Drake: I was for the Webb bill before I was against it

You see, in the third world, and now apparently in Republican circles, knock-offs are the rule. When you can't get it right, get it close. And, hope that the unaware or those who just wish it were so let it pass for the authentic article. It would be rude, after all, to point out that the king (or the President) has no clothes. This often works out and everyone goes home supporting each other's perception that something substantial stood where there was only a whiff of smoke. That is, until there is a challenge to play the hand.

After presenting a red herring about the Navy study of a move of ships to Mayport, setting up a future claim of securing the region's place in naval force structure and planning, she intimated that the Secretary of The Navy needed Congress's oversight to ensure financial considerations were taken into account before making any final decision. Then she proudly announced that she had presented an amendment that would require the Secretary of Defense, by the first of 2009, to assess installations in the National Capital Area for the placement of a memorial for military spouses and families. You see, there is a "glitch in the law," she explained, that does not allow memorials in the National Capital Area for people who are living. A glitch in the law. Memorials for people who are living. So like any good Republican, she looked for and is proud to announce she found a way around those bothersome laws. And I am certain the Secretary of Defense has nothing else on his plate between now and the inauguration.
Then she went into some pretty interesting math about how a soldier who was killed would somehow be cheated out of $8,000. This began with a discussion about the indemnity due a surviving spouse but somehow ended up the dead soldier's loss. And the minimum loss of $1,000 a month ended up well less than $12,000. But this is all Republican math and is just so hard for an economist to follow.

She was asked a question about Senator Webb's GI bill. And we were off again. You see, she explained, this is a very complicated issue and very convoluted.  Yes it is; particularly so when you say you were a co-sponsor on the Webb bill, but you just couldn't vote for it because (you can't make this it up): "...the issue is that that bill has already been promised to be vetoed..." There you have it: a solidly grounded, principled stance. The issue isn't an obligation to those who have served. It is an obligation to a discredited President. But, in the end, you can always claim to have been a co-sponsor on the real deal.

Actually this is really simpler than that for Representative Drake. To her, and this is a very close paraphrase: those fine young men and women who serve their country sign a blank check. She said it at a Republican breakfast last year and her actions show that she thinks it so. What she is offering up is some Republican knock-off of the Webb bill as a substitute. Maybe we can avoid our obligation to those who serve by presenting them something that is almost right. Close enough for government work. I can hardly wait for the Republican knock-off of Webb's GI bill. We've already seen the knock-off of military care at Walter Reed.

Now, I have nothing against military spouses or families nor do I have anything against fallen heroes (I've known a few more than Representative Drake), but I do think that we have a continuing debt to those who survive the sacrifice. In fact I have a military spouse, so I'll ask her, but I don't think she, like most others, will be much affected by whether there is a memorial to her or other spouses and their families. I am quite certain that she would prefer that her son have something to show for his service to our nation. Webb's words in his newest book available today sum up Representative Drake's patronizing use of military veterans as proof sources. "...the Republican Party continually seeks to politicize military service for its own ends even as it uses their sacrifices as a political shield against criticism for its failed policies." Virginia's Second District veterans have quite a knock-off as a member of Congress; a fine Republican in all that has come to mean.

Cross posted at VBDems.org - Blogging our way to Democratic wins in Virginia Beach! Go RK!

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