Kerry's Long History Of Cutting Pork From The Military-Industrial Complex

[DrFunkenstein]

The GOP thinks this is going to hurt Kerry, but I think it is absolutely wonderful. Thanks for the research guys!

http://www.gop.com/newsroom/rncresearch/research071803.htm

http://www.gop.com/newsroom/rncresearch/research071603.htm

Kerry believes in funding programs that work, but he is a strong believer in eliminating redundacy, useless pork giveaways, and stuff that just plain doesn't work. He's also a big proponent of reducing, not increasing the nuclear weapons in the world - starting with the US.

Kerry is strong on Defense, but his priorities are fully backing (and paying) military personnel and giving veterans their rightful due, not bending over for the Military-Industrial Complex.

---

"We must also take a hard look at federal spending. We simply can’t afford to keep wasting money on the wrong things.

It won’t be easy. The special interests will stop at nothing to keep their special deals. That’s why I’ve joined John McCain in calling for a “Corporate Subsidy Reform Commission” modeled after the military base-closing commission. A bipartisan group would recommend corporate subsidies to be eliminated and Congress would have to vote up or down on the entire package.

It’s the only way to stop the games that go on in Washington. When I first came to the Senate, each year millions upon millions of dollars were lavished on a wool and mohair subsidy cooked up during WWI to make sure we’d have plenty of wool and mohair for our soldiers’ uniforms.

But even after we stopped making our uniforms out of wool and mohair, the subsidy continued. I came to the Senate floor again and again - finally we killed it. Or we thought we did. Last year it came back. This kind of wasteful, no-growth, special interest giveaway is alive and well -- again. But it’s just the tip of the iceberg.

We were presented a defense bill that gave away $250,000 to an Illinois firm to research caffeinated chewing gum; $750,000 for grasshopper research in Alaska; $250,000 for a lettuce geneticist in Salinas, California and $64,000 for urban pest research in Georgia. This is our defense budget?"

http://www.johnkerry.com/news/speeches/spc_2002_1203.html

<>

[onehandle]

1. Wow! Look at all the witnesses to Kerry's military service...

So many witnesses. There could be hundreds of witnesses to his service. I bet these witnesses could collectively account for just about every minute of his service.



Dubya?

[blm]

2. Heheheh...good one.

Are Kucinich and Kerry the only candidates who want to cut some defense programs? I would think that Edwards and Clark are for cutting defense bloat, too.

[DrFunkenstein]

6. I'm Surprised There Is No Comment By Kucinich People

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[blm]

7. Don't despair. They pay attention

more than most.

Why do you think they chose Kucinich? ;)

[JohnKleeb]

13. heh thanks

btw a fair deal of us have Kerry as our second choice, so while IWR bothers me about him, I analyize that record blm and heres a man who voted with Teddy Kennedy 94% of the time, plus a man I respect, and who has good views on the issues. :) Kucinich still all the way, I do like and respect Kerry though.

[JohnKleeb]

11. Righty here Doc

btw Doc this has a lot to do with why Kerry is my second choice. Thank you blm for your comment below.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

3. USPIRG thinks so.

"Congress had the opportunity with these votes to cut polluter pork-special favors for special interests that harm the environment," said Lexi Shultz, a staff attorney for U.S. PIRG. "We thank Senator Kerry (D-Mass.) and Representatives Campbell (R-Calif.) and Shays (R-Conn.) for being leaders in the fight to end handouts that serve special interests at the expense of the public interest," she added.
http://www.taxpayer.net/TCS/PressReleases/gs2k1-20-00.htm

[DrFunkenstein]

4. That Was Very Nice Of You

To post something laudatory about someone who is not your first choice. You just went up yet another few notches in my book.

:toast:

[blm]

5. It helps to know

that he describes himself as a "mock" Kerry basher.

Although, sometimes he sure does seem for real, eh?

