Bush lauds McCain’s work on GI Bill expansion — despite McCain’s opposition

On Thursday night, the Senate approved the war supplemental, which included the expansion of the GI Bill, sponsored by Sens. Jim Webb (D-Va.) and Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.), and approved with broad, bipartisan support. This morning, the president signed it into law.

For those of you who can’t watch clips online, Bush said, “…I want to thank members who worked hard for the GI Bill expansion — especially Senators Webb and Warner, Graham, Burr, and McCain. This bill shows the American people that even in an election year, Republicans and Democrats can come together to stand behind our troops and their families.”

The chutzpah involved with such a pronouncement is truly breathtaking.

First, the Bush White House publicly opposed the GI Bill expansion. The president ended up reversing course when lawmakers ignored his demands and passed the bill anyway — by a veto-proof majority (75 votes). It left Bush in the untenable position of signing into law a bill he actively fought against, or vetoing a measure to help give veterans better educational benefits. He wisely chose the prior, but his comments this morning made it sound like Bush wanted the GI Bill expansion all along. The opposite is true.

Second, and more importantly, the president praising McCain for his “hard work” on this bill is a special kind of stupid.



McCain not only opposed the GI Bill expansion, he fought against it. Indeed, he bragged that his opposition to the bill was evidence of his character. Just one month before the bill passed, McCain said, “It would be easier, much easier politically for me to have joined Senator Webb in offering his legislation.” But the AP noted, “McCain said he opposed Webb’s measure because it would give the same benefit to everyone regardless of how many times he or she has enlisted.”

McCain went so far as to say the GI Bill expansion would literally “hurt the military.”

What’s more, praising McCain for having “worked hard” to pass the bill is especially amusing considering that McCain didn’t even show up to vote at all when the bill came to the floor, and didn’t show up to vote on the supplemental, either.

Indeed, Bush praised five senators this morning for their leadership. One (McCain) fought against the bill and then didn’t bother to vote on it. Two (Graham and Burr) fought against the bill and voted against it. Chuck Hagel was an original sponsor of the bill, the president ignored him altogether. (Talk about a slap in the face….)

Now, the right will argue that McCain, Graham, and Burr deserve praise because they worked with House Republicans to water the bill down a little before final passage. Why Bush and conservatives believe that was a valuable move is a mystery.

And all of this, of course, comes just a few days after McCain took credit for the passage of a bill he fought every step of the way.

We’re dealing with a group of people who know no shame, and will lie recklessly and without a hint of embarrassment.