policy with pop

McCain Supports Army Wives

Senator John McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, recently made an advertisement that pays tribute to the men and women in our armed services while promoting Lifetime’s original series Army Wives. Wait… What!?! Army Wives???

I’ve never seen the show so I don’t really know how to explain it. But according to Lifetime, Army Wives follows the lives of women who face “all sorts of challenges trying to fit in, stay connected to their soldier spouses and abide by strict military traditions.” Perhaps McCain’s ad can give more clarification.

One of the most interesting lines in this ad is when McCain says that our “best efforts to honor our debts to you [the soldiers] will fail fall short of what you have given and what you deserve.”

Many young veterans I know were really disappointed when McCain, a veteran and a Vietnam War POW, was opposed the new GI education bill a few months ago. The Senator’s opposition stemmed mainly from his belief that the bill, which would give equal educational benefits to all veterans regardless of the number of enlistments served, would harm the voluntary military’s retention rates. McCain argued that a slide scale of educational benefits should be implemented to give our servicemen and women an incentive to re-enlist and thus strengthen the all-volunteer military, which is in dire need of man/woman-power.

In response to McCain’s criticism, Senator Jim Webb (D-VA), the sponsor of the bill and a Vietnam War veteran as well, said that one enlistment of four years was enough to entitle veterans to all educational benefits, especially since many had multiple tours in Iraq. The two senators had a polite, public back-and-forth for a while.

Maybe watching the new season of Army Wives influenced McCain. He recently changed his position and is now supporting the new GI education bill. McCain stated that after negotiations with Webb, the revised bill extends benefits to family members (like army wives) and thus garnered his support. Coincidence? You tell me.

Are you happy with McCain’s newfound support of the new GI education bill? Or did you think his original concerns still warrant opposition? What other benefits do our veterans deserve, if any?

And do you really believe that McCain and his wife watch Army Wives?

Price for Truth: Scott McClellan's White House Tell-All

What Happened, the forthcoming memoir by former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan, is causing a political firestorm on Capitol Hill. McClellan is set to release the tell-all, in which he claims that the White House was a “political propaganda machine” that misled the public about the reason to go to war with Iraq. He also has less than kind things to say about strategist Karl Rove, I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby (the former chief of staff to the Vice President) and even President George W. Bush.

As liberals find confirmation for their charges against the Bush administration, some conservatives are crying fowl. Bob Dole, a former senator and 1998 GOP presidential nominee, called McClellan a “miserable creature.” Dole believes that if McClellan had reservations about the war, McClellan should have spoken up or resigned at the time, instead of being a silent coward and enjoying the perks of his presidential position. Moreover, Dole is disgusted that McClellan is stating these charges to publicize and sell his book.

Interestingly enough, a liberal friend of mine, who is a young Iraq War veteran, recently emailed me asking me to sign a petition pressuring McClellan to donate proceeds of his book to an Iraq veterans groups. The petition, sponsored by MoveOn.org, argues that McClellan was an important player in promoting those alleged lies that led us into war and thus should not profit from those alleged lies.

What do you think about McClellan’s charges against the Bush administration and the timing of them? And, does McClellan have a moral obligation to donate his book’s proceeds to a group that helps Iraq War veterans?  Or is it socially acceptable the he make a pretty penny off his book given we’re in a world, where celebrities sell their newborn’s baby-picture to tabloids for millions of dollars?

I’d love to hear your thoughts and discuss them with you. Oh, and I want to know if you plan to buy his book. So comment away please.

(Thank you to my cousin, who served in the Iraq War, for supplying the picture.)