Vote on Webb's GI bill today will show which GOP Senators really support the troops and which stand with Bush and McCain against vets

Big action in the Senate today. A series of votes will occur on a number of important issues including the war appropriations. But, the most telling vote will be on the GI bill sponsored by Senator Jim Webb. This has been one of Webb's signature issues and he has worked tirelessly to get it passed with broad support. The biggest obstacles have been George Bush and his wingman, John McCain. Things got ugly in the Senate yesterday during the debate on the bill as Bush/McCain lapdog Lindsey Graham tried again to derail Webb's bill:

Conservative Republicans railed against Virginia Sen. Jim Webb's GI bill on Wednesday as the Senate prepared for a showdown vote today on whether to give troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan a free college education.

Two senators sponsoring a less-generous alternate bill backed by the Bush administration said Webb's measure would entice too many troops to leave the military earlier than planned in a time of war.

"It spends $52 billion to persuade people to leave the military," said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.

He's pushing alternate legislation backed by Sen. John McCain of Arizona, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.

Democrat Webb has refuted the argument, saying there's no evidence that his measure will hurt military retention.

But tempers flared Wednesday, after a veterans group started a television ad campaign attacking McCain for failing to support Webb's bill.

"McCain thinks covering a fraction of our education is enough," a veteran says in the ad, sponsored by VoteVets.org.

"We didn't give a fraction in Iraq. We gave 100 percent."

Lindsey Graham is such a tool. He and his crew think nothing of spending trillions on the Iraq war, but want to shortchange the troops. It would only take 3 1/2 months of Iraq war funding to pay for the GI bill.

Also, here's the VoteVets ad that was such a hot topic on the Senate floor yesterday:


Yes. The leading opponents of the GI bill are George Bush and John McCain. Who says they're not one and the same?

To pass, Webb's bill will have to overcome a procedural hurdle requiring 60 votes. We'll know shortly which of the other Republicans actually support the troops -- and which Republicans just use the troops for political purposes.