Thelma Drake Revises Her GI Bill History

Thelma Drake was originally a co-sponsor of the new GI Bill.  However, she now insists that the reason she then voted against the bill was because it did not have transferability of education benefits in it and is "proudly" trying to take credit for the bill.  She's even making these claims in campaign lit she's sending out to voters.

I'm calling BS, Thelma.  

John McCain has also been parroting this bit of revisionist history and everyone seems to have bought it hook, line and sinker.  The problem? The
congressional record and John McCain's extensive record of interviews from that time period simply don't agree. John McCain and Thelma Drake decided to pan the new GI Bill because it would encourage people to go to college.

That's right.  They thought it would encourage service members to leave the military and get an education.

The horror.

Don't believe me?  Read beyond the fold.
Here's an excerpt from a piece I recently wrote about McCain's GI Bill history:

Senator McCain was quite vocal in his opposition to the new GI Bill.  He now claims he opposed it because he wanted a provision allowing the transfer of benefits to the family members of service men and women.  But that's simply NOT what he said earlier this year.

From ABC News:

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, seemed to give a thumbs down to bipartisan legislation that would greatly expand educational benefits for members of the military returning from Iraq and Afghanistan under the GI Bill. McCain indicated he would offer some sort of alternative to the legislation to address concerns that expanding the GI Bill could lead more members of the military to get out of the service.

   ...

Officials in charge of Pentagon personnel worry that a more generous and expansive GI Bill would create an incentive for troops to get out of the military and go to college.

From CNN:

Saying he takes "a back seat to no one in my affection, respect and devotion to veterans," McCain said Webb's bill would be a disincentive for service members to become noncommissioned officers, which he called "the backbone of all the services." "In my life, I have learned more from noncommissioned officers I have known and served with than anyone else outside my family," McCain said at a Memorial Day event in Albuquerque. "They
are very hard to replace. Encouraging people to choose to not become noncommissioned officers would hurt the military and our country very badly."

A former Navy officer, McCain was a prisoner of war during Vietnam. McCain, along with Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Richard Burr of North Carolina, has introduced an alternative bill that would increase education benefits on a sliding scale based on an individual's years of service. McCain argues his bill would have a smaller impact on retention rates than the legislation that the Senate passed.

Got that?

McCain opposed the GI Bill because it would encourage soldiers to go to college.

"Encouraging people not to become noncommissioned officers" is code for "encouraging people to go to college." McCain even supported an alternative bill that he thought would have less of an impact on retention rates by giving fewer benefits for soldiers only serving a few years.  You know, like many of the soldiers who've served in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Glenn Nye pointed out during the debate that Thelma Drake failed to support it because "the president was going to veto it."  This is consistent with Thelma Drake's statements at the time.  She held a press conference in May of 2008 where she stated exactly that.  Moreover, check out this gem from another May Virginian Pilot article:  

On Monday, Drake told reporters that her vote was influenced by Bush's veto threat. On Wednesday, she said that her real objection was to domestic spending items that had been added to what was supposed to be a bill funding military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

On Friday, Drake again cited the domestic spending portions of the bill and attacked House Democratic leaders for attaching Webb's plan to what should have remained exclusively a war funding measure.

"She's got to come up with a better explanation," said Quentin Kidd, a political scientist at Christopher Newport University in Newport News. In a veteran-heavy district, the initial vote "is potentially very troubling for her."

Wow.  That doesn't sound like what Thelma Drake just said in the debate.  It sounds like Thelma Drake voted against the new GI Bill because, well, Drake's not entirely sure ... but she thinks it has something to do with domestic spending, no the president's veto, no domestic spending.  Well, even if Drake is confused, I'm not. Ultimately, she agreed with the administration and voted no.

As someone who grew up in a military family, as a military spouse, and the sister of someone serving in the Middle East, I'm sickened by this.  Not only did my family teach me the importance of serving my country, they taught me the importance of education.  Everyone who has the ability and the will should be able to attend college.  Withholding GI Bill benefits or keeping them at nearly worthless levels to keep people uneducated and in the military is unconscionable.  

There are so many people in this country who join the military because they want to serve their countries and get a college education.  My husband was one of those.  He joined the Navy at 17 because his parents, farmers in rural Southwest Nebraska, simply couldn't afford to help him.  He served 3 years on active duty from 1988-1991 but stayed in the reserves while he finished college and a master's degree. I married him in 1995, and still he stayed in the reserves.  When we moved across the country for law school and jobs he stayed in, even when we no longer needed the extra money.  In fact, he became an officer along the way.  After 20 years of active duty and reserve duty, my husband finally retired from the Navy earlier this Summer.

I'm so incredibly proud of my husband.  His parents are incredibly proud of him.  And one day, I know our 2 year old and 4 year old boys will be proud of him as well.  Not only for proudly serving his country, but for getting an education and making the most of his life and intellectual abilities.

What my husband did, what so many Americans do every year after serving or during service?  Is part of the American dream.  The GI Bill and its educational benefits are also one of the biggest recruiting assets our military has.  But Thelma Drake apparently doesn't understand that or didn't bother to do her own research.  She was against it before she was for it. Oh, and she was just confused before that. Now The Confused One has the audacity to say Nye lied about her record.  That's some chutzpah coming from Drake, who knows damn well that she voted against the GI Bill on the first round.  

Thelma, was Lou Hansen, from the Virginian Pilot, lying too?

U.S. Rep. Thelma Drake defended her vote against expanded college benefits for veterans on Monday, saying she would not support legislation that President Bush has promised to veto.

How about the Congressional record?  Are you saying the record is factually incorrect, Thelma?

Let's be clear here.  Thelm Drake voted against the GI Bill because she was towing the GWB party line.  She didn't stand up to her party and do the right thing.  Any claims that she wanted a "better bill" are an attempt to revise the past.

Well, too bad, Thelma, because many of us remember exactly what you did.  We won't let anyone else forget either.

By the way, Thelma, even when the president got awfully ballsy and tried to give himself and Senator McCain credit for the passage of the Webb GI Bill, he didn't mention you.  He mentioned several other congressional representatives, but not you.

Cross posted on VB Dems.

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