There have been a couple of head-scratch-inducing news stories in the past few days involving the Veterans of Foreign Wars. First, the VFW announced that it was endorsing the opponent of Iraq War veteran and hero to many Allen West, who put his career on the line to save the lives of American soldiers. Instead, the VFW endorsed Ron Klein, West’s opponent, who has never served in uniform.

Next came the news that the VFW has endorsed Democrat Barbara Boxer in the California Senate race. Yes, the woman who upbraided a general for calling her ma’am (which is the accepted military salutation for a woman of senior rank, by the way, but Boxer was too ignorant to know that).

Worse, the VFW has endorsed several other ultra-liberal Democrats who have been openly hostile to the military for years. They include:

* Alcee Hastings
* Steny Hoyer
* Barbara Mikulsky
* Chris VanHollen
* John Dingell
* Charles Schumer
* Pat Leahy
* Patty Murray

What gives? Wondering how this could happen, I went to the VFW’s web site and found that the VFW PAC, which makes the endorsements and which is separate from the VFW, has gone rogue:

The national line officers of Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) are at odds with the VFW Political Action Committee (PAC), calling the methodology process used by the PAC “seriously flawed at best this year and in immediate need of extensive review,” in the wake of the recent congressional endorsements made by the committee.

“Even though the law requires that VFW-PAC be a separate organization, the acronym ‘VFW’ is attached to the committee and the natural assumption is that the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States is somehow making the endorsement decisions. Nothing could be further from the truth, but perception is reality,” said National Commander Richard Eubank.

“Obviously, an organization’s political positions have to reflect the opinions of its members. But those opinions can’t be perceived as ‘off the wall,’ and the methodology used this year to grade candidates obviously is skewed in favor of the incumbent. That isn’t fair, and it actually subverts the democratic process.”

Because of the controversy surrounding the endorsements, VFW line officers have decided to bring the question of continued existence of the PAC to the floor during the 112th VFW national convention in August.

Who’s running the show over at VFW PAC, John F. Kerry?