The Senate overwhelmingly passes the veteran legislation that President Bush opposes. It's veto-proof. I must confess I find this entire episode utterly baffling. We all know that George W. Bush doesn't much give a shit about what the public thinks of him and wants to "stick to his guns", but since when has shafting the people actually using his guns become such a deeply-held conviction? He can't be opposing this because of the cost--it's a bit late to start caring about such things. And the cockamamie shit he's selling about "retention" is weak tea. Really weak. Does he really want the Democrats to become the party pushing deserved veterans' benefits? No wonder he's losing popularity even in his own party.
But John McCain's stance is even more befuddling. He's backing up Bush on this, despite it being unpopular. Presumably he's interested in being popular. Presumably he's interested in preserving his party's reputation among vets. Presumably he's interested in winning. And yet he's dead-set against this, using the same obscure retention logic as Bush.
Sid Blumenthal tells us that attacking McCain as being the same as Bush isn't going to work politically. Sure?
