Bush threatens to veto Dem defense cuts

Those of us who were in the military at the beginning of the Clinton Administration remember that administration balanced their annual spending by slashing military spending. They cut our medical benefits (they even dumped retirees from military healthcare and forced them into Medicare at age 65), they offered early-retirement (as early as ten years of service – then a year later when operational tempo increased, they offered those retirees their jobs back), they cut recruiting goals, they slashed ready divisions, they cut training money, they even cut ammunition. It was reminiscent of the Carter years when Carter had to reinstitute draft registration because morale and readiness had plunged to third world levels.

Yup, the fastest and politically the most expedient way to slash the budget and appear thrifty for the time being is to slash military funding. But when those chickens come home to roost, you get the catch-up spending of the 80’s and 00’s.

Now, there’s Leftist loon Daffy Dennis Kuchinich calling for cutting off funding to the troops and the war against terrorists and using that money for “healthcare, for education, for job creation, for seniors”. Well, the Bush Administration assures us that won’t happen in a Washington Times story by Stephen Dinan.

I worry about the Democrats because they’re so willing to throw the American people over the side for a couple more votes, they’ll do anything. I can see them slashing the stuff our troops need to fight the war that Democrats don’t have the guts to fight so they can call themselves “fiscally responsible”. And the only thing between the American people and their irresponsible political double-dealing is the President’s pen.

Category: Politics