Toe to Toe

Over at Ace of Spades HQ, Drew M. caught this Senate floor volley between John McCain and Barack Obama regarding Senator James Webb's (D-VA) proposed update to the GI Bill of Rights.

Obama:

I respect Sen. John McCain's service to our country. He is one of those heroes of which I speak. But I can't understand why he would line up behind the President in his opposition to this GI bill.
I can't believe why he believes it is too generous to our veterans. I could not disagree with him and the President more on this issue. There are many issues that lend themselves to partisan posturing but giving our veterans the chance to go to college should not be one of them.

McCain:

It is typical, but no less offensive that Senator Obama uses the Senate floor to take cheap shots at an opponent and easy advantage of an issue he has less than zero understanding of. … Unlike Senator Obama, my admiration, respect and deep gratitude for America's veterans is something more than a convenient campaign pledge. I think I have earned the right to make that claim.

…And I take a backseat to no one in my affection, respect and devotion to veterans. And I will not accept from Senator Obama, who did not feel it was his responsibility to serve our country in uniform, any lectures on my regard for those who did.

(Emphasis mine.)

It's going to be a hot summer.

Question: Did McCain play the ChickenDove card?

Comments

[doubleplusundead]

Question: Did McCain play the ChickenDove card?

Maybe, but considering how often the chickenhawk card gets played, seems only fair to give him a pass...

[AverageAmericanisEasilySwayed]

A pass? mcchurian has LIVED on a pass for decades. I didn't know he was so sad of a senator until all the light wasn't shone on him, so we had to dig about one-tenth of an inch and found oodles of incredible betrayals to America (day one in HH) and Arizona (oodles of 'special land deals' for him and his buds), let alone his ties to the real mob, meyer lansky's syndicate, and his millions coming from that mob thanks to his father-in-law doing jail time in place of scheister kemper marley, lansky's side-kick. What a team --- more crooks and criminals and scheisters and ya'll look the other way out of some dumb-ass ideals.

Here's a good job for ya'll dead-from-the-neck-ups vis-a-vis int'l policy. Go ahead, spread the good propaganda further.

http://www.johnmccain.com/ActionCenter/BlogInteract/BlogInteract.aspx

[baldilocks]

Easily Swayed Pinhead,

Know what the views of your host(ess) are before you come in slinging insults. People are more inclined to follow you links when you do that.

[IronMike]

Let's get some things straight here.
1) Obama wouldn't be for this GI Bill if it were not an election year.
2) McCain should be ashamed. Not only are the services meeting their recruitment goals, they're exceeding them.
3) The facts are that the gov't makes money from the GI Bill. When my dear spouse worked for the VA office some years ago, she came across data showing how few GIs actually use their GI Bill, let alone enough to make up for what they paid in.
4) Webb's GI Bill is good for soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines. Even if you only get a guy for four years, you've got a guy for four years!
5) This GI Bill may bring in as many new soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines as it purportedly will persuade to get out.

Bottom line: this new GI Bill needs to pass.

[baldilocks]

Thanks Mike, but I think the points of both McCain and Webb are valid.

The McCain-Obama thing has a history and I think that's what's coming out here.

[Spiker10]

"Mcchurian" is the most perfect name for him, coddled since day one, crashed 4 aircraft, coughed up info on American movement in VietNam within hours, is owned by the mob and 'the lobby,' sold his ass in land for bucks, and is still considered a "hero."

Was he, like karl rove, a friend of Ted Bundy's as well?

[Rustmeister]

It's good to see the nutroots out doing their thing.

All they can do is hurl insults at those they do not agree with and chant "Hope, change" with those they do.

I'd like to see one of them go to the SERE course....

[JLawson]

The nutroots aren't actually trying to 'persuade', I think, but instead are trying to pump up their own egos through insults and denigration of others' opinions.

They're trying hard to NOT see their own positions (and candidates) being as fragile as a New Orleans dike. Yeah, they look formidable, but their underpinnings are sunk into mud, and stuff keeps percolating under them and popping up on the other side.

[Casey]

Anonymous IronMike misses a rather vital point: how much money does the Federal government expend to produce a qualified soldier/sailor/marine, compared to how much said recruit is compensated for a single-term enlistment.

The original GI Bill was written for literally the millions who served this country during WW2, including the "OHIO plan" conscripts (Over the Hill In October), wherein it was expected that their term of service would end less than a year after their enlistment. Considering the nearly half-million who died during that war, the price is not exorbitant.

Compare this to a single four-year enlistment which garners the recipient all sorts of benefits after a single tour. Talk about gaming the system...

A GI Bill should reward loyal and extended service. Signing up for a single tour, especially when the odds are you still won't get assigned to the sandbox, hardly fits the bill.

The "Obama" version dispenses benefits quite freely (no surprise there) after four years, while the "McCain" version requires at least one re-up.

I don't think that's an onerous requirement...