MO Republicans harass & attack Iraq vet with PTSD

[Neecy]

This is a sad tale of how these 'support the troops' hypocrites treat any soldier who doesn't toe the Republican line.

The young man in this story, Josh Lansdale, returned from Iraq with injuries to his ankle and PTSD. It took him six months (!) to get an appointment with the Kansas City VA. He told his story in a campaign ad for US Senate candidate Claire McCaskill, and the ad went on to note that her Republican opponent, Jim Talent, has voted repeatedly to cut VA funding.

Republicans in Missouri immediately went apeshit and demanded Lansdale's medical records to 'prove' that it indeed took that long to get his appointment - and ridiculed and belittled him for extra measure. Here are a couple of accounts of this sorry Republican carnival:

According to Lansdale in a telephone interview tonight, he’s been flooded with calls from angry Republicans — including one from U.S. Sen. Kit Bond’s office, where an aide asked why Lansdale didn’t contact Bond first when he had trouble getting in to see a VA physician.
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Even though the ad has been off the air for at least a week, a group of pro-Talent veterans — including state Reps. Jack Jackson, R-Wildwood, and Jim Avery, R-Crestwood — gathered in front of the Soldiers Memorial Tuesday afternoon to blast the ad, McCaskill and Lansdale.
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A Republican National Committee aide handed out a DVD of the ad — which Avery acknowledged has been a boost to McCaskill’s Senate bid. “It’s had an impact,'’ Avery said.

He added that the McCaskill campaign “has hidden Josh somewhere,'’ so the media and others can’t question him on his story.

Emphasis mine. What 'others' does the Republican National Committee mean here?

http://www.stltoday.com/blogs/news-politicalfix/2006/10/talent-allied-vets-attack-mccaskill-ad-josh-responds/print/

Here's a little more on this story:

On Wednesday, Lansdale and supportive veterans held a news conference in Kansas City to blast the Talent campaign for raising questions about whether it really took Lansdale six months to see a physician for Iraq-related injuries.
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According to Lansdale, he returned from Iraq in April 2004. Because of overbookings and cancellations, he says, he was unable to see a physician until July 2005.

Glenna Greer, a spokeswoman for the Kansas City VA, said that Iraq returnees get top priority, and that the goal is a wait of no longer than 30 days for a physician visit. "But we do overbook and there are exceptions," she said.
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Lansdale, 24, is an Army EMT and firefighter who has been on disability since returning from Iraq with ankle injuries and post-traumatic stress disorder. He said Wednesday that he didn't blame the VA for any delays in his medical care. But he's furious with Republicans who "are trying to personally discredit me."

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/columnists.nsf/jomannies/story/8C04EA2848FB058886257205000FC840?OpenDocument

Jim Talent is running one of the nastiest, most despicable campaigns I've seen in my lifetime. For his campaign to harass a veteran with PTSD has to be a low point to this election season.