Claire McCaskill Stops Campaigning...to Campaign

Hey, remember how Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill was going to stop campaigning? Apparently not before she got in one parting shot at opponent (and Army veteran) Congressman Todd Akin.


McCaskill (through the veterans in her video ad) suggests that Todd Akin will not support veterans returning from war. Todd Akin, who himself served in the Army Corps of Engineers. Todd Akin who has seen three sons join the Marine Corps and helped to support their families during multiple deployments. Todd Akin who has served nearly his entire career in Congress on the House Armed Services Committee.

My question to the McCaskill Campaign (and I would assume that they are still taking questions if they are still running attack ads) is this:

Senator McCaskill, you claim to be an independent voice, but you have voted with the President (even when no one else in your party did) 94% of the time. And to be honest, if I had to guess, a good portion of the 6% of the time that you didn't vote with him were days that you didn't show up to vote at all. 

In 2009, the President's Administration floated a suggestion to free up some federal monies after applications for veteran's medical benefits began to spike. The suggestion was to transfer some war injuries to the veterans' private insurance companies to ease the burden felt by the federal government. 

Given your unwavering support of this President, I find it difficult to believe that you would not have supported him in implementing this strategy. 

When people reacted with shock that the President would ask war veterans to pay for injuries sustained in defense of this nation, both Snopes and Politifact jumped in to defend the President, saying that wasn't what he said.

But as with most things the President (and you, Senator McCaskill) have said, the words themselves and the direct result of their application are two very different things. Although billing their private insurance companies is not directly billing the veterans, it will inspire private insurance companies to restrict the policies available to wounded veterans and to raise the premiums on the ones they do offer. The end result is that American citizens who gave their time, their limbs, their eyesight, and many other things to defend this nation will ultimately be forced to pay for the injuries they sustained while doing so.

The bottom line? It isn't Todd Akin who shouldn't be trusted with the care of returning veterans.