Why break with tradition? Mr. Bush owes U.S. soldiers his career and he turns around and stabs them in the back. NY Times:
President Bush's budget would more than double the co-payment charged to many veterans for prescription drugs and would require some to pay a new fee of $250 a year for the privilege of using government health care, administration officials said Sunday.
In Michigan, for example, thousands of veterans are on waiting lists for medical services, and some reservists returning from Iraq say they have been unable to obtain the care they were promised. A veterans clinic in Pontiac, Mich., put a limit on new enrollment. Cutbacks at a veterans hospital in Altoona, Pa., are forcing some veterans to seek treatment elsewhere.
Everyone, including Bush's right-wing pundit apologists, should be asking today: "Why does the Bush administration hate the troops?" This flag-waving charade from the Republicans -- this myth that they're the party of patriotism and strong national defense -- is purely and simply a farce.
The Bush administration has shown zero respect for the soldiers they claim to hold so dear: whether they're blaming the troops for Al QaQaa and Abu Ghraib or sending them into battle without the armor they need or increasing their tours of duty without explanation. The Republicans view the troops as a meal ticket and nothing else. Expendable pawns in their endgame of permanent majority.