Rachel Maddow: There's a Difference Between Being a Veteran and Supporting Veterans. Here's John McCain NOT Supporting the Troops, courtesy of MSNBC's Keith Olbermann and Cliff Schechter's book, The Real McCain



He claims to “support the troops,” but he doesn’t. What he supports is mindless shows of force abroad as a façade for supporting the troops. Here’s where he doesn’t support the troops:

•In one of the most flagrant attempts to mislead, McCain opposed the Webb GI Bill for Iraq veterans, and then, when it passed, used the “we” to give the impression that he helped pass it. Also giving the false impression that he voted for it, he used glowing terms for what the bill accomplishes.

•McCain opposed the Democrats' amendment to include more body armor in a defense bill.

•In 2005, proposed Akaka (D-HI) S. Amdt 149 to increase medical care by 2.8 billion in 2006. Veterans are returning with serious brain injury and other trauma, but McCain opposed this amendment.

•In 2006, McCain opposed S. Amdt 1852, which would set aside $10 million for readjustment counseling services for troops, despite the evidence that returning soldiers often seriously require such treatments.

•In 2006, McCain again opposed monies for Veterans Medical care. In all these cases, he offered no alternative measures of his own (see Schechter, The Real McCain, p. 35).

•He opposed Dodd’s S.Amdt 2735 to shore up failing infrastructure at veterans hospitals . The bill would have required a minor rollback of the capital gains tax to pay for it. Tax-cuts for the rich took precedence.

•He opposed S. Amdt 2737 (Reed-D-RI) which would have provided much needed equipment for troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.

•He opposed exempting military personnel from some facets of bankruptcy (Durbin-D-Il).

•Using 155 Senate votes affecting troops, veterans, and military families, since Spt. 11, 2001, the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America found John McCain scored a D. No one got an A. Thirteen Dems got A-. 22/23 Senators getting B+ were Democrats.