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McCain slams Obama over army
23/05/2008 08:43 - (SA)
Union City - Republican US presidential candidate John McCain opened a new line of attack against Democratic front-runner Barack Obama on Thursday, taking aim at Obama's lack of military service.
McCain, a former Navy pilot and prisoner of war in Vietnam,
struck back after Obama criticised McCain on the US Senate
floor in Washington for opposing legislation that would give
expanded benefits to military veterans.
"It is typical, but no less offensive, that Senator Obama
uses the Senate floor to take cheap shots at an opponent and
easy advantage of an issue he has less than zero understanding
of," said McCain, who was not present for the Senate vote
because he was campaigning in California.
The Senate easily approved legislation that the Bush
administration and some Republicans, including McCain, say is
so generous it could encourage people to leave the military to
take advantage of the benefits to get a college education, at a
time of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan
Obama respects McCain's service
In his Senate speech, Obama said he respected McCain's
military service.
"But I can't understand why he would line up behind the
president in opposition" to the legislation, Obama said.
McCain has clinched the Republican presidential nomination
and has been stepping up his criticism in recent days of Obama
in anticipation of a general election battle in November. But
in this latest rash of attacks he had not mentioned until now
Obama's lack of service in the military.
McCain said he appreciated the role that a former Vietnam
veteran, Virginia Democratic Senator Jim Webb, had played in
developing the legislation aimed at helping veterans gain a
college education and said the approach he supports differed
only slightly.
"And I take a backseat to no one in my affection, respect
and devotion to veterans. And I will not accept from Senator
Obama, who did not feel it was his responsibility to serve our
country in uniform, any lectures on my regard for those who
did," McCain said.
McCain's status as a war hero who spent five-and-a-half years in a
Vietnam prisoner of war camp is a major selling point of his
candidacy for the November election, and many veterans strongly
back him.
- Reuters
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US Elections Special Report
