McCain "takes care of vets"?

I couldn't help but laugh and laugh last night when McCain said, with a straight face, that he "loves our vets and takes care of them." That's nice for the papers and the press, especially considering his military background, but it doesn't even pass the smell test. His record reveals otherwise. Probably the most significant legislation involving veterans' benefits in generations, the GI Bill of 2008, which gives our veterans access to higher education at next to no costs, was opposed by McCain AND the Bush administration. McCain's initial, patently absurd response was that it would have made for too much incentive for soldiers to leave the military. (Even though a Pentagon study concluded otherwise.)

Thankfully, the GI Bill passed anyway, without McSame's support, or vote. Actually, McCain never even bothered to return to Washington to cast his vote for the very important bill. After all, he had a campaign to run. I hear Repubes all the time pissing and moaning about how Obama voted "Present" during his time in the Illinois Legislature, sometimes during controversial votes. Well, McCain missed more votes than any other candidate for president in Congress this year. Sure, Hillary and Obama missed some votes, too, but I also remember both Hillary and Obama hopping planes back to Washington for important Congressional votes, which is much more than can be said for McCain.

Anyway, Veterans Groups aren't tolerating McCain's lack of support for important veterans' legislation without a fight. Above is a new ad that just began running this morning, and there's another one below that features partial-amputee Jon Kuniholm, who discusses the phony meme of "Support the Troops," when in reality, they've been getting screwed from day one in Iraq by putting their lives on the line with faulty, inadequate and in some cases missing equipment.

Here's hoping that all vets, stop-lossed soldiers, National Guard men and women who have had their tours mercilessly extended, and their families are all registered to vote and have their voices heard on election day.