Inhofe: Obama Is 'Gutting Our Military'
Via Wired comes Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK) accusing President Obama of gutting the military. Speaking from Afghanistan on a YouTube video posted by his press office, and contrasting the Gates proposal to the President's domestic budget, Inhofe said, "in all the time we're doing this, increasing all these welfares...the only thing in the budget that's being cut is military." Watch:
Perhaps if Obama had pressed Gates to call this the "Global Warming Is A Fraud Defense Department Budget of 2010", Inhofe wouldn't have been so harsh. But it should be noted that Oklahoma stands to lose a great deal of money if Gates gets his way and the so-called "Future Combat Systems" fleet is eliminated.
Inhofe is also a signatory to a letter to the President, imploring him not to cut funding for missile defense systems. His words today are among the harshest yet from members of Congress, although other members of Congress, including House Armed Services Committee chairman Ike Skelton have sounded notes of skepticism.
Oddly, Sen. Carl Levin, who chairs the Senate Armed Services committee has still not weighed in on Gates' proposal. We'll let you know what he says when he speaks up.
Josh
Matt
Eric
Brian
Yes, well, as Josh noted on the front page, sometimes the battle is lost before it even starts, and the Republicans are well on their way to winning this one in terms of the public spin.
April 7, 2009 5:06 PM | Reply | Permalink
well, in this case, there are numbers to prove otherwise. Wait......never mind, facts are irrelevant.
April 7, 2009 5:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
Really.
The whole "Using, you know, mathematics, 534MM is more than 513MM so I am not sure how increasing the budget is cutting it" argument is too complex, you think?
April 8, 2009 3:23 AM | Reply | Permalink
There you go. Letting facts get in the way of a good spin.
Killjoy.
April 8, 2009 12:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
Robert Gibbs, call on line one...
April 7, 2009 5:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
The Military Industrial Complex is simply too entrenched, they've been digging in deeper and deeper for years as a strategy.
There simply isn't political will to move on it. If Obama wanted to move on it, it should probably be a second term battle.
April 7, 2009 5:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
Let's call it what it is-- pork. Obama and Gates are cutting Pork. Inhofe isn't angry because Obama is gutting the military, he's angry because Obama is gutting pork-- specifically, because Obama is gutting his pork.
April 7, 2009 5:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
yep
April 7, 2009 5:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
Rebuttal: Inhofe defends earmarks.
April 7, 2009 5:41 PM | Reply | Permalink
"More guns! Less butter!"
Yet another winning bumper sticker from one of the leading intellectual lights of the Getting Old Party, one that's sure to resonate with voters during the Great Recession.
April 7, 2009 8:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
"More guns! Less butter!"
Yet another winning bumper sticker from one of the leading intellectual lights of the Getting Old Party, one that's sure to resonate with voters during the Great Recession.
April 7, 2009 8:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
Cutting FCS hardly guts the military. If Gates did nothing the FCS would have never gone into production in large numbers.
Saying that cutting a new self propelled Howitzer and light weight tank and other lightly armored vehicles guts defense is irresponsible and a lie. If fact the opposite is true.
These new vehicles short change armor protection for the crew with the thought electronics would be an advancement, nonsense.
The vehicles would be vulnerable to IED's and direct attacks more than heavy systems.
The criticism of Secretary Gates is a shallow attempt to save jobs under the pretense it would be harmful to our troops or our Defense. That is a a shameless insult and a fraud.
April 7, 2009 9:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
Wasn't Gates appointed by Bush? Wasn't Gates in the Reagan administration? Seems to me the Republicans are in a tougher place politically to attack the decisions coming out of DOD.
April 7, 2009 11:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
It's OK to gut the instruments of death.
April 8, 2009 2:02 AM | Reply | Permalink
Don't worry, y'all. Obama, or as I like to say, Bush in Black Face, did extend and expand the state secrets excuse for all things unconstitutional.
Change we were deceived in.
Lies we can believe in.
April 8, 2009 2:04 AM | Reply | Permalink
Cranialrectal. What an appropriate handle.
April 8, 2009 3:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
What an asshole. The morons of Oklahoma should be so proud. I say the progressives should bomb this idiot back to the stone age to teach them all a lesson and put the fear of god in them. If they just make shit up they might have to answer for it at some time.
When Texas succeeds from the union to form it's own more perfect fascist christian nation maybe it can take Oklahoma with it. Please!
April 8, 2009 4:11 PM | Reply | Permalink
Let's call it what it is-- pork. Obama and Gates are cutting Pork. Inhofe isn't angry because Obama is gutting the military, he's angry because Obama is gutting pork-- specifically, because Obama is gutting his pork.
m65 kamagra
June 6, 2010 8:03 AM | Reply | Permalink