Tom Burch

A "Fringe Veteran" Vindicated
By John LeBoutillier
Friday February 25-Monday February 28, 2000
NewsMax.com
http://www.newsmax.com/

"Senator McCain has abandoned the veterans. He came home from Vietnam and forgot us."

No other statement or quotation has caused such controversy in the 2000 presidential campaign. And no other single event was more mis-reported and mis-analyzed than Army Veteran Thomas Burch's analysis of McCain's record at a George W. Bush rally in South Carolina on Feb. 3. And in the aftermath of the South Carolina GOP Primary, no other incident better illustrates the mainstream media's pack mentality that has boosted McCain's candidacy.

Reeling from his 19-point defeat in New Hampshire two days earlier, Bush had surrounded himself with soldiers and veterans at an outdoor rally in Columbia, South Carolina. Among those speaking on his behalf were Congressional Medal of Honor winners and a former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Admiral Thomas Moorer. But it was retired Army Green Beret Burch's clear and concise attack on McCain's political record that drew instant national attention.

By now it is well known that John McCain rose to fame almost solely because of his five and one-half years as a prisoner of war in North Vietnam. This part of his life, more than his 17-year congressional record, distinguished him from all the other presidential candidates. Yet he and his defenders in the Senate and in the national news media knee-jerked themselves into convulsions over Burch's remarks, with McCain labeling Burch, in the February 15 debate, "a spokesman for a fringe veteran's group".

The media has marched in lock-step with these "McCain talking points": NBC's Tim Russert two weeks in a row on his "Meet the Press" program has referred to Mr. Burch as a "fringe veteran." Newsweek's Jonathan Alter wrote in last week's issue of Burch as a "fringe veteran." CNN's Steve Roberts decried Burch's attacks on McCain as "the rantings of a fringe veteran." The Wall Street Journal,'s AL Hunt lambasted Burch as a "fringe veteran" on CNN's Capitol Gang adding, "it is just crazy to attack McCain on veterans issues."

How can it be that all these supposedly "independent" news organizations use the exact same language to describe a man none of them had probably ever even heard of before the South Carolina press conference?

In fact, Major Burch's organization, the National Vietnam & Gulf War Veterans Coalition, is hardly a "fringe" outfit. Founded in 1983 as the National Vietnam Veterans Coalition expressly to force the federal government to address the Agent Orange fiasco, the Coalition took the lead in writing the legislation and garnering House and Senate co-sponsors. The Coalition was the only non-chartered veterans organization permitted to testify before the United States House of Representatives.

As Burch says, "Our Coalition was then and is now 'cutting edge.' We want results for our veterans 'now' - while they're alive. We don't want or need more phony studies and delays."

Tom Burch is a former Green Beret and a member of the Judge Advocate Corps, who served in Vietnam and received the Bronze Star in 1968. He is a past department commander of the Washington D.C. Veterans of Foreign Wars. The VFW, along with the American Legion, is considered the most "mainstream" veteran's group.

Senator McCain and his supporters do not want to address the specific charges made by Burch: that as a representative and a senator, McCain was not cooperative on a range of issues important to veterans:

1) According to Burch, beginning in 1984 when the coalition sought co-sponsors for the Agent Orange bill, John McCain refused to sign on. When Burch and his men asked other members of the House to co-sponsor, these congressmen would invariably ask, "Has John McCain signed on to this bill?" When told that McCain had not it was believed, as often happens on the Hill in matters like this, that McCain was against the bill.

It was only after more than two hundred congress members expressed their support for the bill and final passage was assured that McCain finally agreed to come on board. But McCain's foot-dragging and initial reluctance made the coalition's work much more difficult and delayed the veterans' final victory.

2) In 1988 the coalition led the charge for "Judicial Review," a new system whereby veterans rejected for benefits by the Veterans Administration would have the same right to appeal as Social Security recipients have. Again, the coalition members working the halls of Congress asking for co-sponsors to the bill found McCain in opposition.

The senator from Arizona never signed on.

3) In 1991 when new evidence of living American servicemen missing in Vietnam surfaced, the coalition - in conjunction with those "mainstream" veterans organizations, the VFW and American Legion - led the charge for a Senate Select Committee to investigate whether or not any American POWs were left behind in Southeast Asia and whether some might still be alive. All these veterans groups wanted a senate panel instead of an executive branch panel because no one believed the executive branch could be trusted to investigate itself.

Senator McCain initially opposed the Senate committee. Later, when the Senate ultimately created the panel, McCain was appointed a member.

4) As a member of the Senate POW Committee, McCain "distinguished himself" by repeatedly insulting wives, mothers and children of POWs and MIAs and accusing many veterans groups fighting for the POW cause of "making a living off this issue." He made similar charges in the South Carolina primary when the National Right to Life Committee endorsed Bush: "It is a shame when they take a cause and turn it into a business."

5) Tom Burch's District of Columbia law partner is Adrian Cronauer, made famous by Robin Williams' portrayal in the movie "Good Morning Vietnam." When the presidential campaign was heating up last month, Cronauer asked for a meeting with McCain to discuss veterans' issues. The answer came back from McCain's office: "The Senator says he will not meet with you."

6) And when word leaked out that Tom Burch and the coalition were going to endorse George W. Bush, McCain campaign operative and fellow former POW, Orson Swindle, called Burch and said, "We will destroy you."

The mainstream media rallied to McCain's defense after Tom Burch charged that "John McCain abandoned the veterans." Conventional wisdom was that such an attack was political suicide for the Bush campaign in veteran-rich South Carolina.

But the veterans knew better. In fact, exit polling shows that Bush and McCain were separated by only one percentage point among veterans; McCain won 48% to Bush's 47%. Clearly Major Burch's charges struck home. As one former Republican congressman who served in the House with John McCain and is neutral in this year's campaign said the day after South Carolina, "Maybe the media doesn't know it, but most veterans know that McCain's political record on these issues is a disgrace. Thank God, Tom Burch had the guts to say it."

It is one thing for John McCain to label an opponent a "fringe veteran," it is quite another for the news media to become his erstwhile spokesmen.