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

8. This is what happened...

Funk talks about JK being anti-pork. I do some research. I find 15+ articles, spanning ten years, describing Kerry's aversion to pork and his efforts to quash it through appropriations. Kerry is strong on this issue. And it's a pretty important issue. :thumbsup:

[Octafish]

9. Bet Kerry smelled a BUSH rat on 9-11!

Kerry HEADED a Senate Committee on Terrorism. He knows what the BFEE is capable of. And he's got a record of going after the so-and-sos and winning. From Dr. Funkenstein's second link:

12 Days After 9/11: Kerry Questioned Quality Of Intelligence.  “And the tragedy is, at the moment, that the single most important weapon for the United States of America is intelligence. … And we are weakest, frankly, in that particular area. So it’s going to take us time to be able to build up here to do this properly.” (CBS’s “Face The Nation,” 9/23/01)

2003: Candidate Kerry Says “We Have A Serious Problem” With Intelligence.   “I believe there are enormous questions still about the overall intelligence given to the congress, the quality of that intelligence … If we don't know the answer about our intelligence, if we do not know what our intelligence community is telling us and whether or not it is broadly true, we have a serious problem.”  (CNN’s “Late Edition,” 7/13/03)

http://www.gop.com/newsroom/rncresearch/research071603.htm

[Octafish]

10. A kick for Gary Hart's pal.

Former Senators Gary Hart and Warren Rudman worked on fighting terrorism. BEFORE 9-11. Here's the intro to the official report and a link to the report itself:


31 January 2001

Executive Summary of U.S. Commission on National Security Report

A bipartisan commission set up to evaluate the current national security climate and propose changes needed to meet new threats has issued a report that calls for major changes in governmental structures and processes.

Included in the report released January 31 by the United States Commission on National Security/21st Century are a proposal for a new, cabinet-level National Homeland Security Agency that would combine the Federal Emergency Management Agency with several other agencies, and a prescription for recasting a "crippled" State Department and the Department of Defense.

The 14-member commission, headed by former Senators Gary Hart (Democrat, Colorado) and Warren Rudman (Republican, New Hampshire), includes other former legislators, Executive Branch officials, military leaders and representatives from business, academia and the news media.

Following is the text of the executive summary of the 140-odd page report: The complete report can be accessed at www.nssg.gov.


Executive Summary

After our examination of the new strategic environment of the next quarter century (Phase I) and of a strategy to address it (Phase II), this Commission concludes that significant changes must be made in the structures and processes of the U.S. national security apparatus. Our institutional base is in decline and must be rebuilt. Otherwise, the United States risks losing its global influence and critical leadership role.

We offer recommendations for organizational change in five key areas:

* ensuring the security of the American homeland;
* recapitalizing America's strengths in science and education;
* redesigning key institutions of the Executive Branch;
* overhauling the U.S. government personnel system; and
* reorganizing Congress's role in national security affairs.

We have taken a broad view of national security. In the new era, sharp distinctions between "foreign" and "domestic" no longer apply. We do not equate national security with "defense." We do believe in the centrality of strategy, and of seizing opportunities as well as confronting dangers. If the structures and processes of the U.S. government stand still amid a world of change, the United States will lose its capacity to shape history, and will instead be shaped by it.

CONTINUED...

http://usinfo.state.gov/topical/pol/terror/01013102.htm

BTW: Gary Hart endorsed John Kerry for President.

[JohnKleeb]

12. Well I think made a good decision in having Kerry as a second choice

Doc I give this :thumbsup: :thumbsup:, Thank you those who favor cutting waste from DoD.

[blm]

14. Waste AND immoral programs like mini-nukes

and Star Wars.

[JohnKleeb]

15. yep

Thank god both of them oppose those. This is a good thing about Kerry but as we know there are others.

[blm]

16. That's why they are my "Special K's"

JohnKleeb. They are more alike than many realize.

[JohnKleeb]

18. heh

Lots to like about them I know. My two faves actually and I like Edwards too. You know and people laugh at me for this I dont give a damn but today in the school library I was looking at what RFK was saying in his speeches, and Ive read DK's speeches too, and I have concluded that they sound simliar on many things. Ive had Kerry as my second choice since midsummer.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

17. Yep... the GOP are idiots

they think the Pentagon's a bottomless pit we should feed insatiably.
This fact will actually gain a lot of votes for Kerry.

