| As Vince pointed out, Texas congressional Republicans, many of who have never wore a military uniform, talk a good game on taking care of our troops but voting records and otherwise indicate how congressional Republicans only care about their political livelihood, accepting donations from companies profiting of the war, and voting to continue to demoralize and destroy our active military and their families.
Kay Granger (R-Fort Worth), Kenny Marchant (R-Coppell), Michael Burgess (R-Flower Mound), and Joe Barton (R-Ennis), all of who represent portions of Tarrant County, have consistently contributed to the mirage of administration rhetoric about national defense and troop care, only to have their voting records demonstrate how much they don't care about the wellbeing of America's most precious military treasure. |
| With over 160,000 active Texas service-members, and over 23,000 Texas National Guard members in Iraq, coupled with military bases and defense companies too, the argument can be made that the Lone Star State makes a huge contribution to national defense. Logically that would indicate a higher moral obligation amongst our congressional delegation to do what is right for our troops. Point in fact, neither of the Tarrant delegation, minus Burgess because Dick Armey was still in office, asked the necessary questions or demanded oversight in the entire ramp up to the war, the execution of it, and the debacle after initial combat operations. They put blind faith ahead of what was right for the country.
All of the Tarrant County Republican delegation stands with President Bush in sending men and women into combat without proper equipment and training, coupled with the proper amount of rest between multiple deployments into these war zones. They are against applying goals and benchmarks, as recommended by the bi-partisan Iraqi Study Group, that the Iraqi government must reach in order to wean away a culture of dependency by the Malaki government. They instead promote an open-ended commitment of more servicemen and women to combat without a real strategy for success in Iraq.
Considering over 2200 of the roughly estimated 24,000 wounded soldiers hail from Texas, each representative failed to do their part while in the majority to utilize foresight and ensure adequate appropriation for health care was granted for returning wounded war veterans. Their unwavering support for President Bush would indicate they likely also support the reductions in veteran care for the proposed 2008 budget too.
Moreover, as Vince noted, all have expressed their intention to vote against the impending Iraq War supplemental spending bill, highlighting how each lean on rhetoric to act tough, but when push comes to shove will leave soldiers and their families out to dry every time. Now who is "slow bleeding" our troops? These Republican troop haters have already voted against extending access to TRICARE health coverage for National Guard members and their families, and voted against combat bonuses for our overburdened military families.
The bottom line is that the artificial claim that Republicans have on being tough on defense, and caring for our soldiers, is all fictional rhetoric in an attempt to show "compassionate conservatism" politics. It is pandering for self-political gain. They've demonstrated time again the only thing important to them is maintaining absolute power at all costs, including our national defense, and profiteering from war. As another congressional election year approaches, any candidates in Tarrant County wishing to take on these troop haters should be prepared to expose these Republican chicken hawks as the political panderers that they truly are. |
