Slashing and Burning his way to another Term?
By Brad Friedman on 4/28/2004, 12:45pm PT  

Following up last night's item displaying just the tip of Cheney's Hypocratic Iceberg, here's a bit more detail on the programs Cheney is now (misleadingly) accusing Kerry of being against, even while Cheney himself was attempting to gut these programs himself back when he was Secretary of Defense.

Will these guys say anything just to get elected? Apparently so...

As a comment made on the previous items attempts to continue the misleadingly errant echoes of the Right concerning Kerry, it seems details are in order.

This item, well sourced, courtesy of our friends at the O'Franken Factor. As O'Franken doesn't yet include direct links to their blog items, I'm forced to re-post the whole thing here in it's entirety. Sorry about that.

BUSH/CHENEY: FAILING THE TROOPS

Vice President Richard Cheney gave a brutal hatchet job of a speech yesterday. And it would have been a convincing attack on Kerry, had it not been so stomach-churningly inaccurate and malicious.

Among other things, Cheney said:

[Kerry] proposed reductions in funding for the Tomahawk cruise missile and the Bradley Fighting Vehicle. And at numerous times, Senator Kerry has voted against funding weapons systems vital to fighting and winning the war on terror, such as the Blackhawk helicopter and the Predator drone.

If you check Kerry's record...

Kerry supported at least $6 billion in defense authorizations for the Tomahawk.

Kerry backed at least $8.5 billion in defense authorizations for Bradley Fighting Vehicle.

Kerry has supported at least $13 billion in defense authorizations on versions of the Blackhawk.

As for Dick Cheney...

Cheney's defense budget was so pared-down that it didn't include any funds for more Tomahawk missiles in 1991, despite stocks rapidly diminished by the military action in the Persian Gulf.
- Washington Post, 2/5/91; Aerospace Daily, 1/23/91; AP, 6/20/90

"Major weapons killed include the Army's M-2 Bradley Fighting Vehicle, the Navy's Trident submarine and F-14 aircraft, and the Air Force's F-16 airplane. Cheney decided the military already has enough of these weapons."
- Boston Globe, 2/5/91

"The Pentagon's internal budget deliberations recommended termination of the Black Hawk program under Secretary Cheney."
-Aerospace Daily, 5/15/90

The Washington Post also did a nice job of debunking Cheney's attack on Kerry on intelligence funding. Give it a read if you're interested in hearing how much bigger the proposed Republican cut was, and how Cheney distorted Kerry's actual record.

Cheney, Bush and their cronies are going to extravagant lengths to paint Kerry as soft on defense. It's pure spin. Put side by side, he's consistently stronger than Cheney.

But here's the bigger picture. Not only does Kerry come out better on specific defense-related votes, he beats Bush on national security because he wouldn't undercut our troops.

He wouldn't send them into unnecessary wars without help from allies, or  repeatedly cut
combat pay, or slash veteran's health care, or withhold needed equipment.

Bush is trying to distract us from the fact that he himself hasn't supported the troops. Kerry has, does, and will.

J.R. Norton [research director]

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