Say what you will about country singer Willie Nelson—whose reputation as a freewheeling, cannabis-smoking, tax-dodging outlaw is legendary—you cannot deny that he is a man of conviction and compassion. On Friday, for the second year in a row, he gave a free concert to wounded soldiers at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, TX. “I have a lot of respect for the military,� said Nelson, 72, an Air Force veteran. “I like to show them that I support them every chance I get.� And, clearly, his support is more than just lip service or some public relations ploy.

And then there’s President Bush, who earlier this year visited the very same facility and offered the following sage words:

And, you know, war is terrible. There’s horrible consequences to war—that’s what you see in this building. On the other hand, we also see people who say, I’d like to go back in, Mr. President, what we’re doing is the right thing, because many of these troops understand that by defeating the enemy there, we don’t have to face them here. And they understand that by helping the country and the Middle East become a democracy, we are, in fact, laying the foundation for future peace. And, I, as the Commander-in-Chief, I am resolved to make sure that those who have died in combats’ sacrifice are not in vain. And I am resolved to make sure that these kids who are recovering here, that have suffered terrible injury, that their injuries are not in vain by completing the mission and laying that foundation for peace for generations to come. And I’m optimistic we’ll achieve that objective.

Well, at least Mr. Bush is staying on message. Sadly, though, the message is rife with hypocrisy, because the President’s support for the troops appears to largely end with their wartime service. Lane Evans, who is the senior Democrat on the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee, recently took issue with “the appalling record of an Administration that has not only given veterans’ needs short shrift but has, in fact, actively sought to diminish [the] VA’s mission.� In an article in American Chronicle, Rep. Evans details at length “The Bush Administration’s Record of Shortchanging Veterans.� It is well worth a read and ought to prompt Willie Nelson to croon, “Mamas, don’t let your babies grow up to be G.I.’s.