Do the Math
In early April, Oklahoma Republican Senator Jim Inhofe accused President Obama of “gutting the military.”
Senator Inhofe said: “The only thing in the budget that’s being cut is the military. The announcement today that we’re not going to be able to carry through with the responsibilities that we have to these guys right here in Afghanistan. We owe it to these guys right here in Afghanistan.” On his website, Inhofe added that Obama is “disarming America” to support his welfare state.
Senator Inhofe represents a state in Congress, which stands to lose a lot of money if the Pentagon goes through its plan to cut the future combat system that Oklahoma’s connected to.
We have to realize that this is all part of a pattern, that Cheney and Giuliani have come up with to make the case that America is less safe with President Obama. Inhofe’s claim, that it’s a military budget cut is absolutely false, because Obama’s military budget shows an increase of four percent.
In announcing his budget plans, the Defense secretary, Gates, presented a new way of spending the Pentagon’s money, shifting money away from many traditional weapons systems, focusing it instead on more troops and new technology to fight the insurgencies in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Recently, Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska insisted, that defense cuts are a sign of weakness. Thereby, she joined Dick Cheney, Rudy Giuliani and the Republicans in Congress in falsely mischaracterizing, the shifting of priorities, as making cuts to the military’s budget. In the final year of the Bush administration, the defense budget was $513 billion; in fiscal 2010, it will be $534 billion. That is an increase of $21 billion, which is not a cut.
Either these politicians are being dishonest, or they are not very good at math.
Senator Inhofe said: “The only thing in the budget that’s being cut is the military. The announcement today that we’re not going to be able to carry through with the responsibilities that we have to these guys right here in Afghanistan. We owe it to these guys right here in Afghanistan.” On his website, Inhofe added that Obama is “disarming America” to support his welfare state.
Senator Inhofe represents a state in Congress, which stands to lose a lot of money if the Pentagon goes through its plan to cut the future combat system that Oklahoma’s connected to.
We have to realize that this is all part of a pattern, that Cheney and Giuliani have come up with to make the case that America is less safe with President Obama. Inhofe’s claim, that it’s a military budget cut is absolutely false, because Obama’s military budget shows an increase of four percent.
In announcing his budget plans, the Defense secretary, Gates, presented a new way of spending the Pentagon’s money, shifting money away from many traditional weapons systems, focusing it instead on more troops and new technology to fight the insurgencies in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Recently, Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska insisted, that defense cuts are a sign of weakness. Thereby, she joined Dick Cheney, Rudy Giuliani and the Republicans in Congress in falsely mischaracterizing, the shifting of priorities, as making cuts to the military’s budget. In the final year of the Bush administration, the defense budget was $513 billion; in fiscal 2010, it will be $534 billion. That is an increase of $21 billion, which is not a cut.
Either these politicians are being dishonest, or they are not very good at math.
posted by Jim O'Leary | 12:20 AM
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