Obama on Vets Bill: 'I don't understand why John McCain would side with George Bush'

clipped from www.bloomberg.com Yesterday while campaigning in the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico, which holds its Democratic primary on June 1, Obama told veterans that McCain's opposition to updating the original G.I. bill puts him in the same camp as President George W. Bush. ``I don't understand why John McCain would side with George Bush and oppose our plan to make college more affordable for our veterans,'' he said, vowing not to drop the issue. ``I will continue to fight in the months to come to give those who have defended America the chance to achieve its dream,'' he said.

Writes The Altantic's Matthew Yglesias:

It's worth noting that not only did John McCain oppose Jim Webb's bill expanding educational benefits for veterans, but he has a long track record of fairly stingy behavior on veterans' issues. As Hilzoy puts it "McCain has supported basic appropriations for vets. However, when there are two competing proposals, he generally chooses the cheaper one, and often, when only one proposal to increase benefits is available, he opposes it."