Maine caller sticks it hard to Mike Pence on Washington Journal this AM

[BurtWorm]

He said everything you've always wanted to say to a Republipig but didn't have the opportunity to say. The subject was the budget and, for some reason I don't understand (because I didn't see it from the beginning), only Pence and fellow pig Mike Castle were on to talk about it. I turned it on in mid-harangue, but it was beautiful. The Mainer said something to the effect that Pence and Castle (who were both going on with the ancient line about how Dems are the party of big spenders), must think the American people are really, really stupid and have no ability to understand what's going on in Washington, where Republicans in both the Reagan era and this one (with a vengeance!), throw money out the window, making Americans poorer for the most part and the deficit fatter. He said the defense budget is a colossal waste considering that no coutnry anywhere in the world spends even half of what we spend on military assets--and this is without even taking the wars we've got going on into account.

Whoever that guy was: :applause:

[400Years]

1. I bet they just mumbled it all off and changed the subject

[BurtWorm]

6. Actually, Pence told a big fat whopper in response.

He said during the 1980s, Democrats were in control of Congress (so who's in control now, shithead?), but in fact, Republicans controlled the Senate for six of Reagan's eight years.

[willows]

2. Good ole Maine

GREAT!
I live in Maine, and it's odd but the majority of Republicans I've met here are folk who either know little to nothing about what their party really does, and any detail on the issues they unwaveringly support, or they are folks who know a lot but have little to no sympathy for the social implications of law.
A sort of you wouldn't be poor if you worked hard enough, and I'm not 'well to do' but I've worked very hard to not be on welfare/assistance, etc sort of attitude.
It's weird the majority I know here seem to have no compassion, sympathy, empathy, and love fire and brimestone speeches...

[wryter2000]

4. Welcome to DU

:hi:

New England Republicans are a different breed from the rest of them, so this doesn't surprise me at all.

[kentuck]

3. I heard that call..

Boy, I'll bet they won't come back on to discuss the budget for anytime soon... :)

[rwork]

5. The caller said

that the US spends more on defense then the rest of the world combined not even taking into account the Iraq war.

[JohnyCanuck]

7. A total abomination

04 May 2005
US defence budget will equal ROW combined "within 12 months"

By Guy Anderson Editor of Jane's Defence Industry

Defence expenditure in the US will equal that of the rest of the world combined within 12 months, making it "increasingly pressing" for European contractors to develop a "closer association" with the US, corporate finance group PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) says.

Its report - 'The Defence Industry in the 21st Century' by PwC's global aerospace and defence leader Richard Hooke - adds that "the US is in the driving seat", raising the prospect of a future scenario in which it could "dominate the supply of the world's arms completely".

The US defence budget reached US$417.4 billion in 2003 - 46 per cent of the global total.

Less than two per cent of the US defence budget is spent outside its home market, the report notes, and of this around one per cent goes to UK contractors.

http://www.janes.com/defence/news/jdi/jdi050504_1_n.shtml

I guess that explains this:

Rebuilding needs, here and there

By Arnaud de Borchgrave/ Harlan Ullman
April 3, 2006

By the end of this year, the U.S. will have spent almost half a trillion dollars on Iraq since the 2003 invasion. This could easily double by the time the U.S. successfully nurtures a new Iraqi democracy to viability, including returning basic services such as water, electricity and transport even to pre-war levels. To paraphrase the late great Sen. Everett Dirksen of Illinois, that is getting to be "real money."

Meanwhile, as we "rebuild" Iraq, what is happening here to our own society and its infrastructure?

From hospitals to bridges, highways, roads and streets, mass transit systems, power grids, drinking water systems and hospitals and health care facilities, America is in a sad state of disrepair. One third of all bridges are deemed "structurally deficient" by the American Society of Civil Engineers. U.S. infrastructure thus gets a falling "D" grade, down from D+ five years ago. Estimated costs to put America's infrastructure back on its feet: $1.6 trillion.

According to the U.S. Conference of Mayors, 75 percent of America's school buildings are "inadequate" to meet the needs of school children. Some $300 billion are needed to bring school plants and teaching faculties up to scratch. The country's 16,000 wastewater systems face a $12 billion shortfall for infrastructure needs, not counting funding to protect from terrorist attack. Some sewer systems are over 100 years old. As Katrina demonstrated, our domestic infrastructure problems are a lot more urgent than the meritorious attempt to democratize 25 million Iraqis.

http://www.washtimes.com/commentary/20060402-112825-9830r.htm

[BurtWorm]

8. Pence just smiled the whole time this embarassing fact was in his face

then claimed no one knows how much China (a good partner in trade, he quickly threw in) spent on its military. :eyes:

[marions ghost]

9. Mike Pence (R Indiana)

was really lame. Seem to be still regurgitating the tired old Rethuglican BS to his Sheeple constituency...bleating over and over "we are the party of small government..." (And Democrats are the party of tax and spend...blah blah).

Mike Castle (R Delaware) occasionally admitted failures and indicated there was work to do. Guess he feels a little more confident deviating from Groupthink. They were both distancing themselves from Chimpy however.

One of his own constituents from Indiana also gave Mike Pence a strong piece of her mind, as well as the guy from Maine. The Rethugs don't have much credibility left re. The Economy.

[pacalo]

10. The Repugs during this presidency are proving WHY taxes are necessary.

The budget cuts are at the expense of the middle class & poor, but also include areas that affect the quality of life that the wealthy enjoy as well. Trickle down misery, you might say.

[pacalo]

11. This call is at 1:26 on the video at c-span.org

[pacalo]

12. Be sure to catch the Indiana caller (Pence's home state)

at the 1:15:30.

[BurtWorm]

13. Thanks for that link!

:toast:

[pacalo]

14. Hey, thanks for the heads up on the video!

:toast: