Before you freak out and start whining about another 'right-wing thread', keep in mind I'm voting for the douchebag. But for those who disputed the claims that John Kerry was against individual weapons systems when he vetoed some defense appropriations bills, here's proof you're wrong. John Kerry U.S. Senate JOHN KERRY ON THE DEFENSE BUDGET “We are continuing a defense buildup that is consuming our resources with weapons systems that we don’t need and can’t use.” The Reagan Administration has no rational plan for our military. Instead, It acts on misinformed assumptions about the strength of the Soviet military and a presumed “window of vulnerability”, which we now know not to exist. And Congress, rather than having the moral courage to challenge the Reagan Administration, has given Ronald Reagan almost every military request he has made, no matter how wasteful, no matter how useless, no matter how dangerous. The biggest defense buildup since World War II has not given us a better defense. Americans feel more threatened by the prospect of war, not less so. And our national priorities become more and more distorted as the share of our country’s resources devoted to human needs diminishes. JOHN KERRY HAS A DIFFERENT APPROACH John Kerry believes that the time has come to take a close look at what our defense needs are and to plan for them rather than to assume we must spend indiscriminately on new weapons systems. John Kerry believes that we can cut from $45 to $53 billion from the Reagan Defense budget this year. Some of these cuts include: MAJOR NUCLEAR PROGRAMS * MX Missile --- Cancel --- $5.0 billion * B-1 Bomber --- Cancel --- $8.0 billion * Anti-satellite system --- Cancel --- $ 99 million * Star Wars --- Cancel --- $1.3 billion * Tomahawk Missile --- Reduce by 50 per cent --- $294 million LAND FORCES (unreadable) * AH-64 Helicopters --- Cancel --- $1.4 billion * Division Air Defense Gun (DIVAD) --- Cancel --- $638 million * Patriot Air Defense Missile --- Cancel --- $1.3 billion NAVAL FORCES * Aegis Air-Defense Cruiser --- Cancel --- $800 million * Battleship Reactivation --- Cancel --- $453 million AIRCRAFT * AV-8B Vertical Takeoff and Landing Aircraft --- Cancel --- $1.0 billion * F-15 Fighter Aircraft --- Cancel --- $2.3 billion * F-14A Fighter Aircraft --- Cancel --- $1.0 billion * F-14D Fighter Aircraft --- Cancel --- $286 million * Phoenix Air-to-Air Missile --- Cancel --- $432 million * Sparrow Air-to-Air Missile --- Cancel --- $264 million In addition, acquisition of equipment and supplies should depend on real defense needs, not inter-service rivalries. “National security” is no excuse for bad management practices. The Congressional Budget Office and the General Accounting Office agree that an additional $8 billion can be saved by implementing the recommendations of the President’s own Grace Commission Report. “I will never forget that the Defense Budget is not an employment program, but a tool to provide the nation with a strong, lean and stabilizing defense posture.” Finally, John thinks it’s time for a Senator who will stand up for what’s right and not go along with what’s expedient. “If we don’t need the MX, the B-1, or these other weapons systems (unreadable) them. There’s no excuse for casting even one vote for unnecessary weapons of destruction and as your Senator, I will never do so.” What the fvck is he talking about unnecessary weapons of destruction? Other than Star Wars, MX Missiles, anti-satellite missiles and battleship reactivation,all of which an argument could be made both pro and con, what could be deemed unecessary? Go through that list and check all the things he wanted to cancel that we used in Afghanistan. I hate that I'm having to vote for a man who is trying to seem tough on defense by using four months in Vietnam to go against everything he has done since he's come home in the past 30+years.
Is this a legitimate issue? Is this worthy of voters attention? Yes, of course it is yet I doubt we hear very much about it. Anyway, I don't see how anyone can argue that Kerry is some kind of hawk whose record has been misconstrued by the Reps or the press. Kerry has left himself open to this legitimate attack on his record by failing to explain it. If one looks through his history as a Senator, he was always the leader of the doves. Like I posted before, the first bill he sponsored was the Nuclear Freeze bill. The one vote that is not consistent with his record is the vote for the Iraq war. He could have said that Bush misled him and he would not have voted for it but he missed that chance. I suspect that's because he's afraid of the flip-flopper charge.