FactCheck Gets it Wrong, McCain Did Oppose Veterans Health Benefits

Regular readers of this space know the high regard in which I hold FactCheck.org and its nonpartisan analysis of political advertising and campaigning. It has, over the years, proven quite even-handed in its treatment of Democrats and Republicans, a rare find in a world of decreasing news and increasing "analysis" (aka opinions).

But today's post charging the AFl-CIO with "unduly harsh" treatment of McCain feels a bit like a group that is trying perhaps a bit too hard to be even-handed.

The ad in question says McCain "took Bush's side against increasing health care benefits for veterans." In fact, he did that and FactCheck admits it. The organization says McCain "voted to increase veterans' health care benefits, thought not by as much as Democrats proposed." That is precisely taking Bush's side. In 2004-2006, McCain voted against such increases in the amounts of $1.8 billion, $2.8 billion, and $1.5 billion. Later he supported significantly reduced bills approving $1.5 billion, a paltry $410 million and an only-slightly-better $823 million, respectively.

If the Bush Regime hadn't been so blindly and incomprehensibly opposed to veterans health benefit funding, the VA in those years would have had a combined total of $6.1 billion rather than the roughly $2.5 billion they ended up with. Thus it is absolutely legitimate to claim that McCain voted against more than 50% of veterans health benefits.

The only reason McCain keeps getting credit for being veterans' choice for the White House is because nobody in the mainstream media has the courage or intelligence to look at his voting record and examine how veterans organizations have rated his leadership in the past few years.