October 8, 2008 Vets crisscross NH on behalf of McCain Play video

(NECN: Brad Puffer) - A group of veterans say Barack Obama is not ready to lead. They support John McCain, and today, they spoke out in New Hampshire.

Veterans from Iraq, Afghanistan and Vietnam travelled through New Hampshire today to insist Barack Obama is not ready to lead. As McCain struggles in the polls due in part to the nation's financial crisis, McCain's surrogates are going on the attack in the battleground states.

Gary Bernstein, a retired CIA officer who had a key role in the invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, is attacking Obama for saying he would negotiate with Iran.

"I have two children who are officers in the US armed forces, with Mccain as commander-in-chief I will sleep a while lot better at night."

Erik Swab, a Marine infantry officer in Iraq, praises McCain as the one man who stood up and promoted the surge, a tactic he says officers on the ground had been calling for.

"If you look at Barack Obama's plan his 16 months withdrawal of all combat brigades, it's ludicrous."

And, then there was Colonel Leo Thorsness who spent two years with John McCain as a POW in Hanoi. Thorsness criticizes Obama for failing to visit wounded vets in Europe.

"When he went to Germany he didn't go to Landstuhl, and I've been there twice. I was so disappointed in that he does not have the respect that the military yet deserves."

Thorsness says while much of the country is understandably worried about the economy, voters should

"The economy normally favors democrats, foreign policy normally favors Republicans, the war is unpopular, all those things point to a Democratic victory and John Mccain being close says he's quite an outstanding guy."