Yes, amazing.

McClintock served in the Assembly and then in the Senate during the timeframe covered by Aaron's list of bills.

For the chamber McClintock was in at the time of the bill there was only ONE BILL of ALL OF THE BILLS ON AARON'S LIST where someone voted "NO".

Just one, AJR-2, August 2005. And only one "NO" vote. Dick Ackerman (R-Irvine) voted "NO" on this joint resolution. This may be an error because Ackerman voted "YES" to similar bills and there is no record as to why he would have been the only Senator who voted no on this bill.

But every other bill on the above list was a unanimous "YES" vote (in a few cases there were members who were absent or who abstained).

That's Tom McClintock's "military record". When the going gets easy, Tom McClintock gets going. But when he has to do a little work (like to fix the bills he voted "NO" on in 2005) he sits on his thumbs.

I should note that AB 2094, May 1998, has nothing to do with veterans at all. It is about Child Support Enforcement.

Bob

I think I have mentioned that my mother was a veteran of the United States Navy.

My mother was the oldest of seven children in a family of Irish immigrants in Syracuse. Her family was dirt poor during the depression. My grandfather was a carpenter and there wasn't much work for him in those days.

Yet each of the children was encouraged to go to college. The family worked their tails off to make this possible. My mother, being oldest, sent money home for years and years to help her brothers and sisters fulfill their dreams. Each and every one of the seven children earned a college degree.

My mother went to Nursing School and immediately joined the Navy. It was 1940, well before Pearl Harbor. She saw the worst of the war from the operating room of a hospital ship following the Marines around from beach landing to beach landing.

My mother stayed in the service between the wars and met my father while they were both on active duty during the Korean War. My mom decided to leave the Navy as a Lieutenant Commander after thirteen years so she could get married and have children. If a servicewoman become pregnant in those days she had to leave the service. My mom decided to leave the service first, get married and then have children. I was her first.

My dad stayed in the Navy Reserve and eventually retired as a Captain. My father died just one year before he would have drew retirement pay. As his widow my mother didn't get his retirement pay due to an odd twist in the law. Twenty years later she finally got some restitution from the VA but it didn't amount to much. So for 34 years of service my parents received less than a couple of thousand dollars in retirement pay and really nothing at all in other benefits.

In 1995 my mother started forgetting things. Small things, at first, but then more and more. In 1996 she went through a battery of tests which confirmed what we feared: She was probably suffering from Alzheimer's Disease (an autopsy is requried for 100% confirmation).

My mom slowly declined and died from pnuemonia in 2001. Fortunately my dad had left enough money that she could afford care in a faith-based Alzhemier's facility in the town where we lived. My children were still young and though we looked into keeping her at home it would have been more than we could do. If you have been close to someone progressing through this disease I think you will understand.

In any case my mother was lucky to be able to afford excellent care in a very warm and loving environment. Had the circumstances been different, though, it may not have been so good.

Had my mom lived in California and had she needed to use the California Veterans Home for her Alzheimer's care when it advanced and had Tom McClintock got his way there would not have been a bed for my mom.

*** ----> Why? Because Assembly member Tom McClintock voted "NO" on AB-324 in 1997.

SUMMARY: AB 324 requires the Director of Veterans Affairs and the administrator of the home to ensure that the home meets the
staffing, licensure, and other requirements necessary to provide
health care and related services to members of the home who are
afflicted with Alzheimer's Disease or other related dementia
diseases.

1) Need for the bill. The author's office advises that the number of people who develop Alzheimer's and other related dementia diseases over the age of 75 has doubled in the last few years. The author's office also contends that "If a person is already in a Veterans' Home and develops dementia, he/she can stay. But if you have a dementia related disease and want to get in a Vet home, you cannot."

2) Current Veterans' Home admission practices. According to the
DVA, the Homes do not currently admit veterans with Alzheimer's
because they do not have the capacity to adequately provide the
appropriate care. Under the California Code of Regulations, the
DVA may refuse admission to applicants to the homes requiring
specialized care or other resources not available at the Homes.
However, if a current home member develops Alzheimer's, the home
provides for his/her care as best as it can.

