Aphorism-making

You've heard the "George Bush must love the poor, he made so many of them" quote, right? Looks like we can say "Bush must love the disabled veterans, he made so many of them" as well. (Salon - subscription or daypass required)

Yesterday evening on the House floor, Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., offered some angry perspective on the Bush administration's "support for our troops." A Vietnam-era Air Force veteran (although his own Web site omits that fact), DeFazio rose to contest the happy-face rhetoric of his Republican colleagues in anticipation of Veterans Day next Wednesday. DeFazio's remarks about the real record of the self-styled super-patriots in the GOP deserve to be quoted at length:

"Here are some real facts, unlike what we heard earlier today: 150,000 veterans are waiting six months or longer for appointments; 14,000 veterans have been waiting 15 months or longer for their "expedited" disability claims; 560,000 disabled veterans are subject to the disabled veterans tax, something we have tried to rectify....

"[On] January 8 of this year, the Bush administration cut off [Veterans Administration] health care for 164,000 veterans. They put them in a new category called Category 8. They are wealthy veterans just like the wealthy people they are giving tax breaks to. Well, not quite. The wealthy people the Bush administration is raining tax breaks on earn over $311,000 a year. But these vets are 'wealthy.' They do not deserve that veterans health care, according to the Bush administration. They earn $25,000 a year. They should pay for their own health care ..."

Not exactly breaking news, Bush has been screwing the vets for a while now, but it's good to see somebody fighting back.