Dear Military Veterans:

Dear Military Veterans:

My name is Willard Mitt Romney. I am running for President of these United States of America, and I am asking for your vote. The liberal media (the far right wing of the GOP known as Fox News excluded, of course) has painted me as a super-wealthy, out-of-touch elitist who has nothing in common with the average person, much less a military veteran. 

That is a complete lie. As a military veteran, you have a lot more in common with me than you might think:

Maybe you have fought battles in foreign countries along side fellow American men and women of all creeds and colors to give women and ethnic minorities in ruthless regimes a taste of freedom and chance to vote in a democracy. I, along with my Republican party, am fighting a battle right here in America to push aside the constitutional rights of certain ethnic minorities to vote and to limit a womans' right to have autonomy over her own body and equal pay in the workplace. Freedom isn't free.

Maybe you charged the enemy in the sands of Iraq, 10,000 miles from home as you wondered how your wife is paying the bills and raising your children by herself. I wondered what my wife was charging on the credit card as I was away and hosting a $10,000 per plate fundraiser at the Sands Hotel and Casino. I feel your suffering.

Maybe you served your country with a career in the armed forces, all along trying to hide the fact that you were a gay soldier. I have spent my entire political career trying to hide the fact that despite protesting in favor of the Vietnam War, I spent the entire Vietnam War in Gay Paris doing Mormon missionary work. If you don't ask me, I legally don't have to tell you about my lack of service.

Maybe you spent three tours of duty in Vietnam, trudging and fighting your way through the jungles in a war you didn't agree with. I received FOUR deferments to avoid military service in a war I DID agree with, but decided to fight the tourists in Southern France and the jungled streets of Paris instead. Converting the Catholics can be hell.

Maybe you have done five tours of duty in the Middle East, eating tasteless C-Rations and sleeping in dusty barracks with sweaty, over-worked, under-paid soldiers. I have five able-bodied sons who have never served a day in their life, but instead eat at five star restaurants every night and pay for their gourmet meals with cool, crisp c-notes after they spread dooty around the campaign trail about me being some kind of patriot. Tom Brady is my favorite Patriot - He donates a lot of $ to the GOP cause.

Maybe you went against your Christian faith (Though shalt not kill) to fight the Nazis and save the lives of millions of Jews and other ethnic minorities in Europe. I went against my Mormon faith (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is opposed to gambling, of any kind) to fight Obama by taking millions of dollars from my Jewish casino magnate friend, Sheldon Adelson. I bet you $10,000 dollars I win this election.

Maybe you never served in the military (like me), but you are a complete patriot in every sense of the word - Maybe during the Iraq war you refused to eat french fries, but instead ordered only "freedom fries" to show your true support of the troops. I never served in Vietnam even though I protested in favor of sending young Americans into the jungle, but instead became sun-fried on the beaches of southern France, in the name of religious freedom and Mormon missionary work.

Maybe you fought the axis powers in Italy and struggled to plant the American flag in the streets of Milan during WWII. I wear an $25,000 Italian suit made in Milan and proudly walk the streets of American with a tiny American flag pin on my lapel.

You see, you may be a veteran who has served their country heroically and has asked for nothing in return. Me, my five sons and my running mate Paul Ryan may have never served a single day in our life, but we are asking for your vote this Fall.

God bless,

Mitt Romney

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In all fairness to Mr. Romney, I have never served my country in the military service either, but at least I offered. Both of my grandfathers were Army men. My uncle was an Army man. The Marines seemed to call me - and did. But it was not to be. A serious football injury to my right arm left me physically unfit to serve.

But at least I made the offer - Mitt Romney, who spend part of his college years protesting IN FAVOR of the Vietnam War, then used FOUR deferments to avoid service in Vietnam, but instead head to Paris and the south of France to convert the Catholics and atheists to Mormonism instead of backing up his views with action on the battlefield.

Barack Obama was 14 years old when the Vietnam War ended, so of course he never trounced the jungles of Vietnam either. He never joined the armed forces, but he was raised by his grandfather, a WWII veteran and member of the Greatest Generation and Obama has ended military combat in Iraq, has found and killed Bin Laden and is drawing down the war in Afghanistan.

My understanding of Mitt Romney leads me to believe that he will extend the war in Afghanistan and is looking to start wars in Iran, North Korea, Israel and Russia. The last thing I want is a war-happy President who likes to look tough by sabre-rattling in the face of crazy dictators.

I don't want a President who is willing to send new generations of poor to war, I want a President who is willing to try diplomacy and intellect to spread peace and keep our sons and daughters from dying in pointless battles 10,000 miles from home.

I have a son who is not fortunate enough to be the son of a sitting Governor, Senator or a millionaire, so the last thing I want is a warhawk President willing to send my only son to die so that the history books write him in as a wartime President.

In August 2012, a University of Maryland public policy study found that the level of proposed spending cuts in Paul Ryan's budget "...will require the federal government to stop doing lots of things it does now... and could be realized through a two-thirds reduction in VA spending, for example, doctors and nurses in veterans hospitals."

The GOP wants to send us to war, but they don't want to properly take care of us when we get home. The last GOP President we had let troops come home to an infested and filthy Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

How has President Obama served our military veterans:

• When Barack Obama took office in January 2009, there were 142,000 U.S. troops stationed in Iraq. Now, the last of our troops have left that country and returned home to their families. 
• In November 2011, the President signed into law the Returning Heroes Tax Credit, which gives businesses that hire unemployed veterans a credit of up to $5,600 per veteran, and the Wounded Warriors Tax Credit, which gives businesses that hire veterans with service-related disabilities a credit of up to $9,600  per veteran. 
• Under the Obama Administration, every VA medical center provides services for veterans suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD),
  and the VA has hired more than 3,500 mental health professionals since 2009.
• Through President Obama’s Recovery Act, the Department of Veterans Affairs was able to hire 2,300 new claims processors to help veterans get their benefits faster.
• President Obama implemented and improved the  Post-9/11 GI Bill, the most comprehensive educational benefit for veterans since the original GI Bill following World War II. It allows veterans, service members, reservists, and Guard members to receive an in-state, undergraduate education at a public institution for no cost. See the facts

Paul Ryan, Romney's running mate voted AGAINST the New GI Bill that was passed under Obama. In fact, Paul Ryan has a vast, disturbing history of voting to send young men and women to fight, but then cutting their services when they come home. See the list here.

So my question is: If you are a military veteran, how can you support a warhawk like Mitt Romney?