Posted on 11/18/2010 12:28:08 PM PST by Bokababe
Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) Tuesday rejected the assertion by Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) that calls for cuts in defense spending represent the rise of "protectionism and isolationism" within the Republican party.....
(Excerpt) Read more at thecable.foreignpolicy.com ...
Thank you. I cannot believe that Coburn is assisting the anti-American left on this issue. Maybe he should read the Constitution again, and look up “American exceptionalism” while he is at it.
Exactly! I thought Coburn was smarter than this. OTH, perhaps he is showing his true colors.
Our troops will be housed somewhere. Having them housed on location is smart. It keeps us connected to nations even when times are hard.
The amount of money we would save by bringing them back to the U. S. would amount to you trying to rescue your household budget by cutting out matches or air deodorizer for the bathroom.
Once those troops were brought back to U. S. soil, guess what would happen. Our active military would be chopped in half.
We’ve already cut half our naval ships. We don’t engage in places like the Indian Ocean as piracy runs rampant. Didn’t we have a Navy for just this purpose, to keep the high seas open?
Folks, please don’t go wobbly on me. For heaven’s sake, we don’t get a second chance if we cut our military to the bone and get taken to the cleaners because of it.
You either keep a presence around the world, or you withdraw and wither away.
We need to stop the insane spending. It’s not the military that is ruining us. It’s the trillions spent as if on a lark, here a $750 billion, there a trillion, somewhere else a $300 billion, and still somewhere else $600 billion. This is the history of the last just a little over two years.
That’s like decade and a half of military spending. So what do we do, we suggest we cut our military. HELL NO! Don’t fall for that crap.
We’ll spend twice as much as our military budget each year on freebies. Do you see anyone suggesting we MUST stop that? Hell no.
Honestly folks, shesh...
Big government RINO.
That’s true in a sense. Cutting defense invites foreign aggression, which reduces our ability to behave as isolationists.
I expect some cuts could be made in defense like any other government department, but they should legitimately be things that are wasteful or redundant, and not force reduction and cuts in needed maintenance and upkeep.
But one thing all governments need to look, fed, state and local, is retirement plans. And even in the military it makes less and less sense for someone to serve twenty years and then draw retirement for forty or more years. AFAIK, people can still retire after twenty years. Retirement ages and retirement plans for all government employees need to be reviewed and adjusted periodically.
Wobbly Bob, well-named.
Anyone who uses the term “Isolationist” and “Protectionist” is nothing more than a “Globalist” and a “Communist”
McCain is just a Liberal Free Trader Statist Open Borders Globalist....who would rather defend some foreign border than America’s own border with Mexico.
:) I love Thatcherisms!!
For heaven’s sake, we don’t get a second chance if we cut our military to the bone and get taken to the cleaners because of it.
You either keep a presence around the world, or you withdraw and wither away.
We need to stop the insane spending. It’s not the military that is ruining us. It’s the trillions spent as if on a lark...
I can't (won't) argue with any of that.
I expect some cuts could be made in defense like any other government department, but they should legitimately be things that are wasteful or redundant, and not force reduction and cuts in needed maintenance and upkeep.
And I am betting that this is what Sen. Coburn was getting at.
We do not need so much of our military overseas. Even with areas of conflict...our military logisitcs are so much better that we can keep our units back in the USA and send them on short notice.
We also have a big problem with our border with Mexico, and need to focus more on that....than some border in a goat-infested Middle East.
Whenever someone uses the terms “Isloationist” and “Protectionist”....they are not thinking America first.
ROTFLMAO. That was a great one and you are 100 percent correct.
Time out here folks, I think most of you missed the progress of the conversation:
1. Rand Paul said that virtually everyone in Congress agrees that there have to be cuts, but the argument is always, “Where?” Traditionally, Republicans say it has to be in Social Programs and Democrats say it has to be in Defense. Rand said that if we want to get serious, we have to look at the whole enchilada — social services AND defense. There are areas in Defense that are wasteful and even military people agree on this.
2. McCain jumps in with this “isolationist worry” re Rand, BS
3. Coburn agrees with Rand Paul
4. McCain backs off, agrees that there is waste, but then says the waste should be “cut but reinvested”. McCain has built his entire career as an internationalist — of course he’s going to want the $$$ “reinvested” — which is the same effect as no cuts at all!
I cannot see how any reasonable person who knows that $Billions were left on the ground in Iraq, completely lost track of, and nothing came to a screeching halt but rather was ho-hummed away, doesn’t think that there isn’t waste in the Defense budget!
Either we want a smaller more Constitutional and financially responsible government — or we don’t!
bump
And they are really doing the same thing as the people who use terms like racist, homophobe and Islamophobe. They're using cheap slurs to silence people, and to avoid discussing an issue they don't want to discuss in an objective manner.
How come we can all agree the gubbermint wastes money left and right and can’t even run their own Congressional cafeteria without waste and fraud,but somehow all DOD spending is always and forever beyond reproach, let alone discussion.
Truly excellent question!
Would you leave your estate to a spendthrift child or nephew?
“But, I think those 200K+ troops that are in Germany and Korea and Japan right now, would be MUCH better utilized in existing US bases, or perhaps even some new bases along the Mexico border.”
We don’t have those troops there because it helps some congressman’s district. Yes, get rid of the defense pork. The military isn’t a jobs program.
But we need to project power all over the world to protect our interests.
Then I recommend reading the Constitution and learning what expenditures it provides for: defense and defense only.
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