Hagel: McCain too busy campaigning to deal with GI Bill.»

[babylonsister]

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/04/04/hagel-gi/

Hagel: McCain too busy campaigning to deal with GI Bill.»

Sen. Jim Webb (D-VA) is leading the charge on a new “21st Century GI Bill” that will dramatically expand the scope of education assistance provided to returning veterans who served after Sept. 11. While Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) has said he is “obviously committed” to “quality education” for GIs, his support for Webb’s bill has thus far been AWOL. In an interview with the Huffington Post yesterday, Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE), who supports the bill, explained McCain’s absence:

“We have talked to John,” Hagel said of the measure, which would remove the buy-in cost for veterans to receive greater education benefits. “John as you know has been involved on other pursuits. He has taken a close look at it, his people are. Both Webb and I had hoped he would get on it. Obviously Obama is on it and Clinton, three out of four Vietnam veterans in the Senate are on it, people like John Warner and James Inhofe are on it.

Indeed, Sens. Barack Obama (D-IL) and Hillary Clinton (D-NY) have both co-sponsored Webb’s bill even though they also have been “involved in other pursuits.”

[hisownpetard]

1. McCain's lack of support for this bill should be trumpeted in the press, who like to zero in

on hypocrisy but somehow have not included this on their list of targets.
I think it's one of his most egregious sins to date - this man who bases his entire campaign on his military
credentials, going back generations, but doesn't want to go against W. to support our troops.

Sickening, really.

[babylonsister]

4. He's pulling the wool over everyone's eyes; I wish Webb would

give an impassioned speech about McCain's ducking this issue that the m$m would cover. x(

[HCE SuiGeneris]

7. The press is doing nothing but fawning over him now.

He is the chosen one for the corrupt power brokers and their sycophants.

[Raven]

2. I understand that one of the reasons McCain is not backing this

bill is that it is too generous and will result in our kids leaving the military sooner than we want them to. Question: do we now have a slave class?

[babylonsister]

6. Yep, dumb the troops down, don't let them expect they deserve

anything. It also keeps them in service; instead of working towards an education, they're stuck where they are for lack of any other viable jobs. :grr:

[CTyankee]

12. what a slander on the troops!

What a statement on their commitment!

[Ichingcarpenter]

3. McCain has missed more votes now than any Senator

in Congress now.

The last row is the percent missed that quarter! Wow.

2007-Q2 112 81 72.3%
2007-Q3 119 59 49.6%
2007-Q4 85 65 76.5%
2008-Q1 85 50 58.8%

[BryMan]

10. Oh man awsome!

I LOVE that Obama Hypnotoad! Freakin sweet! :headbang:

[Metta]

5. Were his lips moving? McCain said he hadn't read it, even though it's been out there for a year.

:hi:

[Inuca]

8. At the HuffPo link

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/04/03/hagel-mccain-facing-elect_n_94934.html Hagel also adds "But we are going to continue to help educate McCain's staff and we hope he becomes part of it." Biting sarcasm. If Hagel is indeed going to have a talk with McCain as he keeps saying, I would gladly volunteer for a fly-on-the-wall position, but be sure that I would be adequately protected (how do you protect a fly? maybe I should chose the cockroach-on-the-floor position, they seem to be more resistant), because it should be quite the fireworks.

[babylonsister]

9. Yep, no one is happy at McCain stalling. Video/article posted yesterday:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=389&topic_id=3101026

[spanone]

11. mccain now supports torture, he obviously cares little about veterans

[bdamomma]

13. this action clearly shows that we are not this man's first priority.

he can eff off.

[bbgrunt]

14. the weasel has other priorities.......? why does'nt the press cover this?

Everytime I turn the tv off and research and read news on the web I get enraged and despondent about the state of this country. Then I turn on the tv again and enter wonderland and am sedated for a time. Where is the press? It is doing its job of providing mass hypnotic anesthesia to the masses. The press knows better than to give much play to this story (except KO) because that might cause some cognitive dissonance and make people scratch their heads and ask "what's going on?"

No, the press is doing what the czars at the war on information pay them for--keeping the masses soothed.

[KharmaTrain]

15. The Military Is Gramp's Achillies Heel...

Not long ago I met an Iraq vet who laughed about Gramps and started to say how much a joke the guy was. I asked him why he thought that way and wasn't Gramps a "war hero"? He laughed again. He then talked about McCain's role in the terrible fire aboard the Forrestal that killed 134 people...Gramps was right in the middle of it and there still remains suspicion that his wrecklessness caused the deck fire. Then he talked about how Gramps was a terrible pilot that led to his being shot down...and while he hung tough in the Hanoi Hilton, it was his own wrecklessness that got him in the place and would lead to his treatment. He then said that if one looks closely, McCain has no cred when it comes to military issues...an empty suit trying to play hero for political gain. He said how many of his former vets and a good number of the actives think the guy's a total fraud and fear him winning as he's totally disconnected with the reality of what's going on. This vet had served several tours in Iraq and said he had been a repugnican but was now an independent...calling boooosh and cheney war criminals and saying there's no way he'd vote for Gramps. Needless to say he's a proud member of the IAAW.

Webb's election made it "OK" for the military to vote Democratic...the GOOP's corruption has turned on a groups that was once among its most loyal supporters.