3) Extent of need for Alzheimer's care at the Homes unclear .
There is no current estimate on the level of Alzheimer's care
needs at the homes. The DVA advises that Yountville's secure
facility currently houses 40 Alzheimer's patients. The DVA
advises that in order to comply with the requirements of the bill, the homes would need more specialized staff and physical plant
improvements. The DVA adds that its prior attempts to obtain
additional funding for mental health care have been denied.

This bill was introduced in part due to the publicity surrounding Ronald Reagan's diagnosis of Alzheimer's in 1994.

McClintock was the only member of the Assembly and the Senate to vote "NO" on AB-324 which was eventually signed into law.

Tom McClintock. When the going gets tough, Tom McClintock is AWOL. Tom McClintock: Wrong for veterans.

Bob

Assembly Vote

VOTES - ROLL CALL
MEASURE: AB 324
AUTHOR: Baldwin
TOPIC: Veterans Alzheimer's Disease and related deme
DATE: 08/31/1998
LOCATION: ASM. FLOOR
MOTION: AB 324 BALDWIN CONCURRENCE
(AYES 75. NOES 1.) (PASS)

AYES
****

Ackerman Aguiar Alby Alquist
Aroner Ashburn Baca Baldwin
Battin Baugh Bordonaro Bowen
Bowler Brewer Brown Bustamante
Campbell Cardenas Cardoza Cedillo
Cunneen Davis Ducheny Escutia
Figueroa Frusetta Gallegos Goldsmith
Granlund Havice Hertzberg Honda
House Kaloogian Keeley Knox
Kuehl Kuykendall Leach Lempert
Leonard Machado Margett Martinez
Mazzoni Migden Miller Morrissey
Morrow Murray Napolitano Olberg
Oller Ortiz Pacheco Papan
Perata Poochigian Prenter Pringle
Richter Runner Scott Shelley
Strom-Martin Sweeney Thompson Thomson
Torlakson Washington Wayne Wildman
Woods Wright Villaraigosa

NOES
****

McClintock

ABSENT, ABSTAINING, OR NOT VOTING
*********************************

Firestone Floyd Takasugi Vincent

"bob" - glad to see we struck a nerve, there's much more in store for you as the house of pain is in full swing.

It is amazing that you are now trying to minimize Tom's record and are hair splitting. There is no way to dodge the effigy, now is there???

Sean Penn and Cindy Sheehan will tell everyone how reliable Charlie is, just like Steven Pearcy.

This is tough stuff Bob - really tough, but you guys bought the fire. It is time to get Brett Shylock out there - he made Kerry look like Rambo, time to make Charlie look like he stayed and fought...

Bob,

Just had to say, that was truly a touching story. Really, I'm weepy.

In other news, it's awesome to hear Fred Thompson's support of Tom McClintock. He was a great candidate, and it's nice to see him out supporting Tom now. I think a lot of people iin CD-04 liked Thompson a lot, and this should help Tom in the race. Way to go, Fred!

Davido,

Sarah Barracuda would be proud of you! A basic move in basketball is the "pivot". You just executed a smart pivot AWAY from McClintock's failure to honor the legacy of Army Veteran Ronald Reagan by voting to support Alzheimer's care for California veterans in California's Veterans Homes to--what's the connection?--Fred Thompson, the man who muffed his mission.

Let's stay on topic, shall we? This blog string is about McClintock's sorry record on veteran's issues, not Fred Thompson's sorry record as a presidential candidate. McClintock is heartless. He apparently has no idea what Alzheimer's is like or what it takes to care for someone with the disease. He is so tight fisted that he would deny that care to California veterans like Ronald Reagan or Charlton Heston.

How do you explain that, David? Without a pivot, please....

Bob

Ah, Bob, glad to see it took you only a couple weeks to digest hundreds of bills and come up with a rebuttal. Why, it's almost as though you had a staff looking at that list of bills! You must just be that amazing.

I have to say though, that basically saying "Well, everyone supports veterans when they get a chance, so McClintock's bills don't mean anything" doesn't quite cut it. Your case proves that the CA legislature overwhelmingly supports veterans. The "McClintock is AWOL when the going gets tough" is quite the stretch.

I wish I could ask McClintock for an answer to your bill, but since I can't I have to guess. Did the bill demand way too much money and McClintock was the only one with the guts to vote against it? (Knowing that years later people would seize on the bill out of context to attack him?) Did it somehow violate a serious constitutional principle? Did the DVA oppose it because they were worried about compromising funding for some other part of their organization?

