http://abcnews.go.com/WN/Story?id=4244798&page=1 Surprising Political Endorsements By U.S. Troops American Soldiers Speak Out About Their Presidential Endorsements By MARTHA RADDATZ April 7, 2008— ABC's Martha Raddatz asked American soldiers in Iraq what issues are most important to them when looking at the presidential candidates. Though the military is not supposed to engage in partisan political activity, these soldiers spoke out about their personal endorsements, and their opinions are likely to matter. In 2004, 73 percent of the U.S. military voted for a presidential candidate, and officials believe it may be even higher this time around. PFC Jeremy Slate said he supported Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., because of his stated intention to pull out of Iraq right away. "That would be nice," Slate said, "I'd like to be home, yea." SFC Patricia Keller also expressed support for Obama, citing his representation for change. Spc. Patrick Nicholls from Eggawam, Mass., pointed out that many soldiers on the frontlines frequently think about their families back home. "We think about how our families are doing back home. That's a major concern, like how the economy is doing, also as well as where we're going to be in the future. Because really, truly, what we consider we're doing, we're doing a valuable job, we want to make sure that the efforts we make are appreciated." He suggested he was too engaged in Iraq to keep up with politics back home. "I haven't really been following it too much since we've been over here, ma'am," he told Raddatz. "So, don't really know which issues are too important to me right now. ... I don't know who's running, ma'am." Lt. Leah Wicks said that, tied into concerns about her family's welfare, were concerns about the economy, "where we're going to be in the future." Only moments before speaking with ABC News, the troops had been listening to Vice President Dick Cheney give a rousing speech, but it didn't change their political preference. Spc. Imus Loto said he supported Obama. "It will be something different. But he's out there and he'll probably support us a lot more." By support, Loto meant pulling out troops. "Pull me out, too." he said. Though the military is generally a more conservative group, soldiers like Sgt. Justin Sarbaum are just as eager for a pull-out as the Democratic candidates. Sarbaum said he wondered which presidential candidate would be able to better the U.S. relationship with rogue nations, such as Iran, so that soldiers are not sent off to another war. "Iran is obviously a big issue," Sarbaum said, "Here in Iraq for my third time; starting another war right now is it really necessary?" Sgt. Cory Messingham from Lewisville, Texas, said he wasn't following the race, but he was concerned about candidates' paying attention to the emotional toll that the war has taken on soldiers. "My biggest issue is support for the military, military funding and our deployments, not having long deployments anymore. Because [the] majority of us are doing ...15-month deployments. So, it's tough on the soldiers and tough on the soldiers' families. Those are really my biggest issues." 1st Sgt. David Logan said, "I am leaning toward Hillary. I think that we should have a gradual drawdown." Though the soldiers have been living in Iraq, they listen closely to the candidates on issues far beyond the wars they are fighting. "Education back in the states is one of my main concerns," Spc. Matthew Durkin said. Economy and environment were on Staff Sgt. Derek Dion's mind. "Things like gas prices, and look at the environment and what we're going to leave our children." Spc. Joseph Lindsesdt, who is from Alaska, said he was watching for consistency of the candidates' views. "The steadiness of the candidate, whether they've changed their views, constantly, over time, or with political wind, as I like to put it." To that end, Lindsesdt's pick is Obama. "The fact that he's followed his views, regardless of what they have been [sic] and whether I've agreed with them or not, sometimes. But he's been steady the entire way." When asked if he was concerned about criticism that Obama had less political experience than some of the other candidates, the battle-weary soldier replied, "No, I think being a decent leader doesn't have to do anything with experience much." JUNG HWA SONG contributed to this report. Copyright © 2008 ABC News Internet Ventures
So some anecdotal musings from selected personnel is enough to convince you? Wow, typical Obama supporter right there, folks... The troops supporting a Democrat? Why would they support the party that wants them to lose and trumpets their every failure? Why support the party that insults General Petraeus and says that 'if you don't do well in school, you get stuck in Iraq'? Does not compute... this thread is typical libpig garbage, folks...
Support the American hegemony overseas. Vote for any political party. Two sides of the same coin guys...
I saw that news "report" on ABC last night. It was complete and utter BS. They conveniently showed interview clips of 4 or 5 servicemen and women who supported either Hillary or Obama and then only a single troop who was planning to vote for McCain because the GOP is providing his paycheck and he doesn't want to bite the hand that feeds him. It's crap like this that reminds me why I don't bother with the nightly newscasts anymore(not to mention MSNBC and most of CNN). This isn't reporting news. It's cherrypicking a few soundbites in order to create a politically-motivated story. Anyone who watched that last night and actually believed that 80+% of the troops would be supporting the Democratic candidate in November is an idiot. Period.
So what do you use for news? Faux News? Impeach Bush and Send Him to Iraq as a Foreign Correspondent for Faux News.
Not really. I get it from a lot of different sources. AP, CNN, newspapers, Drudge(which is basically just links to AP and newspapers). I just make sure to have my bullsh-t detector on while reading most of it since even the AP is politically biased these days. Honestly I don't watch Fox News that much. I don't agree with the notion that they're a bunch of Bush asskissers however. Just because they don't bash the guy 24/7 and treat him like the Antichrist(like MSNBC) doesn't mean they shouldn't be treated like a respectable news source(excepting shows like O'Reilly and Hannity & Colmes of course).
Totally irrelevant to the fact that this story is a fluff piece for Obama/Hillary. If you can't recognize that, then you are just slow on the uptake.
Of course, the top recipients of political contributions from the troops were anti-war candidates Ron Paul and Barack Obama. WHY DO THE TROOPS WANT THE TROOPS TO FAIL?!?!
To be honest I'm not crazy about these anecdotal stories unless they are being used to humanize or flesh out solid statistical data. It is meaningful to know how the military vote is trending this election because that tells us something about how they see the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. Interviewing random soldiers about their presidential preferences without backing it up with data doesn't tell me much.
I agree and I almost didn't post it for that reason. But it is in line with various other data (polls regarding troop opinion on the war and the idea of withdrawal, troop donations to presidential campaign), all of which is at odds with the conventional 'wisdom' that the military trends Republican and supports military action as a rule. All the data we have (and I agree it is limited) suggests that a substantial portion of the military, in not the majority, opposes Bush and the Iraq war and supports candidates (with money at least) that favor withdrawal.
