In a recent radio interview, Rep. Carol Shea-Porter (D-NH) made the seemingly-innocuous statement that the federal highway system, as well as federal laws ensuring safe drugs and safe airplanes, are constitutional. Nevertheless, Shea-Porter is now under attack by “tenther” activists who believe that virtually everything the federal government does is unconstitutional:

Author and historian David Barton, the president of WallBbuilders, [sic] says Shea-Porter’s comments reflect her view that Washington government should run everything. He notes that both the Ninth and Tenth Amendments say anything that is not explicitly covered in the Constitution belongs to the states and to the people.

“All of those issues belong to the states and the people. Healthcare is not a federal issue. It is a state and people issue — the same with transportation. The Constitution does say that the federal government can take care of what are called the post roads — those on which the mail travels — but outside of that, states are responsible for their own highways, their own roads, their own county, local, state roads,” he notes. “And her comment about, ‘Well, the Constitution doesn’t cover drug use and drug abuse’ — yes it does, and that is under the criminal justice issues that belong to the states.”

As ThinkProgress previously reported, conservatives are increasingly enraptured with tentherism, which claims that landmark federal programs such as Medicare, Social Security, the VA health system and the G.I. Bill are violations of the 10th Amendment — and many leading conservative officials are determined to impose the tentherism on the country. Rep. Michelle Bachmann (R-MN) is a tenther, as are Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) and Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC). Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas embraces tenther claims that the federal minimum wage and the federal ban on whites-only lunch counters, among other things, are unconstitutional.

Indeed, even federal highways opponent Barton is no small figure in conservative politics; Barton is one of six “experts” tasked with rewriting Texas’ public school textbooks to teach a right-wing alternative history to Texan children. Apparently, Barton and his fellow tenthers also want to rewrite the Constitution.

The Associated Press reports that new U.S. military recruits “are being advised to continue signing up for the old GI Bill while details are being worked out about what types of education are covered” under the new 21st Century GI Bill. However, the old Montgomery GI Bill comes at a cost — a $1,200 contribution that can be paid in $100 monthly installments within the first year of service. The new GI Bill — originally sponsored by Sen. Jim Webb (D-VA) — is free.

Last week, President Bush signed into law a new GI Bill that doubled educational benefits for veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Though Bush had steadfastly opposed the bill, he attempted to steal credit for its passage, and praised Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) for helping, despite McCain’s own vocal and ardent opposition to the bill.

Rep. Mike Turner (R-OH) was one of the many conservatives who followed Bush and McCain’s lead. On May 15, Turner joined the majority of House conservatives and voted against the GI Bill.

But now that Bush and McCain have reversed themselves, Turner has followed suit, writing an op-ed in his hometown paper today praising the bill and claiming — three times — that he was “proud to support” it:

It is our responsibility to provide [veterans] with more than just recognition for their service: we must also make certain that they have the skills they need to accomplish their next mission once they return to civilian life. That is why I was proud to support recently passed legislation that expanded the Montgomery GI bill to provide more funding for veterans to receive a college education. [...]

With the huge impact the GI bill has had on America and the debt that we all owe our nation’s veterans in mind, I was proud to support recent legislation that dramatically expanded the scope and scale of the educational benefits available to our veterans. [...]

I am proud to have supported legislation that will directly provide this benefit for military families and look forward to further working on their behalf in the future.

Turner has a history of being on the wrong side of veterans’ issues, receiving a dismal grade of C from the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans Association in 2006, and has “abysmal 29% and 34% lifetime scores from the Disabled American Veterans and Retired Enlisted Association, respectively.” Like other conservatives, Turner is trying to erase his opposition to the popular measure — and just like Bush, it’s clear Turner “blew it” on the GI Bill.

Yesterday, President Bush signed legislation that included Sen. Jim Webb’s (D-VA) 21st Century GI Bill. In his signing speech, Bush praised himself and Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) for “work[ing] hard” to pass the legislation:

The bill is a result of close collaboration between my administration and members of both parties on Capitol Hill. … I want to thank members who worked hard for the GI Bill expansion, especially Senators Webb and Warner, Graham, Burr, McCain.

In reality, Bush and McCain “worked hard” to block the GI Bill. As Webb countered yesterday on MSNBC’s Countdown, “Neither of them really did get on board.”

“I think it’s safe to say there was a good deal of cooperation between Republicans and Democrats. It just didn’t include the administration,” Webb said with a chuckle. He added that Bush “blew it”:

I think George W. Bush made a real bad mistake in terms of our trying to show full respect for military service. I think he blew it.

Watch it:

Webb also noted that in his speech yesterday, Bush did not thank Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE), who had a central role in the bill’s passage.

This morning, President Bush signed a war supplemental spending bill which included a doubling of GI Bill college benefits for troops and veterans. The Bush administration had resisted Sen. Jim Webb’s (D-VA) strong bipartisan effort to pass the bill, going so far as to warn of “harm” that might come from giving expanded educational benefits to soldiers who served “only” 2 years.

But today, Bush was all too happy to pat himself on the back for the GI Bill, and to laud the work of senators who tried to stand in the way of the bill’s passage:

The bill is a result of close collaboration between my administration and members of both parties on Capitol Hill. … I want to thank members who worked hard for the GI Bill expansion, especially Senators Webb and Warner, Graham, Burr, McCain. This bill shows that even in an election year, Democrats and Republicans can come together to stand behind our troops.

Watch it:

McCain — along with Bush — was one of the most vocal opponents of Webb’s bill. He claimed it was too generous, would lead to a drop in military retention, and would “hurt the military.”

Sen. Lindsey Graham — a key McCain surrogate — urged his conservative colleagues to vote against Webb’s bill, claiming “we will get rewarded in the next election” for doing so. McCain, Burr, and Graham offered an alternative bill that was “seen as a way to convolute the GI bill.”

But once the House struck a deal pushing forward Webb’s legislation, McCain disingenuously tried to take credit for it. In fact, McCain didn’t even show up last week to vote on the GI bill legislation, which passed 92-6. The only other senator not present for the vote was Ted Kennedy (D-MA), who is battling a brain tumor.

Earlier this month, House leaders struck a deal to push forward with Sen. Jim Webb’s (D-VA) GI Bill, which expanded generous educational benefits for veterans. The House deal also included a provision allowing troops to transfer the benefits to family members.

Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) was one of the most vocal opponents of Webb’s bill, claiming it was too generous and would lead to a drop in military retention. Yet when the House deal was announced, McCain tried to take credit for it:

With the addition of the transferability provisions sought by Senators Graham, Burr, myself and others to give service members the right to transfer earned G.I. Bill benefits to spouses and children, we will have achieved in offering vastly improved educational benefit.

As if trying to steal credit for Webb’s GI Bill wasn’t bad enough, McCain yesterday skipped the Senate vote on the legislation, which passed 92-6. The only other senator not present for the vote was Ted Kennedy (D-MA), who is battling a brain tumor.

What was McCain doing instead yesterday? In addition to holding a town hall meeting at Xavier University in Cincinnati, he also took some time to chow down at Skyline Chili:

McCain has not voted in the Senate since April 8 and has missed 367 votes (61.4 percent) during the current Congress.