I have no idea if any of this is the case. My point is that from what I know of Tom McClintock, I think it extremely unlikely that you posted the entire story.

Hector

Well, Hector, do your own research. I can say that I came across nothing to explain McClintock's vote against veterans suffering from Alzheimer's. And - once again on a bill important to vets - he was the sole "NO" vote in a state that has built conservative stronghold districts from Mexico to Oregon.

And of the dozens and dozens of bills listed above if you do your research you will find that in only one case did one person vote against one of those bills, and that bill was a non-binding resolution. These were all "easy ones". McClintock's record on the "hard ones"? He votes against veterans. It just doesn't get any simpler than that. You can rationalize until the cows come home but McClintock stands apart from California's conservative Republican caucus in his votes against the interests of California's veterans--including people like Ronald Reagan and Charlton Heston.

Bob

Bob,

There is also nothing to explain your lack of basic research before you causally throw out the charge that Senator McClintock "apparently has no idea what Alzheimer's is like or what it takes to care for someone with the disease."

Guess you did not hear that his own father died of this disease just a couple of years ago. But that is no big surprise since you did not know about the "veteran's candidate" that you came to support had attended anti-war rallies in uniform where they were hanging US Soldiers in effigy.

Perhaps now folks will take your other ranting and ramblings about the record of Senator McClintock with a BIG grain of salt.

John

Not to get too personal but that puts McClintock's vote on the bill into an entirely new and strange light. Or maybe it doesn't. It depends.

His vote was in 1997...perhaps before his father started to visibly suffer from the disease. My comments about McClintock's vote were with respect to his mindset in 1997 at the time he voted on this bill.

Maybe he is kicking himself now.

There is still no excuse.

Bob

Bob,

I can assure you that Tom is not kicking himself, but you should be!

John

Here is how I look at Charlie Brown, 23 years in the USAF. I spent nearly 38 in the USAF, and was on active duty for 9 years before Charlie Brown entered the USAF as a 2lt, so I think I know what I am talking about. He parsed his words, in the typical Liberal Democrat way of avoiding a lie, when he said, "I was not in dress uniform at that rally where a soldier was hung in effigy." Correct, he was not, and he knows that the average civilian who never served in the USAF would not know the difference, and that is how he gets by without "lying" to all of you Liberals supporting him. But, he was there in a major part of a USAF uniform, the Camo Jacket with his name and rank, and flight wings on it. Wearing that item of clothing told the "left-wing loonies" that he supported them as Lt Col Charlie Brown. Else, SOMEONE, anyone, tell me why go in any part of a uniform that identifies you as being in the military? (And have no doubt, even when we are retired, we are still IN the military, and always will be identified with it.) Second, and more important, this clown broke faith with his fellows in arms. By even showing up at a rally where a soldier was hung in effigy, he says that that was ok with him. That disgraces him as traitor to all of those who have worn the uniform proudly and NEVER disgraced it, or those we served with, especially those who gave that greatest sacrifice of thier lives. Shame on you Charlie Brown does not even come close to the feelings of disgust I have for you. Perhaps Charlie was not there the day the AF declared its' Core Values: INTEGRITY FIRST, SERVICE BEFORE SELF, EXCELLENCE IN ALL WE DO. Charlie fails in all three areas and should never get even one military vote in any election he ever contests. This is a great example of how "one gotcha can wipe out 10 attaboys."

Hello David,

What makes you think any part of the rally--which included people against the war and people in support of the war--was against the troops?

The soldier was NOT "hung" in effigy. There was no rope. A uniform was pinned to a wall with a note: "Bush lied, I died".

The message the anti-war people were trying to convey in February 2005? The war strategy stinks to high heaven and needs to change because our troops are dying for no good reason. Do you agree that Rumsfeld's strategy at the time was flawed, David, or do you think everything was going swimmingly then?

Now Brown as you note was not wearing clothes that anybody in the military would say is a proper uniform. He is wearing what I would call "parade dress", the kind of outfit vets have worn to parades and protests for decades.

Now this particular event included people who were both protesting against the war and protesting the protesting. Brown says he talked to people on both sides. The event may not have been what he expected. But he was there to listen and find out what it was all about. Thank God for citizens who will get off the couch and get involved.

