I pointed out here, here, here, and here, Republicans disrespect and work against the interests of Americans serving in the armed forces. While they use them shamelessly as campaign props and human shields, Republicans then turn around and cut their pay and their benefits, whilst doing little or nothing to get them sufficient body armor or other supplies (no shortage of resources sent to Halliburton), not to mention giving a crap about any strategy in Iraq or Afghanistan beyond their own self-serving political agenda.

But now there’s new startling, hard, cold evidence beyond the newspaper reports and uncovered scandals: a non-partisan veteran’s organization took a list of bills presented in the Senate which would impact troops and veterans (veterans’ benefits, healthcare, medical research dedicated to injured soldiers, etc.), and rated senators based upon how they voted on these matters. Although the veteran’s group did not show the rankings by grade, Bob Geiger published an ordered list sorted by how each senator performed–and the results are striking:

As you can see, the top of the list is dominated by Democrats–with only independent Jim Jeffords breaking up the monopoly–and Republicans exclusively fill up the bottom of the list. No Democrat scored worse than “B-,” and no Republican scored better than “C.” The strongest veterans’ advocate among the GOP faithful scored worse then the lowliest Democrat. (This list is strikingly similar to one showing how Republican and Democratic presidents performed in job creation–with the worst Democrat outperforming the best Republican, with Republicans populating only the bottom half of the list.)

There’s your proof, right there. Republicans will use the troops for their selfish political manipulations, but they won’t lift a finger to actually support veterans who have served our country.

This leaves no doubt: if you want to support the troops, vote Democratic. If you want the troops to get shafted, vote Republican.

Hat tip to DKos.