The latest McCain campaign ad disparages Barack Obama for allegedly declining to visit wounded Iraq vets because he couldn’t bring along cameras, a spin debunked by Carpetbagger Report’s Steve Benen and plenty of others. But the biggest whopper of them all comes later and does not concern Barack Obama: "John McCain is always there for our troops."

Of course McCain did not support the new GI Bill (originally proposed by fellow Republican Chuck Hagel) this year. That’s no anomaly. Cliff Schecter’s book The Real McCain (MnIndy interviewed Schecter a few months back) has a nice rundown of McCain’s many and varied votes against veterans’ interests in the past few years:

  • In 2005 Sen. Daniel Akaka (D-HI)… introduced S. Amdt. 149, in which he sought to increase veterans’ medical care by $2.8 billion in 2006, and S. Amdt. 1852, which would have set aside $10 million for "readjustment counseling services" for those returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. In 2005 Akaka requested $1.5 billion for veterans’ medical care and an additional $430 million for the Department of Veteran Affairs for outpatient care and treatment for veterans. John McCain voted against these proposals, while offering no measures of his own and without pushing his party to help America’s veterans.
  • In 2005 Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) saw her S. Amdt. 2634 killed, as did Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) with her S. Amdt 344. These amendments would have funded additional medical care and readjustment counseling for Iraq veterans with mental illness, post-traumatic stress disorder, or substance use disorder. McCain voted no on both.
  • In February 2006, Sen. Jack  Reed (D-RI) sponsored S. Amdt. 2737, which would have rolled back capital gains tax cuts so that much-needed equipment for troops serving in Iraq and Afghanistan could be purchased. McCain and the Republican leadership made sure those tax cuts stayed in place, and the troops didn’t get what they needed.
  • The Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA), the country’s first and largest Iraq veterans group, has made McCain’s nonsupport of and lip service to America’s active military and veterans much easier to identify. In 2006 IAVA released its report on the members of Congress who truly support American troops, and those who don’t. It examined 155 Senate votes since September 11, 2001, on legislation that "affected troops, veterans or military families" and awarded each senator a grade by comparing his or her votes to the organization’s view of what constitutes true support… How did IAVA grade John McCain, the guy who everyone thinks of as Mr. Defense and Mr. Support the Troops? He got a D.

John McCain: "Troops" (:30)