I just checked the roll call vote about body armor that Vote Vets made an ad about. The ad disappeared from YouTube briefly, but it's back up (and embedded below). I wanted to verify that I was correct in advocating for the ad to be used in Arizona against Senator Kyl.

(Incidentally, Saint McCain also voted against giving our troops the armor they needed to be safe)

The motion was to table an amendment to the Iraq appropriations bill in 2003 to provide about a billion dollars for the National Guard and Reserves. Kyl voted yea on the motion, effectively killing the amendment and, not ironically, many many of our troops in Iraq.

I've never been a fan of defense appropriations, but this should have been a no-brainer. The no-accountability Congress got the troops in this mess; the least they should have done (or should now be doing) is give them the resources they need to survive.

Jim Pederson needs to get vocal on this issue. Even supporters of the war can understand the importance of giving the soldiers the tools they need to survive and the stupidity of refusing them those tools. The Pederson campaign can't coordinate with Vote Vets, but he should be talking about this vote, which was a real failure of leadership.

Go to Vote Vets and give some money and tell them to air the ad in Arizona against Kyl. Let's hold him accountable for the deaths of American soldiers abroad, which he could have helped prevent.