuries, etc. that we're best at. And for a veteran with a routine health care need, why shouldn't we give that veteran a card and take it to the health care provider; or the doctor of their choice and get the routine health care that they need.

That's what...and that way we could utilize the VA and the medical, the military medical, system to it's greatest affect. And also relieve this burden. I don't ever again want to have a veteran stand in line to stand in line to get an appointment to get an appointment. That's not...that's just not acceptable in America. And again, I do praise the people that work there. They're some of the most dedicated people I've ever known in my life. The problem is that there's just not enough of them.

There is really only one term for such behavior -- intellectual dishonesty. But then again, we've seen a great deal of intellectual dishonesty from the Obama campaign and its supporters this year, so why are we even surprised.

Posted by: Greg at 12:02 AM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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