| During a war (or two), most people like to support the troops. It's often seen as being in poor taste for citizens not to do so. That's why--if you're really intent on not supporting the troops--you have to at least make it look like you're supporting them.
Doing this is really a lot easier than it sounds--especially when you work in the United States Senate. It basically works like this: When one Senator proposes pro-troop legislation (and you're dead-set against it), you go through the following steps:
1. Avoid talking about it for as long as you can.
2. When you can no longer avoid talking about it, say you haven't "looked at it enough." Be vaguely negative, but remain non-committal.
3. When you're forced to come out for or against the legislation, instead say that you're going to propose your own, similar legislation to support the troops.
4. When you introduce your own, similar legislation, ensure that it sounds a lot like the original bill, just make sure that it, in reality, it's a toothless version that won't actually help the troops at all.
5. To cap it all off (and to maintain the ruse), make sure in the end that you proclaim just how much you love and support the troops.
This technique works all the time. Just ask John McCain. He did it with Jim Webb's Dwell Time Amendment, and he's currently on Step 3 with Webb's new GI Bill legislation. In fact, with regard to McCain, I'd call it a pattern. You can see the pattern here clearly:
Dwell Time Amendment, 2007
Jim Webb's proposed Dwell Time Amendment would have given troops equal time at home as deployed. The military prefers that troops get twice (or even three times) as much time at home between tours as they serve in combat. Webb's bill would have simply established a bare minimum. Surprising many, John McCain chose not to support Webb's amendment--instead opting to go through the Five Step Process to avoid supporting the troops.
Step 1. Avoidance
Webb is reintroducing the amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act, which won 56 votes last month. The amendment would require service members to be home for an equal time to their last deployment before they can be deployed again.
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Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) did not respond to requests for comment on this article.
Step 2. Be vaguely negative, but non-committal
"This certainly is without precedent," McCain said. "I think it would be bad congressional micromanagement" and would have "immediate, adverse effects" on Iraq operations.
Step 3. Propose your own legislation
At a closed-door luncheon meeting Tuesday, Senate Republicans discussed drafting an alternative, non-binding "Sense of the Senate" resolution stating that the Senate recognizes that the burden is very heavy on troops but supporting the troop rotations set by the Pentagon, senators said. Republicans hope floating that proposal would prevent defections by allowing their conference to go on record recognizing the challenges facing troops in Iraq.
Step 4. Introduce your own, de-fanged legislation
To Webb's surprise, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), a Naval Academy graduate and current chairman of the Armed Services panel, announced today on the Senate floor that Warner would offer a separate amendment known as a "sense of the Senate resolution." Warner's amendment would say the Senate would like to allow servicemen and women to have as much time at home as they serve overseas. But it would not require it.
Step 5. Profess your support for the troops
McCain said he and Sen. John Warner (R-VA) have teamed up to put together a "sense of the Senate" amendment to express "very clearly that we all want all our troops home and we understand the stress and strain that's been inflicted on the men and women in the military and the guard and reserves."
And now, he's doing it again:
GI Bill, 2008
The new GI Bill currently being proposed by Jim Webb is, in essence, nothing new. When it was first introduced in 1944, the purpose of the bill was to ensure that troops who'd fulfilled their service obligations would be entitled to a full education at the expense of the government. The bill was signed into law and functioned that way for decades. Since last year, Jim Webb has simply been attempting to update the GI Bill so that it meets with the original intent in a modern economy. Unfortunately, these days, the amount of money allotted does little for today's veterans.
Strangely enough, John McCain wants to keep it that way so as to force troops to stay on active duty. That's why he's initiated the Five Step Process to once again avoid supporting the troops.
Step 1. Avoidance
Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.) is calling on presumptive GOP presidential nominee Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) to sign on as a co-sponsor to his GI bill, which would improve educational benefits to veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"McCain needs to get on the bill," Webb told reporters after a Christian Science Monitor breakfast meeting on Wednesday.
Step 2. Be vaguely negative, but non-committal
"I have not had the chance to examine it carefully," he said. "It seems to me that it is a good thing to do. But I haven't examined it with the care that it needs. But we obviously need to do something along those lines."
Step 3. Propose your own legislation
On his campaign plane this afternoon, McCain said he and allies in the Senate are working on an alternative to the bill, but would only support something that included incentives to stay in the military.
"We are working on proposals of our own - I'm a consistent supporter of educational benefits for the men and women of the military," McCain said.
Step 4. Introduce your own, de-fanged legislation
This next step for McCain on the GI Bill should be coming shortly.
Step 5. Profess your support for the troops
Of course, this last step will certainly be a centerpiece of McCain's introduction of his own legislation.
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It's very clear to me that John McCain never had any intention of supporting the new GI Bill--just as he had no desire to ensure that troops got equal time at home as deployed. To those of us who've served, this is an especially tough letdown, considering that John McCain travels the country talking about his own time spent in the military. We should be able to count on him.
Unfortunately, however, Joe Conason gets it right in today's New York Observer when he says of Senator McCain:
He has time to barbecue sausages for journalists. He has time to take a bus tour glorifying his own service. And he has time to hold fund-raisers in Atlanta, New Orleans, Phoenix, St. Louis, New York, Boston, Chicago, Las Vegas and even London.
But he has no time for today's soldiers. If that isn't the worst kind of elitism, what is?
Disappointing but true. |
