Patriotic?

If patriotism means supporting our troops and veterans, then no one is more lacking than President Bush. Hundreds of our wounded from Iraq were warehoused for months in places like Fort Stewart, Georgia in hot, dirty, overcrowded cement barracks waiting for medical treatment. They had to hobble across the sand to use the bathroom, and had to pay for their toilet paper. After protests from the U.S. Senate the administration stopped charging wounded soldiers $8.10 per day for their hospital meals. Many wounded said that they were seeing their pay and health benefits severely reduced, since they were no longer fit for active duty.

While, sending thousands of troops to fight in Afghanistan; Bush proposed tripling the cost of medication to needy veterans. He refused a congressional request for a modest $275 million to cover veterans, health care needs. In his 2004 budget, he slashed $2 billion in VA's funding and ordered officials to stop publicizing health benefits available to veterans. He opposed a proposal to allow National Guard Reservist access to the Pentagon's health insurance system. His administration announced a plan to reduce monthly imminent- danger pay by $75. and family separation allowance by $150. for troops in a combat zone.

Bush is patriotic in a symbolic way, which is completely empty of content. His style of patriotism consists of empty platitudes and meaningless phrases. He claims to love this country, but it doesn't translate into action to benefit the average American and certainly not the troops he's sent off to fight a war.