Why Do Senate Republicans Hate Our Troops?

It's pretty obvious that they do, you know.

The Senators on a Certain Side of the chamber (and their favorite catamite, Joe Lieberman, sadly of Connecticut) have consistently sabotaged every measure designed to help support our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Higher pay? Struck down.

Veteran's benefits? Struck down.

Medical care? Struck down.

And now they've obstructed the Webb Amendment to the defense appropriation bill, which would have required troops to spend the same amount of time at the rear as they spent up on the front lines.

A while back, soldiers spent two years resting and recuperating for every year they were in combat. Now, that didn't necessarily mean they were home; that meant they were resting and recuperating (somewhere to the rear, where you could get a drink and maybe snag a hooker for some Horizontal Refreshment).

Now, thanks to the Bush Administration's almost Pharaonic desire to make bricks without straw, soldiers spend fifteen months on deployment or longer for every twelve months home. Which is a sad state of affairs, as it will burn out the troops that much faster.

All Senator Webb (a combat veteran himself) wanted was for the troops to spend the same amount of time resting and being with their family as they spend risking being blown up.

But apart from a few GOP Senators that voted with the Democrats, the measure failed to get the 60 votes necessary. I guess the others must think that we don't have actual, flesh-and-blood soldiers out there; I guess they think we've contracted with the Trade Federation for some Mark 15 Battle Droids or something.

Start beating that drum - the Senate Republicans Hate Our Troops.