[dpbrown]

19. Cutting waste in the Pentagon has to be on the table

Kudos for John Kerry, if this means he's considering making the Pentagon more accountable for the tax dollars it gets.

Of course, it'd be better if he'd come right out and say he's going to eliminate spending on real programs that everyone knows are crap, like Star Wars, demilitarize space, and hold them to their accountability responsibilities under the CFO Act.

But even baby steps like saying bad things about Defense boondoggles like chewing gum are positive steps.

Good for Kerry on this.

Dan Brown
Saint Paul, Minnesota

[DrFunkenstein]

20. What A Nice Reminder of Why He Rocks

I think if people weren't so invested in the IWR, they would really see what an amazing guy Kerry is. I have never respected anyone so much in my life.

I really feel that a guy like Kerry only comes around every quarter of a century or so. He is absolutely in the best traditions of liberalism.

[JohnKleeb]

21. I respect him too, I feel the same way about Kucinich

I think people are a tad judgemental on him once being pro life and flag burning but Kerry is a fine guy, I think he would make a fine president.

[blm]

22. Those newer to politics are the ones with the least respect

and no political memory of the last 30 years or how it effected the country. I wonder if they REALLY would prefer Kerry had never existed? heh. The BFEE would have reached their goals over a decade ago.

[kwolf68]

23. Thank God for this thread

After last night...I was starting to get pulled away from Kerry. Thanks for reminding me of one of the many things Kerry has done well in his service to this nation.

He lacks the charisma of many of the other candidates, but I feel he can be trusted as President. Still lots of time for Kerry to be caught picking his nose in public to show he's a "real person." :P

[blm]

24. kwolf, check out the thread with the facts about that "fax"

It was a dirty trick by CNN, not Kerry.

[JohnKleeb]

25. blm I hear all about this

I am gonna pm you asking about it, sum it for me will you please.

[blm]

26. Here's the article of CNN calling it a mistake.

posted by Djcairo in response to the full on dump on Kerry last night.


>>>>>
As for all you Kerry haters, you will be unhappy to learn there is no 'there' there. This was a CNN mistake. Some produces though he was being clever. Even Kerry's oppo research guy sitting in the spin room was shocked. Here is a quote from the article:


But one of the impromptu critiques accidentally made its way into the debate itself. During an audience question-and-answer period, CNN moderator Judy Woodruff said she was just handed a "document" from the campaign of Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry saying Howard Dean tried "to kick Vermont seniors off prescription drug plan" when he was governor. She then pressed Dean for a response. He called the accusation silly.

"What I did try to do was get a cigarette tax past the Republican House," Dean said. "I told them if they didn't pass a cigarette tax to pay for our health care program, then they wouldn't be able to fund seniors' prescriptions. They passed the cigarette tax, as I knew they would."

Kerry retorted that his press release was accurate.

"In order to balance his budget, he called for the full termination of what was called the V-Script program, and also turned to seniors and made prescription drugs more expensive for them in order to balance the budget," Kerry said.
The strange moment was actually a mistake, CNN officials admitted.

"Sometimes during the course of these debates weird stuff happens," said Tom Hannon, CNN's political director. "The idea at one point was to read one of these documents to see if the candidates could back up their statement. We ultimately decided against it. How it got in there was unintentional. Not everyone got the word apparently."

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/1010debate-side10.html

[Octafish]

27. Strange how these things seem to happen to W's biggest threats.

Strange coincidence, that. Of all the war rooms, Judy gets handed the skinny from Kerry's to use in a question of Dean with Kerry waiting for the follow-up. Gee. Seemed too good to be true and it turns out it wasn't.

Come the primaries, the GOP Smear Machine will be running on full throttle. Remember how they clobbered Dukakis? It wasn't just Willie Horton. It wasn't just Boston Harbor. It was Pruneface Reagan calling him a mental "invalid." After that, it was just a matter of making all the labels stick at every media blessed opportunity.

Thank goodness for Ross Perot. Otherwise, most in DU would be in the Gulag by now.

[blm]

28. I know. That CNN hit was on Kerry, not Dean

as many of his supporters think. They don't understand how the BFEE works with its media hitmen.