Quote:
Originally posted by taxwonk
The horrendous state of defense spending and military procurement goes back to Scoop Jackson at the least, and probably the Civil War.
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No joke --- the Federal False Claims Act was enacted in 1863 to counteract war profiteers who were selling barrels of gunpowder that were 3/4 sawdust, or selling the same horse to the Union Army several times over.
Any person's legislative record could be used to prove a false point. In 1998 I voted against making the sale of horsemeat in California a felony. An opponent could alternatively claim that I eat horsemeat, or hate horses, or love Frenchmen. My claim that I merely thought it should be a misdemeanor would be drowned out.*
Kerry is a legislator representing
a state that does not particularly benefit from defense spending compared to states where it is a no-brainer. I daresay his votes were pretty representative of the desires of his constituency. Bilmore and others would say this means he is a moral shape-shifter. Not so --- he is a Senator, and anyone in the Senate can only explain their voting patterns based on their judgment regarding what the people back home want to see happen with their country. That is the only way the system works.
I find it hard to square the oversimplification of votes against defense measures --- most of which are destined to pass anyway if they're even a remotely good idea** --- with the repeated complaint that the GOP is all too often and easily cast as the enemy of children and the elderly poor based on the voting records of
every single GOP legislator.
*This is a lie. I voted against it because horse is deeelicious.
**Remember, Congress often passes defense projects that even the Pentagon thinks are a waste of money, because all but a few shipbuilding and aerospace measures are pork products under a thin veneer of national security.
