A recent note from ProgressNow implores throngs of Democrats to attend a Jeb Bush event next week to stand up for (wait for it) veterans. This might actually be the first time Democrats are protesting in favor of veterans. But, Democrats’ change of heart is surprising. That is, until one reads the fine print. It’s not that Democrats care about veterans. It’s that they care about (using) veterans (to try to injure Republicans). From the note:
Today, the Department of Veterans Affairs is swamped with injured veterans of wars started by Jeb’s brother, former President George W. Bush. Will Jeb Bush continue to involve the United States in reckless wars, and if so, how will he take responsibility for the thousands of new injured veterans who will need care?
What about fellow Republican Mike Coffman’s failure to oversee the Aurora VA hospital project as chairman of the VA’s Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee?
Now they care? But, since we’re talking about Democrats’ record on veterans, let’s take a trip to earlier this year when we called out Bennet for being AWOL on veterans issues…until he figured out that it played well with voters. Here is what we said then:
“PeakNation™, remember our criticism of Bennet back at the State of the Union, when he had several opportunities in 2014 to help veterans and ignored them at each turn. First, he could have called for VA Secretary Shinseki’s resignation when it was clear that he had mismanaged the department, but didn’t. Second, Bennet could have interceded in the VA hospital construction debacle early on, but sat on the sidelines. Third, Coffman passed a bill last year to reform VA construction, but the Democrat-controlled U.S. Senate, including Sen. Bennet, couldn’t bother to take it up.”
It’s too little, too late for Democrats to embrace veterans when the party’s politicians have either ignored completely or downright voted against veterans for years.