Did anyone catch 60 Minutes on Sunday? Here's one exchange that made me pinch myself to make sure I wasn't dreaming:

PELLEY: What are you going to cut?

MCCAIN: I think we’ll frankly, you can eliminate so many agencies of government that are outmoded. Obviously I would scrub Defense spending. Obviously, we would look at every institution of government. I would stop these protectionist tariffs. I would stop subsidizing sugar.

PELLEY: Did I just hear you say you’re going to cut the Defense budget?

MCCAIN: I think there’s areas in Defense where we can save a lot of money in cost over runs.


Politically, I simply can't wrap my head around why McCain would say that. Does that not raise red flags for conservatives?

It's been my opinion that America ought to seriously take action on reorganizing troop levels in countries where they are no longer needed. But without specifics, I have no idea what McCain was talking about.

But specifics aren't his strong suit. He proposes the creation of a commission to study "why the Wall St. scandal happened" and wants to create a new bureaucracy that functions as a "Homeland Security Dept." for the economy, two purely liberal ideas that not even Obama supports.

This has got to be a gut-check for all conservatives out there.

"Obviously I would scrub defense spending". Troubling to you? Yes? No?

Discuss.

It makes me very happy. True conservatives (i.e. NOT Bush conservatives) want cuts in defense too.

I would like to see the whole transcript before commenting. Link, please (unless you transcribed it yourself, that is).

The DoD wants to cut some things too. They have been prevented from doing so by Congress. Useless bases leap to mind.

They also realize that there are areas that are not efficient but again, Congress has say in how they spend their money and defense contractors lobby pretty hard.

Nothing wrong with this at all.

__________________
Socialism doesn't create a rising tide that lifts all boats. It drains the lake and teaches the boat riders not to help themselves by rowing.

Jesus loves you, allah wants you dead

"Every government interference in the economy consists of giving an unearned benefit, extorted by force, to some men at the expense of others."

Ayn Rand

I think there's places in the military budget that could be cut. I would start with a few bases that are no longer needed. That alone would save a ton of money. As we exit out of Iraq, how many troops does America really need? We have the high tech capabilites to hit in any area around the world without putting boots on the ground.

So, McCain wants to cut the military expenditures--I am all for it. If anyone would know where it could safely be cut, it would be John McCain.

60 Minutes - Video, Reports, Profiles, Interviews - CBSNews.com

Transcript: John McCain on ‘60 Minutes’ - September 21, 2008 : Clips & Comment

CBS has the full video of both interviews, and you can follow along with the transcript as well.

But isn't the irony of the whole thing that McCain was for an expenditure of choice on Iraq? That he was for both of the wars without question or without looking into their strategies, signed off giving Bush blank check after blank check, but that he is apparently the one to do the cutting?

Please explain how John McCain would be the only one who would know then how to "safely cut" military expenditures?

How much is save by "closing bases"? Which ones? Where?

Let's say Obama had said this instead of McCain on Sunday. Would you have defended the same statement from him?

hmm I would prefer taking advice from someone who is in the military RIGHT NOW

Here's another turnaround for the McCain campaign. I won't call it a flip-flop because he is going from the wrong position to the correct one in my opinion.

The thing is how are we supposed to believe that he is actually changing his position. He has spent his whole political career supporting more defense spending and deregulation of the economy. I would like to believe that he has changed his mind but how can I be sure?

Yeah - I caught that interview for a bit after watching football and heard him say that. I kind of forgot about it, but it was a definite point in his favor in my eyes.

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"Government big enough to supply everything you need is big enough to take everything you have... The course of history shows that as a government grows, liberty decreases."

-Thomas Jefferson

Bwahahahahahahahahaha!!!!


BTW...had it been Obama saying the same thing you would have seen all these Lunatic Fringe Far-Right Kool-Aid drinkers singing a different tune.

Yes, they would have come out and said, "See! Ah HAA! This guy really doesn't want to defend this country! COUNTRY FIRST COUNTRY FIRST, DRILL BABY DRILL!".

As he's made it his practice to generally not listen to the DoD and then to ignore what they have to tell him when he does sit down with them, I would have grave misgivings as to what his scrubbing process would look like.

__________________
Socialism doesn't create a rising tide that lifts all boats. It drains the lake and teaches the boat riders not to help themselves by rowing.

Jesus loves you, allah wants you dead

"Every government interference in the economy consists of giving an unearned benefit, extorted by force, to some men at the expense of others."

Ayn Rand

So one candidate wants to cut military spending, to increase regulation of American Business, and what does Obama want?

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“ The subjects of every state ought to contribute towards the support of the government, as nearly as possible, in proportion to their respective abilities; that is, in proportion to the revenue which they respectively enjoy under the protection of the state.”

Adam Smith , The Wealth of Nations 1776

"We have always known that heedless self-interest was bad morals; we know now that it is bad economics"
FDR's second Inaugural Address

The rest of your income.

__________________
Socialism doesn't create a rising tide that lifts all boats. It drains the lake and teaches the boat riders not to help themselves by rowing.

Jesus loves you, allah wants you dead

"Every government interference in the economy consists of giving an unearned benefit, extorted by force, to some men at the expense of others."

Ayn Rand