Words never spoken – “Lincoln is up over McClellan by 6 points. It looks like the swing state of New Jersey could be leaning McClellan’s way. This election of ’64 is all over the map” or “The latest tracking poll shows that McKinley is ahead in the swing states and is now up 54-46 amongst late deciding voters.” Or how about, “New polls indicate that Thomas Jefferson could face trouble in the election.” What? Never read about the media and pollster wars of the 1860s? Haven’t come across how the daily tracking polls gauged whether or not Washington could beat the British? Are you sure you haven’t seen a documentary somewhere that showed how Americans were asked whether or not we could win World War II? For as much fun as everyone has looking at polls, they seem in general to have degraded our society. The media is now only focused on making every election into a horse race. If the campaigns can’t be covered as a sporting event then the mainstream press heads home and leaves the C-SPAN cameras to a lonely audience of informed, but vastly outnumbered smart voters.

There is one poll that was released recently though that caught my eye. You will never see this covered in the press and I doubt you’ll hear much about it anywhere either. Back in the spring there was a great deal of talk about how military members were supporting the anti-war Ron Paul and Barack Obama. The evidence was only anecdotal, but the liberals loved harping on it. As someone that has actually served in the military and has scores of friends that are either still serving or have served, I knew I had a better handle on the situation than what some liberals were gleefully touting. Now there is confirmation for my gut feeling. The Military Times is perhaps one of the most read and respected papers among members of our military and their new poll of our troops shows a landslide of support for their fellow warrior, John McCain. The numbers are overwhelming and startling.

When asked for whom they would vote for president the members of our Armed Forces prefer McCain over Obama by 68% to 23%. These numbers hold up across the board with enlisted 67-24 for McCain, officers for McCain by 70-22, males 70-22 for McCain, women by 53-36, the Army 68-23, the Air Force 69-24, the Navy 67-24, and the Marine Corps leads the way once more with McCain at 75% to Obama with 18%. In the 18-34 group its McCain 65-27 and with 35 and over its 70-21. Hispanics are for McCain by 63-27 and other races beside white, Hispanic, or black are for McCain 58-30. Only amongst blacks does Obama do well (79-12) but even that total is far below the 97% he is receiving from black voters in most polls. Is it any wonder why it is so difficult to get absentee ballots to our troops?

Even more telling are the answers to the questions of 1. Who would handle the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan better? 2. Which candidate would better handle military personnel issues such as pay and benefits? and 3. Which candidate would better handle Department of Defense issues such as weapons purchases, the size of the military, and national security strategy? McCain takes all three by higher percentages than even those that would vote for him with 74%, 73%, and 77%, respectively. General Colin Powell may have endorsed Sen. Obama, but this poll shows he is clearly not in agreement with the vast majority of our men and women in uniform. In fact, he said one of his reasons for endorsing Obama was that he didn’t want any more Supreme Court justices appointed by a Republican. Judge Wapner could have used that rationale.

Yes, the Democrats love our military, especially when they can find a veteran to criticize it or endorse one of their candidates. Little attention is paid to veterans that run for office as conservatives, but the media fawns over any veteran that is willing to bash the war or the GOP. Paul Hackett in an Ohio special election in 2005 was the first example (he lost), while others came along in 2006 with mixed results.

It was a pattern that began with Sen. John Kerry stepping up to the podium at the 2004 Democratic convention, saluting, and stating, “John Kerry reporting for duty.” Thankfully veterans pointed out that Kerry literally threw away his medals, testified and lied before congress that our troops in Vietnam were committing war crimes on a daily basis, and that he received three Purple Hearts though his wounds were so superficial that he didn’t even need stitches. Enough about Kerry however. His time has passed. Hopefully the time has passed as well for the media to keep ignoring what our military and veterans have to say about this election. The Commander-In-Chief means a bit more to them when they are actually in harms way than it does to the liberal latte sipper at the coffee shop. Let us hope that the next president that leads them is one that has truly fought for our nation, and not just in a metaphorical manner.