McCain lost veterans votes when he voted against them

For a lot of veterans, the straw that broke McCain's support from veterans came when they understood McCain did not deserve their support. They opened their eyes to the fact that when it came to taking care of them, McCain was simply not interested. When he called Senator Jim Webb's GI Bill, "too generous" that was the end of his free ride over the backs of veterans who supported him just because he was one of them. It's almost as if McCain just took them for granted thinking they would always be loyal to him no matter how he treated them.

Democrats See Benefit Boosts as a Way to Pry Veterans from GOP
Shawn Zeller


CQ Today

Sep 03, 2008
September 2, 2008 - John McCain is rarely thrown off kilter during town hall meetings. So it was surprising when, last month in Denver, a nasty exchange ensued after a veteran accused McCain of speaking out against the new GI Bill and voting against increased funding for veterans' health care.

Republicans have typically enjoyed wide support from veterans, but McCain can expect a lot more where that came from.

Barack Obama is making a concerted push for veterans' votes in November. He's getting help from a number of new, liberal-minded veterans' groups and from the union representing civil servants at the departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs. They say Democrats can win over the veterans' vote by offering generous benefits to returning troops.

"The watershed moment is going to be the GI Bill," said Patrick Campbell, chief legislative counsel for one of the new groups, the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA). "Here you had John McCain opposing a proposal that was endorsed by every veterans' service organization, endorsed by a majority of the Senate and two-thirds of the House, with huge bipartisan support on either side of the aisle, and John McCain said it's too generous."
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http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/ArticleID/11061