"Elder Statesman Stiffs Soldiers"

God that's a great title, with an election comin!

But alas not from my simple mind but from Joe Conason over at The New York Observer
posted up on the 15th.

He starts it out with this:

It is hard to blame John McCain for mocking Barack Obama as an “elitist” following that silly remark about bitter folks who cling to guns and religion. Rarely does the Arizona senator—one of the wealthiest members of Washington’s most exclusive club—encounter such a tempting chance to masquerade as a populist.

Now you might be scratching your heads, than again maybe not, just have another stiff gulp and think "ya that makes sense", "stiffs Soldiers" to "elitist Obama", but it gets better.

Just past the middle he lays out, rather quickly, the History that Really Built This Country, {and in rather quick fashion we're destroying-my words/thoughts not his}:

When those soldiers came home to build the nation that dominated the American century, they achieved unprecedented prosperity and security thanks not only to their own work and faith, but to liberal policy that guaranteed their education, their health care and their access to credit. The original G.I. Bill of 1944 ranks among the greatest legislative works in American history, with beneficial effects on the U.S. economy that repaid its cost many times over. (Incidentally, the benefits of the original bill included low-interest mortgages with no down payment—not so different from the “subprime” loans that working-class homeowners are now criticized for signing.)

And it leads to the close:

But he has no time for today’s soldiers. If that isn’t the worst kind of elitism, what is?

It a real good quick read, and gives the Mr McCain the just desert he deserves!

I would add, I don't remember McCain, nor any other republican house or senate critter, when they controlled the whole shabang, mentioning Increasing The VA Budget, Especially the VA Health Care, as they were beating the Drums Towards Occupation, do you!