Were you aware, David, that when Brown was there his own son was in Iraq? Do you think for a minute that a 26-year military retiree would demonstrate against his own son or his son's best interests? Charlie and Jan's son followed in the footsteps of both of his parents and joined the military. It's a military family, a family of service before self, a family of integrity and honor. You understand the commitment this family has made because you have served yourself.

Let's face it, David. You have your own interpretation of the Air Force core values and as a military retiree myself, I think your interpretation is very narrow. Pinched, even. Brown was there for all the right reasons. The United States was engaged in a bad war and was following a bad strategy. Our great young men and women were getting blown to bits because, in a war of choice, you "go to war with the Army you have not the one you want" as Rumsfeld said. For some reason you are of the mind that whatever the president decides to do is by Gawd what we should do no matter the cost. Look at Bush, David. After almost eight years of incompetence do you still believe that he had any real idea what he was doing when he sent our young people to war in 2003?

Thank God for people like Charlie Brown who were part of the pressure that ultimately led to Bush firing Rumsfeld and implementing a new strategy--under extreme duress, I might add, from people in his own party after the congressional bloodbath for the GOP in November 2006. Thank God the country wasn't totally full of people who never questioned whether what we were doing was right or whether it was being done well.

I sure hope you will reflect for a few quiet moments on what you just did with your comment. You just attacked a man who has put his heart and soul into service to his country, so much so that he has risked the wrath of thoughtless, unthinking people like yourself by running for office when he could have just as easily had a nice, quiet retirement. If there has ever been anybody who failed to fulfill the core value of integrity it is people like you who don't have the personal decency to know when to keep your mouth shut.

This military vet has already voted for Brown and could never vote for a man like McClintock who is the antithesis of service before self. That you can support such a self-centered man by trashing his honorable opponent says volumes about what kind of a man you are.

Bob
Commander, USNR, Retired

THE LAZIEST CAMPAIGN I HAVE EVER SEEN

MCClintock hasn't asked for my vote. I don't know anyone whom McClintock has asked for his/her vote.

Asking for one's vote is the most fundamental of fundamentals in getting elected.

Instead of asking for voter's vote and giving reasons why he thinks they ought to vote for him, he funds two lines of attack on his opponent. He is essentially saying that he has nothing in particular to offer himself.

It like someone coming in for a job interview and saying, "I can't tell you specifically how I can make your company more successful. But I saw the other guy that is waiting to be interviewed and you better be leary of him."

How many in the real world have gotten a job that way?

Lee

McClintock Looking for Voters on Mars

From the Plumas County News
"Citizens turn out for Brown-McClintock debate"
10/15/08

Quote
McClintock, who received the night’s only warning for speaking overtime, expressed some decidedly fringe positions when he professed his support for the long-dismissed Auburn Dam.

His comments on global warming drew audible laughter from the audience, particularly his suggestion that global warming was affecting the entire solar system and that everyone should go home and Google “warming on Mars.”
Unquote

This is not the man we need in Congress. He is completely out of it. I guess since his lifetime views on economic policy were completely discredited by the momentous events of the last month McClintock has found himself wandering in the moor attacking his opponent and saying the most bizarre stuff imaginable as his charicature of a campaign collapses to a close.

Watching the Couric interview with Palin I sometimes wanted to turn the volume down because it was so hard to watch Palin mangle questions so completely. That's how I'm starting to feel about McClintock who apparently lives on another planet when it comes to matters of concern to district residents. If it weren't so sad it would be funny.

Bob

Bob - thanks for confirming you have no sense of humor.

It is amazing you can't recognize McClintock ridiculing the absurdity of Global Warming.

Oh and Charlie didn't answer the bell in Susanville, CA last night. Where was he? In his bunker?

Or was Charlie simply being eliteist, staying away from Northern California?

Aaron,

There is a pet theory among people who deny human-caused global warming that the entire solar system is warming up. They cite warming on Mars as evidence that humans have nothing to do with warming on Earth. McClintock was dead serious in his comment at the debate. That's precisely why people laughed at him.

The Mars theory has been destroyed by real scientists but that doesn't deter Tom McMartian. He'll go with whatever theory best fits his primeval views on the national economy. Hey - Mars is the Red Planet, right? Perfect for Tom.

Bob

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/02/070228-mars-warming.html