We have all watched with awe the old war footage of our great American heroes.  Our hearts have broken, yet swelled again with pride, at the courage displayed by our veterans, who charged beachheads straight into withering gunfire, forging through jungles with an enemy lurking behind every frond and tree, surviving the stifling desert heat in the midst of great tank battles, and sloughing through rain and mud to liberate millions around the world.  What has made our military the greatest in the world is the ability of its soldiers to adapt in the field of war to every obstacle, terrain, and tactic the enemy presents, then overcome and move on to victory 

These stories are the legacy of our greatest generation, such as the taking of metal barricades off the beaches of Normandy and welding them to the front of tanks to plow through the giant hedges of France or the Red Ball Express, which became the lifeline to our troops who were pushing into Germany.  Soldiers from sleepy Midwest towns, who probably never dreamed of a jungle, found themselves deep inside the jungle islands of the South Pacific.  No matter the situation, these brave men and women found a way to adapt, survive, and win.

Oftentimes, when fighting on foreign soil in a terrain familiar only to their enemy, the challenge was compounded by the miscalculations of their commanding officers.  Yet, they did not quit. They never gave up.  They found a way to win. There was no challenge, no beachhead, no cliff, and no bulwark that they could not scale and defeat.

The great pride in which we speak of their feats of courage is now shadowed by the grief and knowledge that these veterans of indomitable fortitude have met an obstacle they cannot overcome, a beachhead insurmountable.  This wall impenetrable is the very government they fought to defend.  This jungle of deafening silence is the very Administration that was formed to provide for their quality of life; the Veterans Administration.

The ranking Democrat on the VA is Mike Michaud.  Yes, the Mike Michaud that wants to be Governor of this great State.  He somehow wants us to ignore the deaths of these stalwart veterans, who have died in waiting rooms waiting for a doctor.  This happened on his watch.  He did nothing. 

Mike Michaud expects us to accept his weak explanation of the incompetence of his leadership in the VA and then hand him the reins to our State, which is just beginning to show signs of economic recovery, due to the strong leadership of Governor LePage.  A man voted the most obscure politician in the United States, whose mute leadership in the one bureaucracy to which he was given authority resulting in the deaths and mistreatment of so many of our Country’s finest, is flaunting his negligence in the face of the Maine people, demanding that we somehow turn a blind eye.  This is at best preposterous and at worst reprehensible.

These men and women that we revere sacrificed and overcame so much under such duress only to come home and face that beachhead insurmountable, a bureaucracy under Mike Michaud’s leadership, that no amount of adaptability, bravery, and tenacity could overcome.  They gave so much to defend our freedom that we enjoy.  I think it’s time we defend our veterans and utilize that freedom by voting against Mike Michaud. Let’s make him keenly aware that you can’t treat our veterans in such a deplorable manner and hope to get away with it.  Maine needs a strong, principled leader.  Maine needs Paul LePage!