WATCH: John McCain Does a 180 on Jobless Vets
Adam Weinstein of Mother Jones (and curator of their Tumblr) nails Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. on jobs for veterans.
And I helped:
Senator John McCain—Naval Academy class of 1958, Vietnam prisoner of war—has long enjoyed a reputation as a straight-talking protector of the troops. But yesterday, he joined 39 Republican colleagues in blocking a bipartisan bill that would have provided federal jobs for up to 20,000 out-of-work ex-service members—and in doing so, he went back on a verbal promise he made to a veteran weeks ago.
Mother Jones has obtained exclusive audio of an interview McCain conducted with military vet and citizen journalist Meg Lanker-Simons at the Republican National Convention in Tampa last month. In the exchange, McCain said getting vets back to work was job No. 1. (The jobless rate for ex-service members is up to 31 percent higher than for civilians.) “The fact is, it’s a national disgrace that veterans’ unemployment is 14 percent,” McCain said. “That’s a national disgrace. And we’ve got to try to find more ways and better ways to hire veterans. And that has got to be our highest priority.”
You can listen to the full interview at the link. I interviewed McCain at a fundraiser for vets as just a softball-type thing for the Tumblr Election blog. I had to soften the background noise, and ultimately ran out of time to post it. Still held on to it and cleaned it up… I imagine his office wishes I didn’t.
McCain has never been much of a friend to veterans, but rarely does he get caught this red-handed.
I regret nothing and thanks to Adam Weinstein and Mother Jones for exposing McCain’s hypocrisy yet again.
…
It’s been a decades-long media charade that Maverick McCain is a good friend of enlisted men and women. He says one thing and usually does another. McCain is a friend of the Pentagon, its top brass, and subcontractors — all to further the GOP’s Forever War.
