DOA? Don't Count On It!

The president’s budget is dead on arrival. That’s the annual opinion of the media when the budget is sent to the Congress. This year’s document appears little different from those of the past two decades, and the New York Times, the Washington Post, and most of the other major players took its pulse and pronounced the obvious: DOA. Obviously from their perspective it’s too heavy on bombs and too light on margarine.

But I’m not sure that this year is intended to be a clone of its predecessors. My paranoia is greater this year than ever, and I see the budget as a tool for the administration to trap the Democrats and to keep their losses at a minimum in the’06 Congressional elections and to possibly sublet the White House to somebody more friendly than say, Hillary.

Obviously, Don Rumsfeld has taken some mighty hits over the past several years; he’s the guy charged with deciding we had enough troops in Iraq to assure a successful occupation. How’s that for a resume builder?

The Washington Post smirked at Don this week for losing out in his struggle to cut out the big ticket systems designed to wallop the Soviets and crush the Chinese and for his failure to streamline the army and marines into the new style fighting elements he’s touted since coming back to Washington. The Times isn’t far from grinning on these points as well, but my radar screen is flashing. Maybe I’m wrong, but I think the defense budget is as dangerous to political opponents of the administration as an Iraqi roadside bomb.

Last Thursday (2/9/06) while heading for softball practice, (Surely long time readers know I’m the world’s oldest softball coach. I assist my son with his daughter’s under ten team.) I tuned in to Sean Hannity’s radio rant. While I can usually listen to Rush without gagging, Sean is simply too much for me to take and I almost had to pull over to wretch, but my job is to keep you guys informed – at least from my weird perspective – so I hung in. The bottom line is that the Republicans are pedal to the metal on the Democrats being too weak on defense to be trusted with power.

Clearly, as one my latest postings indicates, a number of Democrats are flexing their biceps, but Hannity and the Republicans are blasting past those ninety-eight pound weaklings posing in the Congressional gym mirrors and saying that the Dems are not worthy of election. This has been coming ever since 9/11, but now the Republicans are desperate. They charge anybody with reservations about such things as the Patriot Act is simply too wimpy to be trusted.

What’s Bill’s point? Fair enough. Here it is; the defense budget is as ridiculous as ever – maybe even more so. Naturally Iraq – you remember Iraq? We were fighting a war there until we won – and Afghanistan are off budget – somewhere between 70 and 120 billion big ones next year – and we are dealing with a strategic document. There are enough landmines in that document to keep the Democrats from winning the House and Senate in ’06 and to keep the White House in solid Republican bed sheets for four more years.

We all know that the Times, Post and virtually all of the rest of the mainstream media is correct in opining that we shouldn’t be wasting billions on fighter planes designed to keep us ahead of planes that will never reach the drawing board in China or that other place that used to be run by commie pinkos but who have all switched over to being neo-mafia head bangers. And we know that wasting money on ships that are decades ahead of the competition while we do not have sufficiently robust ground forces to deal with the war on terrorism, is not the way to go – unless you happen to be a major defense contractor that builds such systems. So what?

When the Democrats get out their long knives to carve up the turkey that is the DOD budget, they may well be falling into the trap that is well set for them. Cut the F-22 fighter and you’re weak on defense. Cut that destroyer and you’re afraid of China.

The Republicans are doing a masterful job of setting up the Democrats to look weak and left handed. Entitlements for the shiftless while lowering our guard; can these weak kneed liberals be entrusted with the defense of your grandchildren? Great plan, but if the Dems keep to the middle of the road, they can send some of these cretins on to glorious careers on K Street.

The smear is already underway and the swift boating of Democrats for ’06 is operating at flank speed. Don’t be fooled and don’t be cruel; send a Republican to riches on K Street. Vote straight Democrat in ’06 and ’08. Of course if they all win, we’ll have to turn on them in ’12.

Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Divided government must ever be the goal – long and short term.

Blog on!

Wild Bill